Twenty Michigan State University faculty members have been selected as Lilly and Adams Fellows for the 2009-10 academic year. The fellowships support excellence in and recognize commitment to the teaching profession.

Eight MSU faculty members have been named Lilly Teaching fellows for 2009-10. The faculty, their projects and mentors are:

• Kristi Bowman, associate professor of Law, MSU College of Law, “Creating Problem-Based Modules to Facilitate Interactive Learning” (Melanie B. Jacobs, associate professor of law, MSU College of Law)
• Kendra Spence Cheruvelil, assistant professor in the Lyman Briggs College and assistant professor of fisheries and wildlife, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, “Assessing the Impact of Diverse Base Groups on Student Learning and Attitudes in Introductory Organismal Biology” (Ann Austin, professor of educational administration, College of Education)
• Judith Danovitch,  assistant professor of psychology, College of Social Science, “Teaching Critical Thinking About Claims in Child Development” (Lauren Harris, professor of psychology, College of Social Science)
• Kirk Goldsberry, assistant professor of geography, College of Social Science, “Visual Literacy for Geographers: Graphic Communication of Geographic Information” (Alan Arbogast, associate professor of geography, College of Social Science)
• Sara Miller, assistant library instruction coordinator,  MSU Libraries, Computing and Technology,  Library Instruction, “Inquiry-Based Exercises for Information Literacy Skills” (Nancy Dejoy, associate professor of writing, rhetoric and American cultures and director of first-year writing, College of Arts and Letters)
• Lloyd Pratt, assistant professor of English and core faculty in African American and African Studies, College of Arts and Letters, “Making the Archive Speak: American Literary Studies, Undergraduate Research and the Online Archive” (Stephen Arch, professor and chairperson of the Department of English, College of Arts and Letters)
• Alexander Shingleton, assistant professor of zoology, College of Natural Science, “Aligning Objectives, Assessment and Instruction Through the Use of Scientific Writing: An Evolving Process” (Gail Richmond, associate professor of teacher education, College of Education)
• Volodymyr Tarabara, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, College of Engineering, “From International Research to Curricular Innovation:  Educating Globally Competent Scientists and Engineers” (Thomas Voice, professor of civil and environmental engineering, College of Engineering; and Craig Somerton, associate professor of mechanical engineering, College of Engineering)

The Lilly Teaching Fellows Program, now in its 18th year, is designed to advance MSU’s continuing efforts to support excellence in teaching and learning. It provides a cohort of up to eight assistant professors in the tenure system from across the disciplines with an opportunity to engage in a year-long exploration of university-level teaching and learning with their peers.

In addition to cohort meetings and two off-campus retreats, each fellow completes an individual project on college teaching, working with a faculty mentor.

Twelve members of the Michigan State University community constitute the second cohort in a new university initiative, the Walter and Pauline Adams Academy for Instructional Excellence and Innovation to support excellence in teaching and learning.

Through the initiative, which was established in 2008-09, fixed-term faculty, continuing appointment librarians, academic specialists and other academic staff can further their development as teachers whose instructional decisions are rooted in research on effective teaching and learning.

The academy is named in honor of former MSU President Walter Adams and his wife, Pauline, an MSU faculty emeriti, who were committed to excellence in teaching throughout their careers.

Participants for 2009-10 are:

• Heidi Bulich, assistant professor of finance, Eli Broad College of Business
• Robert A. Chalou, academic specialist in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering
• Gary Ferenchick, associate professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, College of Human Medicine
• Syed Waqar Haider, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, College of Engineering
• David Kozishek, assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences, College of Human Medicine
• Tammy M. Long, visiting assistant professor in the Biological Sciences Program, College of Natural Science
• Karen T. Mills, academic specialist in the Department of Family and Child Ecology, College of Social Science
• Phillip D. Schertzing, academic specialist in the School of Criminal Justice, College of Social Science
• Sandhya Shanker, visiting instructor and French coordinator in the Department of French, Classics and Italian, College of Arts and Letters
• Steve Sharra, visiting assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy, College of Arts and Letters
• Elizabeth Spence, visiting assistant professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric and American Culture, College of Arts and Letters
• Amy Yang, assistant professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, colleges of Osteopathic and Human Medicine

Criteria for selection include evidence of the applicants’ interest in and commitment to teaching and student learning, potential to be an excellent teacher and willingness to advocate for good teaching among his or her peers.

Both programs are sponsored by the Office of Faculty and Organizational Development in the Office of the Provost. The monthly meetings of both the Lilly Fellows Program and the Adams Academy are facilitated by Deborah DeZure, assistant provost for faculty and organizational development.
For more information, visit the Web at http://fod.msu.edu.

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Michigan State University has been advancing knowledge and transforming lives through innovative teaching, research and outreach for more than 150 years. MSU is known internationally as a major public university with global reach and extraordinary impact. Its 17 degree-granting colleges attract scholars worldwide who are interested in combining education with practical problem solving.