Note: This is a repost from last academic year. Nominations for this year’s awards are due November 10th and should be emailed to innovate@gustavus.edu. More details can be found at http://gustavus.edu/provost/faculty-l/attachments/innovate-award-rfp-2017.pdf
The selection committee for the 2015-2016 Innovative Teaching Award would like to thank all of the nominees for their applications. As the committee reviewed applications, they quickly recognized that faculty members were developing both innovative assignments within their courses as well as innovating entire courses. Recognizing the importance and significance of both approaches, the committee decided to give one Innovative Teaching Award for each approach. Not surprisingly, the committee was impressed by all the effort, creativity, and thoughtfulness that the candidates put into their courses. We will be publishing interviews with all of the applicants in a series of blog posts called “Profiles in Innovation” to appear over the next few months and beginning with our two award winners who are…
Teaching Award for Innovative Course Design
Leila Brammer, Communication Studies
Award: $1000
Professor Brammer spearheaded the creation of Public Discourse, a nationally-recognized introductory course in Communication Studies rooted in practical public argument and civic engagement. Public Discourse offers a new paradigm for introductory courses in a major and provides a model for community-based learning that is continuously evolving and guided by rigorous assessment.
Teaching Award for Innovative Assignment Design
Maddalena Marinari, History
Award: $500
In her first year at Gustavus, Professor Marinari has developed bold course assignments to provide transformative learning experiences for her students. In one such assignment, students reconstructed the history of a visa applicant from recently declassified documents. The assignment was thoughtfully integrated with course content and guided students through escalating challenges including workshopping their history with peers and oral defenses of their conclusions.
In upcoming weeks, read interviews with this year’s winners and the other applicants on the Kendall Center Blog https://kendallcenter.blog.gustavus.edu