�ճ����Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL) is pleased to announce that Tracey Thurnes, professor and academic operations coordinator of physician assistant studies, has been selected as the inaugural CATL Pedagogy Fellow for Teaching and Learning in Graduate and Professional Programs. Beginning in August 2026, Thurnes will serve a two-year term supporting faculty development and advancing excellence in teaching and learning across ������Ƶ’s graduate and professional programs.

Thurnes brings extensive experience in graduate education, curriculum design, assessment and student mentorship to this new role. Throughout her career in the Department of Physician Assistant Studies, she has designed and led courses focused on clinical medicine, clinical reasoning, and case-based learning while mentoring graduate students through research and capstone projects. Her teaching philosophy emphasizes applied learning, critical thinking, reflection, and professional identity development—key components of effective graduate and professional education. She has been recognized for her commitment to teaching and mentorship through the School of Health Sciences Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring Award. Thurnes recognizes that “Excellence in graduate and professional education is not defined solely by content expertise. It also depends on the ability to design learning environments that challenge and support students as they grow into confident professionals.”

Thurnes has been an active participant and contributor to faculty development initiatives across the university. She has completed CATL’s Inclusive Teaching Certificate program and participated in the Neurodiversity Summer Institute, experiences that have informed her approach to creating inclusive and accessible learning environments. In addition, her work with the Center for Design Thinking as both a Curricular and Research Catalyst has provided opportunities to facilitate workshops and collaborate with faculty from a wide range of disciplines. Through leadership roles including interim director of curriculum and instruction for physician assistant studies, chair of Academic Council, and director of the Accelerated Pathways Program, she has developed a broad perspective on teaching, learning, and student success across the university.

As Pedagogy Fellow, Thurnes will work closely with CATL colleagues to develop workshops, consultations and resources that support faculty teaching graduate and professional students across ������Ƶ. She is particularly interested in expanding support for assessment and feedback practices, case-based and experiential learning, student well-being, professional identity formation and inclusive teaching. Through this work, she hopes to create meaningful opportunities for faculty to share ideas, reflect on their teaching, and implement evidence-based strategies that enhance student learning and success.

Each spring, the (CEL), the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL), the Center for Research on Global Engagement (CRGE) and the Center for Writing Excellence (CWE) co-sponsor this annual showcase of faculty, staff, and student research on teaching and learning. The presenters have all participated in or been supported by SoTL programming across these centers. The event features a poster session and catered reception, offering the campus community an opportunity to engage with studies of innovative pedagogical work and reflect on the impact of SoTL on scholarly teaching practices across disciplines.

This year’s SoTL showcase brings together interdisciplinary projects exploring topics such as students-as-partners collaborations, equity and belonging in STEM, global approaches to intercultural learning and integrating GenAI into teaching and learning.

From CEL, the  will present on their students’ experience co-leading CEL’s. They’ll highlight the multi-institutional inquiry at the heart of three multi-year research seminars, as well as the benefits of student-faculty/staff co-inquiry for both student and faculty/staff partners.

Representing CATL, Kelsey Bitting, assistant professor of environmental studies, and Jessica Merricks, associate professor of biology, will present their 2025-2027 CATL Scholar research on the impacts of community-engaged courses on first-generation students, students of color and women in STEM disciplines. Additionally, Amanda Chunco, associate professor of environmental students and 2024-2026 CATL Scholar, will present her work on grading practices and student belonging in STEM.

From the CRGE, Bill Burress, director of assessment and accreditation for the Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education and CRGE pre-doctoral scholar, will present research on international mobility in teacher preparation across the United States and Italy. Emily Moser, program coordinator for CEL and CATL; Michael Carignan, professor of history; and Lynn Huber, professor of religious studies, recipients of a CRGE faculty-staff research grant, will present their collaborative project exploring visual inquiry methods as a tool to foster and assess intercultural competence in global contexts.

����������Գپ��Բ����ٳ����Center for Writing Excellence, Shannon Duvall, professor of computer science and interim associate dean for College of Arts and Sciences will present her project “Exploring Large Language Models for Teaching and Accessibility.”

All faculty, staff and students are invited to attend and engage with presenters during this celebration of the scholarship of teaching and learning at ������Ƶ.

This year’s conference theme, “Exploring the Changing Landscapes of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning,” provided a timely backdrop for ������Ƶ presenters whose work highlights curiosity-driven learning, student development, faculty development, and the integration of new technologies in teaching. ISSOTL brings together scholars and educators from around the world, creating a rich environment for cross-institutional conversation and collaboration.

������Ƶ’s presence was visible across posters, papers, roundtables, and workshops throughout the conference, reflecting the breadth of scholarly teaching on campus.

Presentations included:

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• “Weaving Knowledge: The Role of Undergraduate Teaching Assistants in STEM Learning Communities” by Jen Uno, associate professor of biology, and associate director of CATL
• “Inviting Curiosity – Exploring Lingering Questions with I Wonder Projects” by Marna Winter, associate teaching professor of education and associate director of CATL
• “Cultivating Student Engagement, Agency, and Peer Relationships: A Query Into Belonging and Mattering” by Evan Small, assistant teaching professor of wellness

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• “Fostering Inclusive Learning through Relational Pedagogy: Centering Student Voice and Choice into the Classroom” by Evan Small, Marna Winter and Allison Bryan, director of the curriculum resources center and associate librarian
• “Rooting Deep and Reaching Skyward: Growing Trust in University Classrooms” by Jill McSweeney, assistant director for CATL and assistant professor of wellness; Debra Grantham, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; Ted Murcray, California Baptist University, Riverside, California; Laurel Schut, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; and Kathryn Sutherland, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
• “ChatGPT, give me an engaging title for my ISSOTL session: Can AI be a bridge into SoTL?” By Jill McSweeney, Jen Uno and Matt Wittstein, associate professor of exercise science and director of neuroscience

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• • “Methodologically Sound, or the Sound of Methodology: Podcast Peer Review as Disruption and Discovery” by Jill McSweeney and Derrit Mason, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
  • “New Horizons of Belonging: Disciplinary Approaches to Building Classroom Community” by Marna Winter, Jen Uno and Jill McSweeney
  • “Pedagogies of Relevance: Shifting Student Perceptions of Literary Study” by Erin Pearson, associate professor of English and 2023-2025 CATL Scholar
  • “When Rivers Converge or Diverge: A Dyadic Analysis of Relational (Mis)Alignment in Pedagogical Partnership” by Sarah Bunnell, director of CATL and associate professor of psychology and Kristen Luschen, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts.

Workshops   

• “Creating Institutional Cultures that Center SoTL: Continuing an Exploration of “Visions of the Possible” by Sarah Bunnell, Jen Uno, Marna Winter, Jill McSweeney, with Paul Hanstedt, Jake Wright, and Collins Amy of University of Minnesota Rochester, Rochester, Minnesota
• “Rethinking Student Feedback: Co-Creating Meaningful and Transformative Evaluations” by Jill McSweeney and Nira Rahman, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia 

Together, these sessions illustrate the depth and diversity of ������Ƶ’s recent contributions to the international landscape of the scholarship of teaching and learning.

The ISSOTL conference provided opportunities not only to share research, but also to learn with international partners, allowing faculty to return to campus with new ideas that will enrich teaching and learning on campus. ������Ƶ’s strong presence at ISSOTL 2025 reflects the culture of inquiry, collaboration, and innovation that shapes the institution’s approach to engaged learning.

Their project, “Incorporating Standards-Based Grading in University Physics I and II,” seeks to replace traditional point-based grading systems with a more transparent, equitable approach that focuses on mastery and growth.

“We want assessments to be part of the learning process, not just the end of it,” said Kamela. “Students learn more deeply when they know exactly what they’re expected to master.”

Altmann and Kamela will utilize Standards-Based Grading, or SBG, which emphasizes learning goals rather than accumulated points. With SBG, instead of averaging scores from quizzes, homework, and exams, students will be evaluated on how well they’ve mastered specific skills and concepts with opportunities to reassess and improve. While SBG is not new for K-12 education (see ), it is groundbreaking for college-level physics.

Over the next two years, Altmann and Kamela will refine and expand the SBG system across both of their introductory physics courses, which serve as foundational classes for majors in physics, astronomy and astrophysics. They will design comprehensive learning standards, create new assessment frameworks, and analyze outcomes using national benchmarks for conceptual understanding and problem-solving.

Altmann and Kamela have already piloted their approach to assessment in their University Physics II courses, with positive results. Rather than being discouraged by a single test score, students could see exactly which concepts they had mastered and which needed more work. Many students described this shift in assessment as motivating and confidence-building. The opportunity to reassess and demonstrate growth gave students a stronger sense of ownership over their learning and encouraged persistence in tackling challenging material.

“Traditional grading can let students ‘get by’ without true mastery,” Altmann said. “We’re building a system that makes learning the focus.”

The CATL Scholar appointment will provide course release time and research support, allowing the pair to dive deeply into their work and to share what they learn. They plan to present findings at American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) conferences and publish in peer-reviewed journals, contributing to the broader movement for more meaningful and equitable assessment in STEM education.

“Being a CATL Scholar is really about collaboration,” Altmann said. “It’s a chance to connect with colleagues who are also reimagining what teaching and learning can be.”

For both professors, the project builds on decades of dedication to teaching excellence. Altmann has taught at ������Ƶ for 23 years, Kamela for 26. Together, they’ve watched hundreds of students wrestle with physics’ abstract concepts. Many educators like them have seen how grading systems can either help or hinder real understanding.

“Physics is about curiosity and persistence,” Kamela reflected. “We want our grading to reward those same qualities — to make students feel that every step they take toward understanding matters.”

In all, through this work, they hope to do more than improve a single course; rather, they aim to spark conversations about how assessment shapes learning at ������Ƶ and beyond.