Christine Rener

• Leadership of teaching and learning initiatives across the university
• Workshops and consultations 
• Supervise the Pew FTLC Staff

Christine serves as Director of the Pew FTLC and Vice Provost for Instructional Development and Innovation. As such, she works with a large number of committees, task forces, and other groups across campus to promote and support innovative teaching and learning practices. She develops and leads workshops and conferences and consults with individuals, groups and departments.

Email: [email protected]

Fred Antczak

• Faculty Learning Community facilitation
• Special Projects

After sixteen years as Dean of Grand Valley's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Fred joins the FTLC to work on Faculty Learning Communities that involve leadership development, including the current FLC on Isabel Wilkerson's Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. He will also work on special projects for the FTLC and for the Provost.

Patty Bolea

• Early career mentoring
• Impact of Mental Health on teaching and learning

This year Patty is looking forward to supporting faculty across campus in their efforts to find support through mentoring and consultations. Additionally, continued work on the Minds That Matter initiative, focused on teaching strategies and learning issues in the classroom.

Email: [email protected]

David Eick

• Coordinator, Teaching Innovation Grant Program
• Faculty Learning Community Facilitator: “Effective Teaching—Classic and Contemporary Thought" Series
• Mentor, First-Year Faculty Mentoring Community
• Mid-Semester Interviews about Teaching
• Game-Based Learning, including Reacting to the Past
• Teaching Innovation Cultivation

Got an idea for a Teaching Innovation Grant? Let’s talk! I will shepherd you through the process and help you make your application more competitive.

Email: [email protected]

Dana Munk

• Inclusive classrooms and course design
• Licensed Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) administrator
• Faculty Social Identity
• Early and mid-career faculty mentoring

This year, Dana will continue her work as an Inclusive Excellence Faculty Fellow, a position developed in collaboration with the Division of Inclusion and Equity. Dana will facilitate an Inclusive Excellence Teaching Institute, mentor new faculty, organize faculty-student Community Reading Project Book Circles, and facilitate a faculty learning community for mid-career faculty.

Email: [email protected]

Tom Pentecost

• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
• Open Education Resources
• Evidence-based Teaching in first year courses

As a Faculty Fellow with a background in Discipline Based Education Research (DBER), Tom will provide support for faculty in the development and implementation of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning projects. This will include support during the entire process from Human Subjects review to data analysis. He will also continue to work with the Library on increasing the adoption and creation of Open Educational Resources by faculty at GVSU. Finally, he will provide support and guidance for faculty in the First Year Learning Community and other projects that strengthen the use of evidence-based teaching practices in the first-year courses.

Email: [email protected]

Matt Ruen

Matt Ruen (University Libraries) is joining the Pew Faculty Teaching and Learning Center as a Faculty in Residence, focusing on efforts to encourage the use and creation of Open Educational Resources (OER). Matt is supporting the FTLC Advisory Committee’s work to develop incentives for OER adoption and will be exploring how OER creation intersects with GVSU’s definition of scholarly and creative activity. He is also developing a series of professional development modules for faculty focusing on scholarly communications topics: copyright and fair use, open access, OER, and scholarly publishing in general.

Email: [email protected]

Ellen Shupe

Ellen works with faculty from across the institution interested in international education activities, including but not limited to, project-base learning, virtual exchanges, and Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL). She leads and curates both on-campus opportunities (consultations, workshops, resource collections, grants) and off-campus events (conferences, institutes).

Email: [email protected]

Kathryn Stieler

• Faculty Learning Communities (FLC) Program
• Personnel Portfolio Workshops
• Teaching Life Retreat Facilitation

In 2022-23, Kathryn will organize current Faculty Learning Communities, recruit facilitators for potential future FLCs, and facilitate her own FLC on the topic of time management. Please contact Kathryn if you have an interest in a particular topic around teaching and learning that you would like to explore more deeply in a learning community. Kathryn will facilitate Personnel Portfolio Workshops in the Fall and Spring semesters for faculty preparing for contract renewal, tenure and/or promotion. Kathryn will facilitate virtual Teaching Life Retreats on topics specifically relevant during the pandemic.

Email: [email protected]

Heather Wallace

Heather focuses on programs that explore new curricular models that include one or more of the following elements: a foundational interdisciplinarity, online or hybrid delivery, low-residency, or accelerated modalities. She also provides leadership, resources, and engagement opportunities in the form on on-campus opportunities (consultations, workshops, resource collections, grants) and on- or off-campus events (conferences, institutes).

Email: [email protected]

Barb Blankemeier

• Grant Program Support
• Teaching Award Support
• Budget Management
• Databases 

As the Pew FTLC administrative assistant and technical liaison, Barb manages the grant system from application through payment of expenses, including troubleshooting, testing and implementing system changes. She maintains the budgets associated with FTLC activities and is responsible for guiding faculty and staff though the annual Faculty Teaching Excellence Award nomination and award process. Barb is also responsible for database updates and analysis and enjoys mentoring Graduate Students on departmental data analytics projects. 

Email: [email protected]

Raquel Ramirez

• FTLC Program Support & Project Management
• New Faculty Orientation
• Social Media, Marketing, and Promotions
• Website content and Center activity data

Raquel Ramirez is new to the Pew FTLC and serves as the Project Coordinator for the Center.  As such she assists with the planning, coordination, and execution of the many programs, initiatives, and services the FTLC provides.  These include New Faculty Orientation, Faculty Learning Communities, Mentoring Communities, FacultyBadges@GVSU, New Faculty Institute, and Fall Conference on Teaching & Learning.  Additionally, as the liaison to University Marketing and University Communications, she is responsible for the Center’s web content and social media presence.  She’s excited to interact with the faculty at GVSU and eager to become a part of the community!

Email:  [email protected]