DET/CHE 2020 Keynote Speakers

Dr. Frank Harris III - Dec. 2, 10:00-10:55 am

Employing Culturally Affirming and Equity-Minded Teaching and Learning Practices to Advance Institutional Equity

Keynote Details: Faculty play an essential role in institutional efforts to close equity gaps and achieve student success, yet many campuses struggle to engage a broad constituency of faculty in these efforts, leaving many to wonder, “What is my role and responsibility in advancing equity efforts in my classes and beyond?” Thus, in this address, Frank will: (a) discuss the role all faculty must embrace to advance and achieve institutional equity and (b) propose culturally affirming teaching and learning strategies that must be employed by all classroom faculty to address inequity and disproportionate impact.

Dr. Frank Harris III is a professor of postsecondary education and Co-Director of the Community College Equity Assessment Lab (CCEAL) at San Diego State University. He is best known for his expertise in racial [in]equity in postsecondary education and has made important contributions to knowledge about college student development and the social construction of gender and race in college contexts. His work prioritizes populations that have been historically underrepresented and underserved in education.

Harris’s scholarship has been published in leading journals for higher education and student affairs research and practice. He has also delivered more than 1,000 academic and professional presentations throughout his career. His commentary has been sought by several high-profile media outlets, including CNN, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, to name a few. Harris is also regularly consulted by colleges and universities across the country for his expertise on student equity, student success, and institutional transformation.

Before joining the faculty at San Diego State, Harris worked as a student affairs educator and college administrator in the areas of student affairs administration, student crisis support and advocacy, new student orientation programs, multicultural student affairs, academic advising, and enrollment services. He also served as an adjunct professor of speech communication at Los Angeles Trade Technical College. Harris earned a bachelor’s degree in communication studies at Loyola Marymount University, a master’s degree in speech communication at California State University Northridge, and a doctorate in higher education from the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California.

Twitter: @Fharris3
Instagram: @frank.h3

Viji Sathy and Kelly Hogan - Dec. 2, 4:00-5:00 pm

Structuring the Classroom for Inclusion

Keynote Details: Teaching strategies that emphasize structured active learning can create more equitable classrooms and improve learning for all students. Educational technologies make it possible for instructors to use a variety of inclusive teaching techniques (such as supporting universal design and facilitating synchronous discussions in which everyone participates equitably). After providing a framework for inclusive teaching, Professors Kelly Hogan and Viji Sathy of the University of North Carolina will draw upon their own teaching experiences and educational research to model various technology-based strategies that can be readily implemented with any discipline or class size to help all students achieve to their potentials.

Dr. Kelly Hogan and Dr. Viji Sathy are both award winning instructors with a combined 25+ years in the classroom at the University of North Carolina. They are passionate about student success, equity, and inclusion in the classroom. They have expertise on inclusive techniques and active learning in any size crowd, because both teach courses routinely with hundreds of students. On their campus, they lead innovative classroom and diversity administrative initiatives that benefit all students, faculty, and staff. Both are leading the campus in curriculum reforms, bringing course-based undergraduate research experiences and makerspace courses to all disciplines.

Kelly and Viji have shared their work with faculty through hands-on workshops at numerous types of institutions. Both are featured experts in ACUE’s Course on Teaching Effectiveness, have been active in the scholarship of teaching and learning in their respective disciplines of biology and statistics, and their work has been featured in a number of national publications such as The Chronicle of Higher Education and the New York Times.

Twitter: @vijisathy @DrMrsKellyHogan #inclusiveteaching #inclusiveclassrooms

Pronouns and Pronunciation: Both Drs. Hogan and Sathy use the pronouns she, her and hers.
Dr. Sathy’s name is pronounced Viji (rhymes with Pidgey) Sathy (rhymes with Cathy). You can listen to an audio pronunciation.

Tom Tobin - Dec. 3, 9:00-10:00 am

Address Disruption and Lower Barriers with Universal Design

Keynote Details: The challenges of shifting to remote instruction have highlighted inequities and barriers for learners, some new and some that have existed for a long time. For nearly 25 years, some of us in higher education have been using technology-mediated learning environments to lower barriers and address opportunity gaps for our learners. Today, it’s no longer an optional practice: everyone needs to know how to “toggle” between in-person instruction and technology-mediated learning, all while addressing the social-justice aspects of learning (Fritzgerald, 2020) with and through technology.

To help make educational materials and practices inclusive and useful for all learners, this interactive keynote radically reflects on how instructors can adopt Universal Design for Learning in order to create learning interactions that provide students with broader access to learning and more time for study and practice in their busy days. Paradoxically, this involves broadening our focus beyond service to learners with disabilities, into a larger ease-of-use/general-inclusion framework.

Dr. Thomas J. Tobin is the Program Area Director for Distance Teaching & Learning on the Learning Design, Development, & Innovation (LDDI) team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as an internationally recognized speaker and author on quality in technology-enhanced education, especially copyright, evaluation of teaching practice, academic integrity, and accessibility/universal design for learning.

He holds a Ph.D. in English literature, a second master’s degree in information science, and professional certifications in project management (PMP), online teaching (MOT), Quality Matters (QM), and accessibility core competencies (CPACC).

Tom serves on the editorial boards of InSight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching, the Journal of Interactive Online Learning, and the Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration.

His books include:

Evaluating Online Teaching: Implementing Best Practices (2015) with Jean Mandernach and Ann H. Taylor.
Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education (2018) with Kirsten Behling.
Going Alt-Ac: A Guide to Alternative Academic Careers (2020) with Katie Linder and Kevin Kelly.