Core Faculty & Learning Team Facilitators

Associate Professor & Associate Director, Center for Teaching Excellence – University of Virginia

Elizabeth’s pedagogical interests include teaching in the humanities, including teaching writing and writing to learn; inclusive teaching; and creating space for student agency in the classroom. She is also interested in departmental teaching cultures and program-level curricula and enjoys working with instructors who are connecting or aligning different classes in a program. She teaches writing and literature classes, as well as an interdisciplinary pedagogy course for graduate students.

Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering & Applied Science – University of Virginia

Brian’s pedagogical interests include active learning in large classes, collaborative learning, alternative grading strategies, and creating welcoming classroom environments where all student experiences belong and are valued. He has taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses and labs using flipped classroom, team-based learning, peer teaching, just-in-time teaching, Universal Design for Learning, and specifications grading.

Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, & CTE Faculty Fellow – University of Virginia

Peter’s pedagogical interests include active learning, writing instruction, and student belonging. Trained as a political scientist, he teaches large introductory courses in public policy, as well as smaller undergraduate and graduate seminars on international development and data visualization. He enjoys developing collaborative assignments, helping instructors with course structure, and exploring ways to make large classes feel smaller.

Assistant Director of STEM Education Initiatives, Center for Teaching Excellence – University of Virginia

Andrew’s pedagogical interests include student motivation, self-efficacy, and establishing moving relationships with subject matter. As a neurochemist, he has taught large-enrollment organic chemistry, upper-level electives on the biochemistry of learning, memory, and personality, and first-year seminars on science communication. In each, he centers teaching science as a process that both rewards creativity and tells us as much about the people involved as it does about the natural world. His favorite instructional hot take is that it’s always worth the class time to allow students to make emotional connections to the material.

Assistant Professor & Assistant Director of Engineering Education Initiatives, Center for Teaching Excellence – University of Virginia

Lynn's pedagogical interests include team teaching, writing to learn, collaborative learning, and working with undergraduate learning assistants. Trained as a physical chemist, she has taught laboratory courses, courses about teaching, large-enrollment introductory chemistry courses, upper-level courses on quantum mechanics and thermodynamics, and a materials science course about pinball machines. Her favorite instructional tactic is "wait time.”

Associate Professor of Biology – University of Virginia

Jessamyn’s pedagogical interests include active learning in large-enrollment classes, developing inquiry-based curricula, and creating a supportive and welcoming classroom environment. Jess teaches courses in ecology and evolutionary biology to classes ranging from 700+ first-year students to <10 graduate students, with a focus on data literacy, science communication and connecting what we learn in the classroom to real-world challenges.

Professor & Barbara Fried Director, Center for Teaching Excellence – University of Virginia

Michael’s pedagogical interests include active learning, creativity in the classroom, reflection as assessment, alternative grading practices, and student motivation. He has taught a range of courses, including large-enrollment, inquiry-based laboratory courses; math courses; small discussion-based seminars on social science and humanities topics; writing-intensive courses; and team-taught courses.

Associate Professor & Associate Director, Center for Teaching Excellence – University of Virginia

Adriana pedagogical interests include teaching in the humanities, writing pedagogy across disciplines, seminar and discussion-based teaching, and inclusive teaching, with a particular emphasis on alternative grading schemes as inclusive practice. As a co-author of the CTE’s syllabus rubric, Adriana specializes in helping instructors develop learner-centered teaching goals and design courses in alignment with those goals. She teaches intensive writing courses, undergraduate literature seminars on Shakespeare and Renaissance drama, and a graduate pedagogy course that combines philosophy and practice.

Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning – Colby College

Jordan’s pedagogical interests center on fostering community, including the use of inclusive and equitable strategies, and creating space for both speaking and deep listening. He has taught psychology courses at every level, and published on numerous practices in the scholarship of teaching and learning. Lately, he is focusing on teacher empowerment through mid-semester feedback and partnering with undergraduate learning assistants.

Associate Professor & Senior Associate Director, Center for Teaching Excellence – University of Virginia

Lindsay's pedagogical interests include scaffolding collaborative learning experiences, implementing inclusive and reflective teaching practices, developing and utilizing inquiry-based curricula, supporting TAs in instruction, and implementing active learning strategies in large-enrollment courses. She has taught introductory chemistry courses - both large (1,400+ students) and small (<20 students) - undergraduate and graduate seminar courses on higher education teaching and learning, and interdisciplinary elective courses fulfilling a second writing requirement.