2019 Candidate Statements

This election includes the following positions and candidates:

• President Elect (serves 1 year as President Elect, 1 year as President, and 1 year as Past President, for a total of 3 years). Co-candidates: Nancy Chick and Chng Huang Hoon
• Secretary (3 year term); candidate: Mary Ann Danielson
• Student Representative (2 year term); candidate: Sam Lucie Dvorakova
• Treasurer (3 year term); candidate: Yvonne Macrae
• Vice President – Asia Pacific (3 year term); candidates: Colin Jevons, Karena Waller
• Vice President – Canada (3 year term); candidate: Andrea Webb
• Vice President – Europe (3 year term); candidates: Ruth Healey, Rie Troelsen
• Vice President – US (3 year term); candidate: Nancy Krusen

More information about each candidate will follow below.

All ISSOTL members are hereby invited to vote in the election and may vote for all positions on the ballot, regardless of regional affiliation. The electronic polls will be open from April 15 through 11:59 PM Pacific on April 30th.
 

Results will be announced on the ISSOTL website and in the ISSOTL Newsletter in mid-May.

Co-President-Elect Candidates (2, in joint candidacy)

Nancy Chick, Rollins College, US

Bio

Nancy Chick has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of New Mexico and a master’s and doctorate in English from the University of Georgia. She has taught courses in American literature, literary studies, writing, gender studies, and pedagogy in a large, multicampus state university system, a mid-size private university, a large public university, and now in a small, private liberal arts college. Nancy served on the ISSOTL Board of Directors and as editor of the Society’s newsletter The International Commons from 2005 to 2012, when she was selected as founding co-editor of ISSOTL’s peer-reviewed journal, Teaching & Learning Inquiry. She is the chair of the ISSOTL Interest Group for the Arts and Humanities, and was the Program Chair of the 2011 ISSOTL Conference in Milwaukee, WI (USA) and the Co-Chair of the 2017 ISSOTL Conference in Calgary, AB (Canada). She was awarded the ISSOTL Distinguished Service Award in 2017, and is the only person to have attended every single ISSOTL conference. 

Chng Huang Hoon, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Bio

CHNG Huang Hoon is an Associate Professor (English Language) and is concurrently an Associate Provost (Undergraduate Education) and Director (Community Leadership) at the National University of Singapore (NUS). She has degrees in Linguistics (UT-Austin) and Philosophy (NUS). She serves on the ISSOTL Board of Directors as Regional Vice President (Asia Pacific), and provides leadership for SoTL-Asia that she established in 2016. She is a member on the Scientific Commission for ICED 2020-Zurich and was a keynote speaker at ISSOTL 2015 in Melbourne on the topic of “Leading learning and the scholarship of change from the SoTL margin”.

She has written about a range of issues including SoTL leadership (e.g. “On the margins of SoTL discourse: An Asian perspective”, TLI, 2013); teaching excellence (e.g. “Teaching excellence and the rise of education focused employment tracks”, 2018); and institutions (e.g. “The idea of the university: National asset or ivory tower?”, 2018).  

Candidate statement

 If elected, Huang Hoon and Nancy would like to work on two key issues: promoting inclusivity and engagement:

• Actively work on the inclusivity agenda: to enrich the diversity of the ISSOTL network, to ensure a wider range of representation on ISSOTL platforms; to enable less mainstream/minority and emerging SoTL voices, in regions not traditionally represented in English-speaking mainstream SoTL conversations and activities.
• While working to support inclusivity by enriching the diversity of the ISSOTL network, we also want to increase engagement opportunities within ISSOTL to mobilize its membership in between its annual conferences by, for instance, expanding the possibilities for its Interest Groups, engaging in substantive communication with ISSOTL members, and foregrounding the Society’s advocacy activities.

Secretary Candidate (1)

Mary Ann Danielson, Creighton University, US

Bio

Mary Ann Danielson, Professor of Communication Studies and Professor, Interdisciplinary Ed.D. Program in Leadership, has been active in Carnegie Conversations since 1997 and SoTL since 2006.  Leading CASTL initiatives on “Mentoring SoTL Scholars” and “Cognitive and Affective Learning,” informed my work as Creighton’s Associate Vice-Provost for Learning and Assessment (2007-2018) and now as teaching faculty. My SoTL interests and publications include: SoTL as Faculty Development and Students as Partners in Collaborative Curricular (re)Constructions.

Candidate statement

ISSOTL is a community rich with individuals committed to advancing the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.  This community welcomed me into its “Big Tent” in 2006, and since then, I have grown both as a teacher and a scholar.  The generous sharing of ideas and work to establish standards and best practices prompted me to share my passion for SoTL and my administrative skills to advance our Society’s work; specifically, I have served as ISSOTL Secretary since 2011. 

Over the past eight years, I have created a membership database and implemented improved membership and conference registration systems; I have worked to improve communications with our members and Special Interest Groups; and yet, much work remains, as ISSOTL transitions to its new platform with the opportunity for richer members’ services. If re-elected Secretary, I commit to serve the needs of our members, as we grow in number, diversity, and interconnectivity.

Student Candidate (1)

Sam Lucie Dvorakova, University of Edinburgh, UK

Bio

Sam has been involved in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning since her second year of undergraduate studies, when she joined ISSOTL’s International Collaborative Writing Group. She is now in her first year of a PhD at the University of Edinburgh, looking at the long term effects of Students as Partners initiatives on science undergraduates. Beyond students as partners, Sam’s research interests also include the development of identity and metacognition in students and the effect of these two areas on graduates’ writing experiences and capacity. 

Candidate Statement

I’ve been involved in ISSOTL for the past four years and know the society’s strengths and pitfalls well; in fact, my experiences here inspired me to start a PhD in Education, giving ISSOTL a special place in my heart.

I have served as the ISSOTL Board of Directors student representative for the last term, during which I’ve rebuilt the Students & SoTL Committee into an effective advocacy group for student interests, optimized the Emerging Scholars Fund awarding process, and oversaw the largest Student Awards in our society’s history.

I want to continue building on my previous achievements, expanding the level of student involvement in the society and at our conference and bringing in a greater diversity of student voices.

I want to help create a society where students not just have a place at the table, but have an equal voice; the sort of society I know we can be.

Treasurer Candidate (1)

Yvonne Macrae, University of Massachusetts, US

Bio

My name is Yvonne Macrae and have been an educator for over two decades.  In the early 1980’s, I emigrated to the United States of America and earned an undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Lesley University, an MBA from Simmons College School of Management, and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) from Lesley University, College of Education in Cambridge, Massachusetts

For the past 18 years, I have been an adjunct faculty/lecturer at Northeastern University College of Professional Studies, University of Massachusetts College of Education and Human Development in the Leadership in Education Program, Lesley University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in the School of Management teaching undergraduate and graduate business management and leadership courses.

Candidate statement

Although I do not have extensive experience within the scholarship of teaching and learning to gain the recognition needed for this position, I do have varied experiences having worked and volunteered in numerous organizations in leadership roles in Finance and Accounting.  My vision is to apply knowledge gained from my past experiences in finance to the role of treasurer.

Vice President – Asia Pacific Candidates (2)

Colin Jevons, Monash University (Monash Business School), Australia

Bio

Associate Professor Colin Jevons is course director of the B Bus degree at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, with over 6500 students. He has been Adjunct Professor at IESEG in France and has also guested at Auburn and Michigan State Universities, USA, and the University of Twente, Holland. Colin has received a Dean’s Award for Teaching for contributing to the student learning experience and teaching innovation. He has worked on many university-wide initiatives, including developing an English language and cultural support program for international students. 

His research interests are student retention and attrition, graduate employability, student cross-cultural communication, and teaching critical thinking and scepticism in business education.   He has an h-index of 17 and has received eleven competitive research grants.

His pre-academic career was in consumer research and in book publishing, and he is an honorary life member of the Society of Editors. He tweets @colinjevons

Candidate statement

It’s never been a more exciting time to be an educator!  Global connectedness, for students as well as staff, gives unprecedented opportunities for collaboration.    ISSOTL gives excellent support to researchers and serving as Asia-Pacific VP would allow me to help continue its work in building links across this region and beyond.  Based in Melbourne, Australia, I have worked in both Arts and Business faculties. My 80+ scholarly publications, mainly in business but more recently in SoTL have been cited 1900+ times. I’ve taught in Vietnam, France, the UK and USA, visit East Asia at least annually, and previously worked in textbook publishing. Serving as State vice-president of HERDSA, the Australasian HE body, gives me many contacts in the region, and if elected I will continue to build strong international networks so that ISSOTL colleagues are supported to work together in influencing positive change in teaching and learning across the sector.

Karena Waller, University of Melbourne, Australia 

Bio

Karena holds a PhD (2001; Monash University) in malaria research, and possesses over 10 years’ post-doctoralresearch experience. Since joining the University of Melbourne’s academic teaching staff (2010), Karena has contributed significantly to the teaching and learning of microbiology, both locally and nationally. Karena’s excellence and innovation in teaching and learning has been rewarded with locally and nationally competitive prizes. She possesses extensive leadership experience in teaching and learning and sits on numerous University and Institute committees, primarily focusing on improving teaching and learning, improving the student experience and student engagement, academic governance and professional development. She is a member of the Australian Society for Microbiology; she was Victorian Branch Chair (2014-2018) and is current Chair of both the ASM Education Special Interest Group (2017-2019) and organizing committee for ASM’s 2020 Scientific Meeting (2018-2020). Karena has published numerous biomedical and educational research/SoTL articles in peer-reviewed journals. Karena completed the Graduate Certificate in University Teaching (2011; University of Melbourne).

Candidate statement

I am an energetic and passionate teaching-focussed academic based in the Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne/The Doherty Institute. I possess over 14 years’ experience teaching microbiology at the University level. My particular interests lie in improving the quality of teaching and learning, as well as improving student engagement and the overall student experience. I am also a passionate advocate for developing and improving professional development opportunities and career pathways for teaching-focussed academic staff. In addition to energy and passion, I will bring extensive leadership experience and advocacy skills to advancing ISSOTL initiatives, and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, within the Asia-Pacific region and internationally.
 

Vice President – Canada Candidate (1)

Andrea Webb, University of British Columbia, Canada

Bio

Andrea is an Instructor in Social Studies Education in the Faculty of Education at The University of British Columbia. She has been involved with education (compulsory and higher education) for 20 years and SoTL for a decade.

Candidate statement

I am interested in standing for the position of Regional Vice President, Canada as I want to expand my support for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at the local, national, and international levels. Through my service in SoTL Canada and network within the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, I want to be a conduit to connect active and engaged Canadian SoTL scholars with the work that ISSOTL is doing and could do.

I am particularly interested in supporting and furthering the ISSOTL Fellows program. I think that this program is an amazing opportunity to connect various networks (e.g., the 3M Fellows) for the development and support of SoTL Leadership. I hope to work with these groups to spearhead the fellows as educational leaders who lead scholarly projects, present pre-conference workshops, and mentor novice SoTL scholars.

Vice President – Europe Candidates (2)

Ruth Healey, University of Chester, UK

Bio

I am an Associate Professor in Pedagogy in Higher Education at the University of Chester, UK where I’ve been since 2009.  In 2016, I also joined Healey HE Consultants.  I am a regular participant at ISSoTL Annual Conferences, having presented five papers at different conferences and co-run a workshop on writing for SoTL in 2018.  I also led one of the groups at the first ISSoTL International Collaborative Writing Group (ICWG) in 2012 having participated in, or led, 5 other ICWGs.  I have been invited to co-facilitate one of the six pre-conference workshops at ISSoTL19. I am the current chair of the Higher Education Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society.  In 2017 I was awarded a UK National Teaching Fellowship. I have 30 SoTL publications and have presented on SoTL topics over 40 times (including 10 keynotes) in 10 countries (including England, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, and Wales). 

Candidate statement

ISSOTL2012 was a turning point in my career, introducing me to a new supportive community of practice.  Since then, I’ve become an increasingly engaged ISSOTL member (presenting papers and workshops, and leading an international collaborative writing group).  I want to facilitate SoTL in Europe through the continued building and development of relationships. As VP-Europe I would use my international networks to facilitate the development of sustainable communities of practice. I would use the experience as an inaugural Co-Editor of the International Journal for Students as Partners (2016-present) and the Journal of Geography in Higher Education (2009-present), and work closely with the Teaching & Learning Inquiry editorial team, to mentor and support more ISSOTL members from Europe to contribute to these and other journals.  I am known for my high level of organisational skills and would look forward to working with the conference committees for both the ISSOTL and EuroSoTL conferences. 

Rie Troelsen, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark

Bio

Rie Troelsen is since 2016 Head of the SDU Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) (www.sdu.dk/en/sduup). Before that, she was an associate professor in higher education teaching and learning at SDU. She has a PhD in chemistry education from 2003.

Her major field of interest is staff development – both as a researcher and as a practitioner. She has since 2007 facilitated a range of educational development projects and conducted even more staff development courses. 

Rie has been a board member of the Danish Network for Higher Education for more than 10 years and was a co-founder of the Nordic-Baltic Network for Educational Developers in 2010.

For the moment, Rie is engaged in research and development projects with colleagues in Scotland, Sweden, Estonia, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland and Australia.

Candidate statement

I have been Vice-President Europe in ISSOTL for the past 2 years. The work in the organisation is very meaningful as I see SOTL as a powerful tool to enhance, recognise and reward educational development both at a local, national and international level. As a Board member I’m also part of an internal working group facilitating a process of strategically developing and professionalising the ISSOTL organisation – a work that I would like to continue.

Vice President – US Candidate (1) 

Nancy Krusen, University of Nebraska Medical Center, US

Bio

Dr. Krusen is founding program director for a clinical doctorate program at University of Nebraska Medical Center in the US. She received her PhD in occupational therapy from Texas Woman’s University. Her research interests include application of theoretical constructs in teaching and learning, translational science, and qualitative methods of inquiry. She currently serves as a mentor for a New Educators Mentorship Program, as well as a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Mentorship Program.

Candidate statement

I wish to serve ISSOTL to represent the US region. I would like to promote continued collaboration to reduce silos across educators of all disciplines, administrators, learners, and instructional technology professionals. I propose defining an ISSOTL research agenda to identify major goals and priorities of the organization. I propose a mechanism for general members to learn about the work of each special interest group. I propose a mentorship program in which ISSOTL members could be matched.