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QEP Events Spring 2022
Oscar Fernandez, Ph.D.
Class of 1966 Associate Professor of Mathematics Department of Mathematics Wellesley College
Title: “(Small) Teaching Critical Thinking: Quick and Contextualized Ways to Teach and Enhance Students’ Critical Thinking Skills in Math and Science”
Date and Time: Monday, February 14th, from 12:00-1:00
RSVP Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfcobPEkAUpkYJ8iJBaFMgxw4UZDI8yYJvbOF9sYNhuyf6ArA/viewform
Bio: Dr. Fernandez is the Class of 1966 Associate Professor of Mathematics at Wellesley College. He has served as the college’s Faculty Director of their Pforzheimer Learning and Teaching Center and Faculty Director of their Andrew W. Mellon Evidence-Based Teaching Innovations Grant. He is a 2021 Guggenheim recipient whose research interests include mathematical physics and mathematical demography. He is also the author of Everyday Calculus, The Calculus of Happiness, and Calculus Simplified, all published by Princeton University Press.
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Catherine J. Denial, Ph.D.
Bright Distinguished Professor of American History
Chair, History Department
Director, The Bright Institute at Knox College
Knox College
Title: “Hands-on Humanities: Critical Thinking and Doing”
Date and Time: Tuesday, February 15th, from 12:00-1:00
RSVP Link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScQsx6deX6gDbZzPAXa9O-Z1QFcBb4E36KCMnVSgfGU3bAjSQ/viewform
Bio: Dr. Denial is the Bright Distinguished Professor of American History, Chair of the History department, and Director of the Bright Institute at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. A 2018-2021 Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians, Cate is the winner of the American Historical Association’s 2018 Eugene Asher Distinguished Teaching award, and a former member of the Digital Public Library of America‘s Educational Advisory Board. Cate currently sits on the boards of the Western Historical Quarterly and Commonplace: A Journal of Early American Life. Cate is at work on a new book, A Pedagogy of Kindness, under contract with West Virginia University Press. Her historical research has examined the early nineteenth-century experience of pregnancy, childbirth and child-rearing in Upper Midwestern Ojibwe and missionary cultures, research that grew from Cate’s previous book, Making Marriage: Husbands, Wives, and the American State in Dakota and Ojibwe Country (2013). In summer 2018, Cate was an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, PA.
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Esther Jordan, Ph.D.
Director, Faculty Success
Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL)
Professor of Political Science
Kennesaw State University
Title: “Developing Critical Thinkers in the Social Sciences: Tips, Tools, and Strategies”
Date and Time: Wednesday, February 16th, from 12:00-1:00
RSVP Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc5sa56ndp7Vft8glmRqtMVppkaUYBF0e9M_3ZeRn2UpVIzzQ/viewform
Bio: Dr. Jordan is a Professor of Political Science with the KSU School of Government and International affairs. She serves on the SGI curriculum and diversity and inclusion committees and leads its faculty writing accountability groups. Her research and writing focus on social capital, civil society, informal networks, educational development, and coaching. Dr. Jordan leads the KSU Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning’s Faculty Success team, which is charged with supporting faculty and leaders in their professional development. She directs the annual Orientation and Retreats for Chairs and Deans and the Full-Time Faculty Early Career Institute. She also co-directs the Provost’s Faculty Leadership Fellows program and CETL’s Coaching Program.
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Natasha G. Holmes, Ph.D.
Ann Bowers Assistant Professor
Department of Physics
Cornell University
Title: “What Does It Really Mean to Teach and Assess Critical Thinking in STEM?”
Date and Time: Thursday, February 17th, from 12:00-1:00
RSVP Link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScvJCSI-1trvrTcUOA4OpwRZ7R3jKdWr1ogZN4d_Ske1QQbtw/viewform
Bio: Dr. Holmes is the Ann S. Bowers assistant professor in the Department of Physics at Cornell University, with the Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics. Dr. Holmes received her BSc in physics from the University of Guelph and her MSc and PhD in physics at the University of British Columbia. She then went on to do her postdoctoral work at Stanford University working with Dr. Carl Wieman. Her research group studies many aspects of student learning, attitudes, and skill development from hands-on laboratory experiences, with a focus on critical thinking and experimentation. She also explores issues of equity and diversity in physics and methodological issues and techniques in physics education research. Among her many important publications, Dr. Holmes is the lead author on the paper “Teaching Critical Thinking” in PNAS (2015).
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Jessica Zeller, Ph.D., MFA
Associate Professor of Dance
School for Classical and Contemporary Dance
Texas Christian University
Title: “Facilitating Critical Thinking in Arts Disciplines: Pedagogies and Policy Designs”
Date and Time: Friday, February 18th, from 12:00-1:00
RSVP Link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc6lOcukHfXxwZG4WIXwISMqSyvhGY_jPtJO4-Sfzig3-tIiQ/viewform
Bio: Dr. Zeller is an Associate Professor of Dance in the School for Classical & Contemporary Dance at Texas Christian University. An avid ungrader and aspiring pedagogic renegade, she aims to design and teach courses that center humanity, equity, and vitality in the ballet studio and the traditional classroom. Zeller’s current research brings Ballet Pedagogy into dialogue with Critical and Feminist pedagogies; her most recent work appears in the Journal of Dance Education, as well as in the anthologies Hybrid Teaching: Pedagogy, People, Politics (Hybrid Pedagogy, 2021) and (Re:)Claiming Ballet (Intellect, 2021). Her 2016 book, Shapes of American Ballet: Teachers and Training before Balanchine (Oxford University Press) unearths the teachings of several lesser-known European and Russian ballet pedagogues and situates their work in the context of American Capitalism during the early twentieth century. Zeller facilitates faculty and student workshops on Progressive pedagogies, she is on the faculty of Digital Pedagogy Lab, and she was a 2019 Scholar-in-Residence at Temple University. She is currently serving as President-Elect of CORPS de Ballet International. Find her at http://www.jessicazeller.net or on Twitter @jessicazeller.
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QEP Events Spring 2021
Arts (Talk: March 10th from 4:30-6:00)
Rick Davis, Ph.D.
Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts
Professor of Theatre
George Mason University
Talk title: “Everyone’s a Critic(al Thinker): Bringing Artistic Practice to the Gen Ed Classroom”
RSVP Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfdinVNE0CcTE_w30dUe7w7liM7ccSJ2vhoCZDOMBCDUnpYeQ/viewform
**Dr. Davis previously served as Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education at Mason, where he focused on improving general education at the university, and as Artistic Director for the award-winning Theatre of the First Amendment in Washington, D.C.
Humanities (Talk: March 9th from 4:30-6:00)
Elizabeth Lehfeldt, Ph.D.
Dean of the Mandel Honors College
Mandel Professor of Humanities
Cleveland State University
Talk title: “If Everyone Does It, How Do We Do It Differently?: Critical Thinking in the Humanities Classroom”
RSVP Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdsk153E19jTWe7KLu9DmrB4fRPDuTF02gwBVEt_Tw33Ptx3A/viewform
**Dr. Lehfeldt is also past Vice President of the Teaching division of the American Historical Association.
Math (Talk: March 12th from 11-12:30)
Oscar Fernandez, Ph.D.
Class of 1966 Associate Professor of Mathematics
Wellesley College
Talk Title: “Is the Earth Flat? Why and How to Teach Critical Thinking in Mathematics and STEM”
RSVP Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd0K0pK81_073h9B7QBR3aVTwGcQCmhZbnwXZUFgbouYS3xxw/viewform
**Dr. Fernandez is also the Faculty Director of their teaching center and the Faculty Director of their Andrew W. Mellon Grant for Evidence-Based Teaching Innovations. He has also written Everyday Calculus (Princeton UP), The Calculus of Happiness (Princeton UP), and Calculus Simplified (Princeton UP).
Social Sciences (Talk: March 5th from 4:00-5:30)
Stephen Chew, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Samford University
Talk Title: “What Cognitive Research Says (and Doesn’t Say) about Creating Critical Thinkers”
RSVP Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfKmrflJfeFRysLN0Yk3zaFvvm0m3kK6blrle0X353l2B8AvA/viewform
**Dr. Chew has been honored as both U.S. Professor of the Year and the Alabama Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and he has won both the Robert S. Daniel Excellence in Teaching Award from the American Psychological Association and the Charles L. Brewer Distinguished Teaching of Psychology Award from the American Psychology Foundation. Finally, he is a Fellow of the Teaching Division of the APA as well.
STEM (CTalk: March 4th from 3:00-4:30)
Dr. Kimberly Tanner
Professor of Biology
San Francisco State University
Talk Title: “Assessing How Individuals Organize Disciplinary Knowledge – Card Sorting, Superheroes, and Moving Towards Measuring Expertise among Undergraduates”
RSVP Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScDmptAp9i3gzGgC512l9HwKaPj9CdE7zM0Do48OY6PbnZV7A/viewform
**Dr. Tanner is a renowned researcher of science education and is one of the most highly sought-after speakers in the country on evidence-based STEM teaching.
QEP Events Fall 2019
Day-long event – Faculty Approaches to Critical Thinking (FACT) Institute
with Peter Facione and Carol GittensThursday 15 August, Jackson Avenue Center, 8:00am – 4:00pm
Workshop Luncheon – Enhancing Our Students’ Critical Thinking Skills:
What the Research Shows and How to Apply It to Our Classrooms with Josh Eyler
Thursday 5 September, Student Union Ballroom, 11:45 – 1:00
Luncheon – QEP Funding Opportunities for Faculty,
Graduate Students, and Staff with Josh Eyler
Wednesday 11 September, Inn at Ole Miss Ballroom, 11:45 – 1:00
Workshop Luncheon – Designing Courses for Critical Thinking,
Part I: Learning Goals and Course Structure with Josh Eyler
Tuesday 8 October, Inn at Ole Miss Ballroom, 11:45 – 1:00
Workshop Luncheon – Designing Courses for Critical Thinking,
Part II: Activities and Assignments with Josh Eyler
Wednesday 6 November, Inn at Ole Miss Ballroom, 11:45 – 1:00