SOTL Practitioners at UMaine

Are you a SoTL practitioner? Tell us about your work using the form and we will be happy to add you to our webpage!

Ayesha Maliwal Bundy

Ayesha Maliwal Bundy

  • Senior Lecturer
  • Discipline(s): Mathematics

What are your SoTL interests?

I am interested in researching how different learners engage with teaching practices within a learning environment, particularly in mathematics, and its intersectionality with equity and power dynamics. I am also interested in TA mentorship for graduate and undergraduate success.

Selected Work:

Meaders, C., [et al.]. (2021). What questions are on the minds of STEM undergraduate students and how can they be addressed? Frontiers in Education, 6, 1-8.


Stephanie Burnett

Stephanie Burnett

  • Associate Professor
  • Discipline(s): Horticulture

What are your SoTL interests?

I am interested in practical strategies to improve comprehension in hands on classes or labs as well as mindfulness to manage test anxiety in the classroom.


Photograph of Professor Heather Falconer
Heather M. Falconer

Heather M. Falconer

  • Associate Professor
  • Discipline(s): Writing Studies

What are your SoTL interests?

As a writing studies scholar, I am deeply committed to work and inquiry that serves a larger purpose. Primarily, this larger purpose has been educational and disciplinary reform as it relates to inequity. My research focuses on the intersections of culture, discipline, and pedagogy, with a special emphasis on discursive identity development and disciplinary enculturation.

Selected Work:

Falconer, H.M., & McClary, L. (Eds.) (2024). Inclusive STEM: Transforming disciplinary writing instruction for a socially just future. The WAC Clearinghouse; University Press of Colorado.

Falconer, H. M. (2022). Masking Inequalities with Good Intentions: Systemic Bias, Counterspaces, and Discourse Acquisition in STEM Education. https://doi.org/10.37514/pra-b.2022.1602

Falconer, H.M. (2019). “I think when I speak, I don’t sound like that”: The influence on social positioning on rhetorical skill development in science. Written Communication, 36(1), 9-37.


Photograph of professor Liliana Herakova
Liliana Herakova

Liliana Herakova

  • Associate Professor and Director of Communication Education
  • Discipline(s): Communication Studies

What are your SoTL interests?

TA preparation, mentoring, anti-oppressive and decolonial pedagogies, and critical approaches that examine how we make present and negotiate our identities and power relations in learning situations.

Selected Work:

Herakova, L. L., Buchanan, R., Pelletreau, K., Chien, M. T., & Roberge, K. (2024). Syllabus unfinishing(s)/Unfinished syllabus-ing as multi-sited feminist mentoring. In J. Pauly, L. Hernandez, & S. Munz (Eds.), Feminist Mentoring in Academia. Lexington books.

Herakova, L. L., Buchanan, R., Hakkola, L., & Ruben, M. (2024). Contouring caring: A faculty community of practice responding to a crisis of equity in higher education. In A. Atay & M. Congdon Jr. (Eds.), Critical Approaches to Crisis Communication in the Classroom and Higher Education Contexts. Lexington books.

Herakova, L., Hakkola, L., & Ruben, M. (2022). Breathing in, breathing out: The structure of conversational sense-making around equity in higher education teaching. Teaching in Higher Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2022.2034145

Herakova, L. L., & Congdon Jr., M. (2021). Dwelling in revolutionary intimacies: Mentoring and/as reflexivity. In A. Atay & D. Trebing (Eds.), Mentoring and Communication: Theories and Practices (pp. 51-72). Peter Lang Publishing. Bonnet, J., Herakova, L. L., & McAlexander, B. (2018). Play on? Comparing active learning techniques for information literacy instruction in the Public Speaking course. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 44(4), 500-510. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2018.04.01

Headshot of professor Anup in a maroon sweater and glasses
Anup K C

Anup K C

  • Postdoctoral Associate
  • Discipline(s): Parks, Recreation, and Tourism (School of Forestry)

What are your SoTL interests?

To understand the current research and scholarship in SOTL and collaborate with other like-minded teachers. To participate in pedagogical research in my topical area and improve my teaching through identification of new strategies. To engage actively in the production of scholarly research in pedagogical effectiveness and assessment.

Selected Work:

I am currently involved in a writing: How to teach Statistics effectively in a classroom consisting of students with/without basic knowledge of Statistics


Julia McGuire

Julia McGuire

  • Senior Lecturer in Biology
  • Discipline(s): Biology

What are your SoTL interests?

I am currently interested in: cross-disciplinary scholarship and collaboration to improve disciplinary learning; accessible teaching and learning; citations literacy; building better relationships (TAs, students, MLAs, instructors) in the classroom as a success and retention tool.


Headshot of professor Jennifer Newell Cai
Jennifer Newell-Caito

Jen Newell-Caito

  • Senior Lecturer of Biochemistry
  • Discipline(s): Biochemistry, Chemistry

What are your SoTL interests?

I am interested in investigating the effects of CURE laboratory modules, ungrading, and metacognition on student belonging, growth-mindset, and self-directed learning.

Selected Work:

Newell-Caito, J., & Bernard, E. (2024). Bonding with chemistry: A digital choose-your-own-adventure learning module. Journal of Chemical Education, 101(3), 1302–1309. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.3c00950

Meaders, [FirstInitial]., [et al.]. (2021). What questions are on the minds of STEM undergraduate students and how can they be addressed? Frontiers in Education, 6, 1-8.


Contact karen.pelletreau@maine.edu in regards to any information on this page.