Staff and Faculty Associates
Who Are We?
Western Guide to Teaching Support Centre Staff & Faculty Associates (Fall 2009) (pdf)
Staff
Debra Dawson, Director
BA, MA, PhD, (Western)
Phone: (519) 661-2111, ext. 84621
Fax: (519) 661-3076
E-Mail: dldawson@uwo.ca
Debra Dawson is the Director of the Teaching Support Centre, the Director of the Centre for Research on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and is an adjunct research professor in the Faculty of Education. Debra is an award winning teacher whose primary interests include issues related to enhancing student engagement both inside and outside the classroom, graduate student professional development, and competencies of educational developers. She has given numerous conference presentations both nationally and internationally on facilitating teaching and learning in post-secondary education. She has also served on the selection committee for the 3M Teaching Fellowship (Canada’s national teaching awards) and on the board for the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) and the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education (CSSHE).
Nanda Dimitrov, Associate Director
BA, ELTE (Hungary)
MA, PhD (Minnesota)
Phone: (519) 661-2111, ext. 84624
FAX: (519) 661-3076
E-mail: ndimitro@uwo.ca
Nanda coordinates various programs for Graduate Teaching Assistants to help them in developing their university teaching skills. Her area of expertise is intercultural communication. Her research explores cultural adaptation and cross-cultural marriage; as an intercultural trainer she has facilitated the cross-cultural transitions of students from over fifty countries and helped faculty prepare for teaching in a culturally diverse classroom.
Judy Purves, Program Coordinator
BA, (Western)
Phone: (519) 661-2111, ext. 84622
Fax: (519) 661-3076
E-Mail: jpurves@uwo.ca
Judy is the primary coordinator for all Teaching Support Centre activities including Fall and Spring Perspectives, the Summer Course on Teaching at the University Level, and New Faculty Orientation. Judy is responsible for the operational management of the office and for the design and editing of our publications, including the Reflections newsletter.
D. Kim Holland, Instructional Designer
BA, MSc. (Western)
Phone: (519) 661-2111, ext. 84612
Fax: (519) 661-3076
E-mail: kholland@uwo.ca
Kim supports the design, development, and assessment of curriculum with a focus on Distance Studies courses. He comes to the Teaching Support Centre after 25 years of teaching with the Department of Geography. Kim can assist faculty with integrating new technologies in a pedagogically sound manner into face-to face, hybrid and on-line courses, by applying best practices in teaching and learning theories and instructional technology into curriculum.
Natasha Patrito Hannon, Educational Developer
PhD (Western)
Phone: (519)661-2111, ext. 84651
E-mail: npatrit@uwo.ca
Natasha supports and advances instructional efforts in the Sciences and Engineering. With her background in Chemistry, Natasha will couple first-hand knowledge of the academic research environment with her passion for teaching in the implementation of new faculty and graduate student development programs designed to address the unique needs of natural scientists and engineers.
Gayle McIntyre, Research Coordinator
Hon. BA (University of Toronto)
M. Ed (OISE (in progress))
E-mail: gmcinty3@uwo.ca
As the Teaching Support Centre’s research assistant, Gayle helps design and conduct research on graduate education and graduate supervision. She analyzes surveys of graduate students’ expectations about graduate supervision and conducts focus group research on the supervisory relationship with both faculty and graduate students. She also compiles web resources on effective teaching and supports the development of workshops on supervision.
Tom Adam, Information Literacy Librarian
BA, MLIS (Western)
Phone: (519) 661-2111, ext. 81441
Fax: (519) 661-3076
E-mail: tadam@uwo.ca
Tom comes to the Teaching Support Centre as Western Libraries' Information Literacy Librarian. He will support faculty and instructional librarians to embed the efficient access, critical evaluation and effective application of information resources into course assignments and curricula.
Alicia Hitchcock, Administrative Assistant
BA (Western)
Phone: (519) 661-2111, ext. 80346
E-mail: ahitchc2@uwo.ca
Alicia provides reception and support to the Teaching Support Centre staff and assists in the planning and organization of all workshops, programs, classes and events. She is the first person of contact for faculty and graduate students at the TSC and is happy to answer any inquiries you may have regarding our programming.
Faculty Associates
Michael Atkinson, Faculty Associate
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology
BA, (Dalhousie)
MSc, PhD, (Wisconsin-Madison)
Phone: (519) 661-2111, ext. 84644
E-Mail: atkinson@uwo.ca
Mike is an expert on large class instruction and the use of multimedia in the classroom. He is a recipient of the University Students' Council Teaching Award of Excellence (1996), the 3M Teaching Award (1998) for his Psychology 020 Superclass, and the four-time recipient of the UWO Western Psychology Association Psychology Professor of the Year Award.
Bethany White, Faculty Associate
Assistant Professor, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Sciences
MMATH, PhD in Statistics-Biostatistics (University of Waterloo)
Phone: (519) 661-2111, ext. 84106
E-Mail: bwhite@stats.uwo.ca
Bethany is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Statisical & Actuarial Sciences and has been appointed as Faculty of Science Learning Development Coordinator. Bethany has a passion for teaching and, over the years, has taught courses of different sizes, formats and levels and has been active in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Her research interests involve the impact of structured activities and course formats on students' attitudes and learning.
Gloria Leckie, Faculty Associate
Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Media Studies
MLIS, MA, PhD (Western)
Phone: (519) 661-2111, ext. 86459
E-Mail: leckie@uwo.ca
Gloria's mandate will be to examine North American trends in the development and characteristics of professional master's programs across a wide variety of disciplines and to prepare an overview paper which will help Faculties and Departments at Western who wish to develop such programs. Gloria is also interested in putting together a series of discussion panels whereby faculty members and program administrators may share ideas, strategies and concerns about the development and implementation of professional programs at Western.
Madeline Lennon, Coordinator of Faculty Mentor Program
Professor Emeritus, Department of Visual Arts
Phone: (519) 661-2111, ext. 80346
E-mail: mlennon@uwo.ca
Madeline coordinates the Faculty Mentor Program, which is designed to make the experience, knowledge, and expertise of colleagues available to new faculty. She is the recipient of the 1989-90 Edward G. Pleva Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the 1990 3M Teaching Fellowship.
Allen Pearson, Faculty Associate
Professor, Faculty of Education
BA (Colgate)
MA, PhD (Cornell)
Phone: (519) 661-2111, ext. 80346
E-Mail: apearson@uwo.ca
Allen has joined the Teaching Support Centre as the Faculty Associate in the area of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). He will work to help faculty members engage in scholarly work on their teaching and to bring the results of that work to presentation and/or publication. He will continue his own work in SoTL, and will serve on the editorial board of the Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, a new publication of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Allen came to Western in 1995 to serve as the Dean of Education. After a twelve-year tenure in that position and a year’s leave, he is very excited about working on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning with faculty members across campus.