Ohio Wesleyan Faculty Member Named GLCA Teagle Pedagogy Fellow
Sarah Bunnell
ANN ARBOR, MICH. – The Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA) has appointed Sarah Bunnell, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at Ohio Wesleyan University, as a GLCA Teagle Pedagogy Fellow. Bunnell is one of 20 Fellows who will work with faculty members on their own campuses and at the GLCA’s 12 other member colleges to explore different modes of teaching to enhance student learning and achievement.
The 20 Fellows were chosen through a selective process of nomination and application. They are distinguished not just by their knowledge of research on human learning and pedagogical (teaching) technique, but also by their strong interest in working with faculty colleagues within and across GLCA member colleges to advance liberal arts teaching and learning. GLCA colleges are located in Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.
“I’m very much looking forward to my work at a GLCA Teagle Pedagogy Fellow,” said Bunnell, who joined the Ohio Wesleyan faculty in 2011 and who earned her doctorate in developmental and cognitive psychology from the University of Kansas. Bunnell’s current research involves factors that influence memory development in childhood and adolescence, focusing on the effect of autobiographical memory processes on coping with stressful experiences.
Bunnell and other Teagle Pedagogy Fellows will play key roles in developing a new consortial program, called the GLCA Lattice for Pedagogical Research and Practice, created with funding from the New York-based Teagle Foundation.
The GLCA Lattice project will connect interested faculty on a given campus with others who seek to enhance liberal arts teaching and learning. The Teagle Pedagogy Fellows will help achieve this result, in part, through campus, regional, and consortial colloquies on pedagogical research and practice. These events will draw together faculty members from different colleges to compare challenges and consider approaches that hold promise in improving learning in the liberal arts, within and across academic disciplines.
In face-to-face as well as follow-up digital exchanges, the Fellows will serve as resources and sounding boards to help faculty members consider potential approaches to advance teaching and, in some cases, to support formal projects that apply principles from research on learning to the design and implementation of alternative teaching methods. The dialogue among Fellows and their GLCA colleagues will provide a mutual benefit as faculty from multiple campuses work to enrich the state of thinking and exploration in liberal arts pedagogy.
GLCA President Richard Detweiler, states: “Our vision for this pilot program is to establish the foundation for a sustaining GLCA center for pedagogical research and practice. We are confident that the skills and knowledge our Teagle Pedagogy Fellows bring to this collaborative initiative will help us achieve that goal.”
About the GLCA
Founded in 1962, the Great Lakes Colleges Association (GLCA) is a nonprofit organization governed by 13 selective liberal arts colleges in the Midwest: Albion College, Allegheny College, Antioch College, Denison University, DePauw University, Earlham College, Hope College, Kalamazoo College, Kenyon College, Oberlin College, Ohio Wesleyan University, Wabash College, and The College of Wooster. Its purpose is to strengthen and extend education in the tradition of the liberal arts and sciences. GLCA often works conjointly with similar associations of liberal arts colleges to enhance the strength and vitality of member institutions. Learn more at www.glca.org.
About Ohio Wesleyan
Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities, with more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Located in Delaware, Ohio, just minutes north of Ohio’s capital and largest city, Columbus, the university combines a globally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that translate classroom theory into real-world practice. OWU’s close-knit community of 1,850 students represents 47 states and 57 countries. Ohio Wesleyan was named to the 2010 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with distinction, is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” and is included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.