Skip to content

Marlana Fireman
Marlana Fireman
Matthew Hanson
Matthew Hanson
Allison Morvant
Allison Morvant

This semester marked the start year two of our program to support Xavier part-time instructors, the first beyond last year's pilot. The school was fortunate once again in assembling an incredible roster of part-time teaching talent, across all colleges, divisions, and departments. It was once again my pleasure to meet and work with such an engaged and interesting cohort.

Three individuals in particular, Marlana Fireman (English), Matthew Hanson (English), and Allison Morvant (History), showed amazing dedication to the cause, participating in CAT+FD efforts to promote the scholarship of teaching and learning, which in turn enhances their classes and student experiences as well. These teachers demonstrate the idea of serious reflection as crucial to academic endeavors on any level, and especially within Xavier's particular mission-driven framework.

Marlana Botnick Fireman (she/her) is a writer and editor in New Orleans, Louisiana. She completed her MFA in creative writing at the University of New Orleans and was awarded the Joanna Leake Prize for Fiction Thesis. They are a former Associate Fiction Editor for Bayou Magazine.

Matthew Hanson was born and raised in Massachusetts and has lived in New Orleans for five years. He has taught at Xavier, Delgado Community College, and UMass-Boston. He is also a contributing editor at The Arts Fuse and American Purpose, with his essays and criticism appearing in a variety of publications.

Allison Morvant earned a PhD in history from Louisiana State University and holds an MA in Political Science from LSU as well. In addition to Xavier, she has taught at LSU and South Louisiana Community College.

Any institution benefits from having teachers such as these in their ranks, and Xavier will be lucky to keep them in the future, as the market forces of part-time teaching, as well as as personal and professional goals, do their work. In fact, Matthew Hanson has recently accepted a senior lecturer position at Delgado Community College. We wish him all the best in his new role! Best wishes as well to Marlana and Allison, to all of Xavier's part-time teachers, and a very happy holiday break to everyone!

Jeremy Tuman


A conversation with Beth Schwartz and Regan Gurung on the scholarship of teaching and learning, facilitated by outgoing (no pun intended) CAT+FD Director Elizabeth Yost Hammer.

Regan A. R. Gurung, PhD, is a social psychologist by training with research encompassing social, health, and pedagogical psychology.  Over 100 of his articles have been published in peer-reviewed journals and he has co-authored/co-edited 15 books.
Beth M. Schwartz, PhD, is the Office of Applied Psychology’s associate director. Schwartz received her BA from Colby College (Maine) and her PhD in cognitive psychology from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Links for this episode:

Transcript:

Coming soon!

Tentative Title: The Crucial Conversation: Teaching Race and Racism in the Postsecondary Context
Editors: Drs. William T. Hoston, Laurette B. Foster, and Fred A. Bonner II
Abstract Length: 300 to 500 words.
Abstract Proposal Deadline: No later than April 16, 2021.

Objective:

This edited volume will explore the best practices for effective teaching and learning relevant to race and racism in the post-George Floyd era, where American universities and colleges are placing a greater emphasis on fostering educational contexts that address diversity, inclusion, belonging, and race relations. The emphasis on these constructs in our current societal climate, which has led institutions to pledge a commitment to addressing racial injustices, is the foundation for this book.

[photo]

A conversation with Regan Gurung about the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Links for this episode:

...continue reading "Conversation #71: Regan Gurung and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning"

What does it mean to bring a contemplative approach to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning? That's the subject of an upcoming webinar from the Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education. ...continue reading "SoTL Webinar"

Have you considered publishing work in the area of Pedagogical Scholarship or the Scholarship of Teaching? This is highly valued by the university if it reaches the stage of public dissemination. There are many topics we might have in mind to study, but just like any other scholarly endeavor, it must be planned out in advance, not just written up as an afterthought. There are things to consoder beforehand, especially if your discipline scholarship is very removed from the education and social science fields. Planning the project appropriately will help you avoid creating aspects that will significant affect, and even void, your data collection when tracing student learning and opinions. (IRB approval, anyone?)

If you missed the CAT+FD talk given by Megan Osterbur (Political Science) and Charles Gramlich (Psychology), they outlined the steps needed to be taken for successful scholarly teaching projects. The process begins with reflection and questions, then project design and data collection, and finally analysis and publication. The CAT+FD office is also uniquely qualified to help with this process, especially the project design and finding an appropriate journal as the new home for your brilliant work. The quote that Meg shared about this field really stuck with me and was so familiar when I think about my colleagues here at Xavier and what many of us do on a daily basis already.

“Scholarly teaching is what every one of us should be engaged in every day that we are in a classroom, in our office with students, tutoring, lecturing, conducting discussions, all the roles we play pedagogically. Our work as teachers should meet the highest scholarly standards of groundedness, of openness, of clarity and complexity. But it is only when we step back and reflect systematically on the teaching we have done, in a form that can be publicly reviewed and built upon by our peers, that we have moved from scholarly teaching to the scholarship of teaching.” (Shulman 2004, p. 166).

Please do not hesitate to contact the CAT+FD staff if you are thinking about advancing your scholarship in this field. Also, if you missed the presentation and believe this is a topic you would like to see offered again, please let us know in the comments below.
Cheers,
Stassi