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
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
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.
Heather M. Falconer
Assistant 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.
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
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
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.
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.
Contacts CITL Admin Rebecca Morgan @ rebecca.m.morgan@maine.edu in regards to any information on this page.