Laurel Willingham-McLain, Ph.D. 
Director, Faculty Development & Teaching Excellence
willingham@duq.edu

Laurel has directed the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) at Duquesne University since 2006, and was Associate Director, 1999-2005.

She oversees instructional and professional development for faculty and graduate student TAs across Duquesne University.  She consults with faculty on their teaching and scholarship of teaching and learning, and with deans and department chairs on various higher education topics.

Laurel co-leads a series for academic chairs and co-chairs the academic learning outcomes assessment committee. She leads “scholarship of teaching and learning” faculty groups on such topics as multiculturalism and connecting difficult concepts to the real world of students.  She consults with faculty on their teaching/learning publications.

She and her family live in West Oakland and worship at Friendship Community Presbyterian Church, which has been committed to interracial worship and urban Christian community development since 1956.  She sings choral prayer on Sunday evenings at Heinz Chapel with the Pittsburgh Compline Choir.

Education

Ph.D.  French Linguistics.  Indiana University (Bloomington)
M.A.  French Linguistics.  Indiana University (Bloomington)
B.A.  French.  Asbury College

Selected Scholarship

“Using a University-wide Syllabus Study to Examine Learning Outcomes and Assessment,” Journal of Faculty Development, vol. 25, pp. 43-53, 2011.

“Educational Developers as Managers: New Directions in Leadership,” with Kathryn Plank.  Interactive session at the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education, Annual Conference, 2010.

“Making The Most Of Class Time: A No-Lecture Approach To Teaching An Introductory Course,” with Nancy Simpson.  International Society for Exploring Teaching and Learning, 2010.

“Developing Strategic Collaborations to Sustain and Invigorate Our Center” Interactive session at the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education, Annual Conference, 2009.

“Incorporating Course-Level Evidence of Student Learning into Program Assessment,” with Nancy Simpson.  Essays on Teaching Excellence, publication of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education, Vol. 18, No. 3, 2006-2007.

“Exploring the Application of Best Practices to TA Awards: One University’s Approach,” with Deborah Pollack.  To Improve the Academy, Vol. 24, 247-258, 2006.

Selected Professional Experience

Invited workshop presenter at regional colleges and organizations.

Member of Core Committee (i.e., board of directors), 2009-2012.; Program and then conference co-chair for the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education (POD) 2007 and 2008 conferences.  Chair, Grants Committee.

Oversaw introductory French courses and teaching assistants at Indiana University, taught French language and culture at Carnegie Mellon University, and taught English language at the University of Lille, in France.

Editorial assistant for the journal, Studies in Second Language Acquisition (Cambridge University Press) while a graduate student at Indiana University.