Teaching and learning are central to my work as an educator, researcher, and institutional leader.
Across undergraduate and graduate classrooms, academic support programs, faculty development initiatives, and professional learning environments, I have sought to create experiences that promote understanding, development, and the application of knowledge.
My approach draws on educational theory, human development, and the understanding that learning occurs within social and organizational contexts. I am particularly interested in how learning environments influence individuals' capacity to make meaning, develop judgment, and apply what they learn across different settings.
Philosophy of Teaching and Learning
As a first-generation college student and a person with a disability, I believe that access and opportunity can coincide with high expectations and academic excellence. Learning environments should provide meaningful challenges while ensuring individuals have the resources, support, and opportunities they need to succeed.
My philosophy draws on developmental, experiential, and salutogenic perspectives. From an educational perspective, I recognize that challenge, support, and readiness promote learning and development. From a salutogenic perspective, I believe learning experiences should be meaningful, manageable, and comprehensible.
These perspectives inform three interrelated considerations:
Meaningfulness: Learners understand the purpose of their experiences and recognize their relevance to personal, educational, or professional goals.
Manageability: Learners have access to the resources, relationships, and support necessary to engage with challenging material and expectations.
Comprehensibility: Learners can understand the structure, expectations, and processes involved in their learning.
Together, these conditions create environments where learners can engage with complexity, build confidence, and take greater responsibility for their learning.
My approach also incorporates principles of Universal Design for Instruction, significant learning, and active and experiential learning. I recognize that individuals enter educational environments with different experiences, capabilities, perspectives, and levels of preparation. Effective teaching requires intentionally considering these differences while maintaining clear expectations for learning and achievement.
Instructional Approaches
I approach teaching by facilitating understanding, reflection, application, and integration. My instructional strategies help learners engage with new ideas, examine their assumptions, connect conceptual knowledge with practical experiences, and develop the capacity to apply what they learn.
Depending on the learning objectives and instructional context, I incorporate:
Active learning and dialogue: Structured discussion, collaborative activities, and opportunities to explain, question, and refine understanding.
Reflection and integration: Activities that encourage learners to connect new knowledge with prior experiences, disciplinary perspectives, and practical situations.
Application and experiential learning: Assignments and learning experiences that require learners to apply concepts, analyze problems, and consider implications for practice.
Formative feedback and revision: Opportunities to receive constructive feedback, reconsider assumptions, and improve work through reflection and revision.
Assessment of student learning: Direct and indirect measures that help identify what learners understand, how they are developing, and where additional support or instructional adjustments may be beneficial.
I view mistakes, uncertainty, and cognitive dissonance as potential components of meaningful learning. With appropriate support, these experiences can encourage learners to reconsider established understandings and develop more sophisticated ways of thinking.
My goal is not simply to communicate information, but to develop learners' capacity to think critically, exercise judgment, and transfer their learning to new contexts.
Higher Education Teaching Experience
My formal teaching experience includes graduate and undergraduate instruction in educational research, statistics, human development, global learning, and diversity. These courses have provided opportunities to work with students from different disciplines, educational backgrounds, and professional experiences.
Graduate Education
Iowa State University — School of Education
Lecturer with Associate Graduate Faculty Status | 2017–2019
Surveys in Educational Research
Basic Educational Statistics
My graduate teaching emphasized research design, quantitative analysis, survey methodology, and interpreting educational information.
In these courses, I helped students develop both methodological knowledge and the ability to make informed decisions about research design, measurement, analysis, and interpretation. Instruction included opportunities to apply statistical and methodological concepts to questions relevant to education and professional practice.
My appointment included Associate Graduate Faculty status, supported through the university's faculty approval process.
Undergraduate Education
Carroll University — College of Arts and Sciences
Adjunct Faculty Member | 2019–2021
Social Science Statistics
Lifespan Psychology
Global Perspectives Colloquium
My undergraduate teaching integrated disciplinary knowledge with opportunities for inquiry, reflection, and application.
In statistics courses, I emphasized interpreting and communicating quantitative information alongside statistical procedures. In lifespan psychology, I explored development across the human experience. In the Global Perspectives Colloquium, I facilitated interdisciplinary dialogue and reflection on global issues, cultural experiences, and differing perspectives.
Iowa State University — School of Education
Co-Facilitator and Instructor of Record | 2014
Dialogues on Diversity
This course explored human relations and diversity within the university community, emphasizing reflection, dialogue, and engagement with different experiences and perspectives.
Additional Graduate Instruction
Ball State University — Fisher Institute for Health and Well-Being
Graduate Teaching Assistant | 2009
Wellness Management Administration
My instructional contributions focused on administrative practices, communication, and applying technology to wellness management.
Educational and Professional Development
My work as an educator extends beyond formal classroom instruction.
Throughout my career, I have designed and facilitated learning experiences for peer educators, student leaders, faculty, staff, and institutional partners. These experiences have reinforced my understanding that teaching and learning are fundamental to both individual development and organizational effectiveness.
Academic Support and Peer Education
At Iowa State University, I supported the recruitment, training, and development of peer tutors serving students across academic disciplines, including engineering and the sciences.
This work involved collaborating with academic departments, considering student learning needs, and building peer educators' capacity to support others. Through these efforts, the tutoring program met 100% of identified physics tutoring needs for the first time in five years.
Faculty and Curriculum Development
My work in educational assessment has included collaborating with faculty on curriculum alignment, student learning outcomes, assessment practices, and continuous improvement.
At Iowa State University, I contributed to faculty development and scholarship of teaching and learning initiatives and collaborated with academic programs on curriculum assessment.
At the Milwaukee School of Engineering, I supported faculty learning and assessment through work with the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN), including efforts to better understand and assess entrepreneurial mindset development in engineering education.
These experiences have emphasized the importance of connecting disciplinary expertise, educational theory, assessment findings, and faculty judgment.
Student Affairs and Professional Learning
As a student affairs administrator, I have approached staff training and professional development as educational responsibilities.
My work has included developing learning experiences for resident assistants and other student staff, connecting professional expectations with student development, leadership, communication, ethical reasoning, and career readiness.
I view these experiences as opportunities to develop individual capacity while strengthening the practices and relationships through which organizations fulfill their educational purposes.
Connecting Teaching, Learning, and Organizational Development
Teaching and learning are not confined to classrooms. They occur through relationships, shared experiences, reflection, problem-solving, and organizations' everyday practices.
My experiences across academic affairs, student affairs, institutional research, and administrative leadership have reinforced the connections between individual learning and organizational learning.
Educational institutions influence learning not only through their curricula and instructional practices, but also through their structures, policies, relationships, and approaches to decision-making. These conditions can support or constrain how much individuals apply knowledge, develop capabilities, and contribute to collective improvement.
I am particularly interested in how institutions create conditions that help people transfer learning across contexts and translate individual knowledge into shared organizational capacity.
For me, teaching is both a professional practice and a way of understanding leadership. Both involve creating conditions in which people can engage with complexity, develop understanding, exercise judgment, and contribute to meaningful change.