RiTL 2024 Spring Symposium
April 25, 2024
Reitz Union Rooms G310 & G330
8:45am – 12:00pm
RiTL (Research in Teaching and Learning) at UF is specialized research that delves deeply into how students learn within and across disciplines. UF’s RiTL community of researchers and educators will engage in the deliberate, systematic, and reflective use of research methods to develop and implement teaching practices that advance field-specific learning. RiTL at UF includes scholarly work related to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), Teaching as Research (TAR), Discipline-Based Education Research (DBER), etc.
Who should attend? All faculty including clinical faculty, instructional faculty, practitioners, faculty considering promotion, department Chairs, and staff, and librarians interested in teaching-focused research.
Registration is closed.
Agenda
8:45am – 9:15am Welcome & Introductions & Keynote
Welcome brought to you by Dr. Chris Hass and Dr. Alexandra Bitton-Bailey.
The keynote presentation on the Community of Practice in Action (COPA) offers insights and practical examples illustrating the transformative power of collaborative learning environments in driving innovation and knowledge sharing within professional communities.
9:15am – 10:00am Session 1 Posters
Members of the Teaching and Learning Community of Practice in Action (COPA), the Research in Teaching and Learning (RiTL) Faculty Learning Community (FLC), and the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) Scholar Program will share their RiTL projects with symposium attendees in a poster session format.
10:00am – 11:00am Brunch Programming | Illuminating Insights: Mini Presentations on Research in Teaching and Learning
Enjoy a tasty brunch as you step into a world of enlightening discourse at the “Illuminating Insights” brunch session, a central feature of our symposium on Research in Teaching and Learning (RiTL) at the University of Florida. This segment showcases a series of dynamic, succinct mini presentations, each lasting between 5-7 minutes. Led by guest speakers, these talks will dive into essential topics centered around research on teaching and learning.
Topics include:
The journey to publication, common pitfalls and best practices, strategic research processes, and more.
Presenters: Wendy Dahl, Lindsey Childs Kean, Elliot Douglas, Kevin Jones, Nia Morales, and Marsha Bryant.
11:00am – 11:45am Session 2 Posters
Members of the Teaching and Learning Community of Practice in Action (COPA), the Research in Teaching and Learning (RiTL) Faculty Learning Community (FLC), and the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) Scholar Program will share their RiTL projects with symposium attendees in a poster session format.
11:45am – 12:00pm Closing remarks
Join us as we conclude today’s activities and share some very exciting information on future RiTL opportunities!
Presenters
Marsha Bryant, Ph.D. | Professor & Distinguished Teaching Scholar
Marsha Bryant writes about modernism, poetry, visual culture, women’s writing, teaching, and craft beer. She received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities for her book Women’s Poetry and Popular Culture. Professor Bryant’s most popular courses are about modern British and American poetry, British PostPunk Cultures, and domesticity in the American 1950s. She also offers courses about teaching. Bryant is a member of UF’s Academy of Distinguished Teaching Scholars and a Doctoral Mentor awardee.
Lindsey Childs-Kean, Pharm.D., M.P.H., BCPS | Clinical Associate Professor
After completing her Pharm.D. from the University of Florida College of Pharmacy, Dr. Childs-Kean completed a PGY-1 residency at Tampa General Hospital in Tampa, FL, followed by a PGY-2 residency in Infectious Diseases Pharmacy at the South Texas Veterans Affairs Healthcare System in San Antonio, TX. Prior to joining UF full-time, she was the Hepatology Pharmacy Program Manager at Bay Pines VA Healthcare System in Bay Pines, FL. In that role, she established a pharmacist-led Hepatitis C clinic for patients throughout the Bay Pines System, including patients seen using Clinical Video Telehealth technology. Her professional interests include infectious diseases pharmacotherapy as well as professional development of students and new practitioners. Dr. Childs-Kean is active in many professional organizations at the state and national level, including the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and the Florida Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
Wendy J. Dahl, Ph.D. | Professor – Human Nutrition, Dietetics
Dr. Wendy Dahl is a Professor of Nutritional Sciences and a Nutrition Extension Specialist in the Food Science and Human Nutrition (FSHN) Department. Her primary teaching responsibilities are DIE6241 and DIE6242, graduate courses in advanced medical nutrition therapy, and undergraduate nutritional sciences electives. She has been recognized for teaching excellence by the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) and is a member of the University of Florida’s Academy of Distinguished Teaching Scholars. She currently serves as the FSHN Honors Coordinator. Dr. Dahl’s Extension efforts focus on increasing evidence-based knowledge of Extension educators, health professionals, and the general public related to wellness-promoting food and nutrition strategies and the promotion of healthful dietary behaviors, as well as malnutrition risk reduction in older adults. Dr. Dahl’s current research interests focus on the relationships between fiber, diet quality, probiotics, and the gut microbiome in health and disease.
Elliot Douglas, Ph.D. | Professor and EES Undergraduate Coordinator
Dr. Elliot P. Douglas is Professor of Environmental Engineering Sciences, Associate Director for Research in the UF Institute for Excellence in Engineering Education, and Distinguished Teaching Scholar at the University of Florida. His research interests are problem solving, cultures of inclusion, and environmental justice. He has served as Deputy Editor of the Journal of Engineering Education and Program Director for Engineering Education at the US National Science Foundation.
Kevin Jones, Ph.D. | Distinguished Professor, Frederick N. Rhines Professor of Materials Science & Engineering Materials Science & Engineering
Dr. Kevin S. Jones is a Distinguished Professor and holds the Fredrick N Rhines Chair in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) at UF. He received his BS in MSE from the University of Florida in 1980 and his MS and PhD in MSE in 1987 from the U.C. Berkeley. He has spent the past 35 years as a professor at the University of Florida studying electronic materials. He has published over 400 technical articles, most focusing on defects that form during the processing of semiconductors. He has graduated over 50 Ph.D. students, virtually all of whom are working in the semiconductor industry. He is a fellow of the Materials Research Society (MRS), the American Society of Materials (ASM) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). He has won many awards including the 1990 Presidential Young Investigator Award from NSF, the 2013 North American SEMI Award and the 2018 North America Award for Outstanding Contributions to Materials Education. In 2018 he was named the UF Teacher/Scholar of the Year (the highest award given at UF) and in 2020 he received the Michael Ashby Outstanding Materials Educator Award from ASEE for the development of The Impact of Materials on Society Class.
Nia Morales, Ph.D. | Assistant Professor | Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
Dr. Nia Morales is an assistant professor of human dimensions of wildlife in the University of Florida’s Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Department (WEC) where her teaching and research generally focus on the role of social science in the conservation of fish and wildlife as well as issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in conservation. Dr. Morales received her Bachelor’s and PhD from the University of Florida in WEC and has a Masters of Environmental Education from Florida Atlantic University.
Dr. Amy Parziale | Instructional Assistant Professor
Dr. Parziale teaches professional writing and communication in the Management Communication Center. Her 15+ years of experience has ranged from teaching writing and humanities at Rollins College and Tulane University to working in nonprofit administration and business ethics education. Her scholarship reflects this diversity of interests. Dr. Parziale enjoys connecting with her students to find passions they can bring to their writing and presentations.