My disciplinary background is in Communication and I have achieved ABO status in Leadership in Higher Education. For over 25 years, I have taught and been a leader at various institutions including Marquette University, Gonzaga University, The Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, and Alverno College.
For five years, I was a full time instructor at The Art Institute of Wisconsin where the chair of General Education. I believe the Chair position is all about helping faculty and students to learn, so while my background is not in fine arts or design, I have a solid background in leadership in universities and schools.
In addition to my teaching experience, I have led curriculum committees at Marquette University, Gonzaga University, and The Art Institute of Wisconsin. At Marquette University I served on a university-wide core curriculum committee with 25 other university representatives, written self-studies at Marquette University and The Art Institute of Wisconsin for accreditation, and served on retention and persistence committees at The Art Institute of Wisconsin.
Course design and assessment are two of my strengths. I have been trained in Understanding by Design a course design method that focuses on the big questions of a particular course. It helps faculty understand how to help student toward their own answers of those big questions. It is also focused on solid, well-written learning outcomes to help faculty design their course, assignments and assessment. Regarding assessment, I have been trained by the best, Barbara Walvoord, who is a well-respected educator and author of several books on effective assessment. At Marquette from 2005 to 2014, I was Assessment Leader for the College of Professional Studies. I also served on MU’s Core Curriculum Committee and representative for The College of Professional Studies where I collaborated with 25 other faculty from across university departments to develop an assessment for MU’s core curriculum.