Center for Academic Excellence

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Our Mission

The Center for Academic Excellence (CAE) supports innovation and scholarship in teaching and learning across Fairfield University. Our vision of education assumes that all of the diverse members of our university community serve as both teachers and learners who engage the world.

Drawing on the principles of Ignatian pedagogy, we encourage teaching that uses reflection on experience, action in the world, honest evaluation of results and awareness of context. Through learning communities, workshops, events, consultations with individuals and groups, we support faculty members and professional staff as they experiment with innovations in professional practice throughout their careers. We also work with leaders, departments and other campus constituencies to promote organizational development.

Our objective is to create a community that promotes the strategic vision by focusing on integrating learning across the core and in the majors, and connecting learning to life outside the classroom.

Affiliates

2023-2024 Academic Year

Dr. Michael Andreychik
Associate Professor of Psychology
mandreychik@fairfield.edu

Spring 2024

Dr. Daniel Libatique
Vincent J. Rosivach Assistant Professor of Classical Studies
dlibatique@fairfield.edu

Dr. Ruchika Sachdeva
Assistant Professor of the Practice in International Business
rsachdeva@fairfield.edu

Dr. Silvia Marsans-Sakly
Associate Professor of the Practice in History
smarsans-sakly@fairfield.edu

Dr. Jason A. Smith
Assistant Professor of the Practice in Philosophy
jsmith45@fairfield.edu

Dr. Aaron Van Dyke
Associate Professor of Chemistry
avandyke@fairfield.edu

Fall 2023

Dr. Julie Berrett-Abebe
Assistant Professor of Social Work
jberrett-abebe@fairfield.edu

Dr. Shahrokh Etemad
Professor and Chair of Mechanical Engineering
setemad@fairfield.edu

Dr. Rachel Robinson-Zetzer
Assistant Professor of the Practice of English, Assistant Director of Core Writing
rrobinson-zetzer@fairfield.edu

Dr. Zhu Zhang
Assistant Professor of Politics
zzhang@fairfield.edu

2022-2023 Academic Year

Dr. Michael Andreychik
Associate Professor of Psychology
mandreychik@fairfield.edu

Carol Ann Davis
Professor of English and Director of MFA in Creative Writing
cdavis13@fairfield.edu

Spring 2023

Yifeng (Felix) Fan
Assistant Professor of Management
Dolan School of Business
yfan@fairfield.edu

Nomalia Manna
Assistant Professor of Finance
​​​​​​​Dolan School of Business
nmanna@fairfield.edu

Christine Rodriguez
Professor of the Practice of Biology
​​​​​​​College of Arts and Sciences
crodriguez@fairfield.edu

Fall 2022

Sergio Adrada-Rafael
Associate Professor of Spanish and Linguistics
sadradarafael@fairfield.edu

John Aland
Assistant Professor of Accounting
jaland@fairfield.edu

Gwen Alphonso
Associate Professor and Chair of Politics
galphonso@fairfield.edu

Mary Laughlin
Assistant Professor of the Practice in English
mlaughlin@fairfield.edu

2021-2022 Academic Year

Dr. Michael Andreychik
Associate Professor of Psychology
E-mail: mandreychik@fairfield.edu

Fall 2021

Dr. Gwen Alphonso
Associate Professor of Politics and American Studies
E-mail: galphonso@fairfield.edu

Dr. Bryan Ripley Crandall
Associate Professor of English Education and Director of the Connecticut Writing Project
E-mail: bcrandall@fairfield.edu

Nick Kapoor
Instructor of Mathematics
E-mail: nkapoor@fairfield.edu

Spring 2022

Dr. Katsiaryna (Katya) Bardos
Associate Professor of Finance and Chair of the Finance Department
E-mail: kbardos@fairfield.edu

Dr. Kevin Feeney
Visiting Professor of Classical Studies
E-mail: kfeeney@fairfield.edu

Dr. Dilani Perera
Professor and Chair of Counseling Education
E-mail: dperera@fairfield.edu

2020-2021 Academic Year

Dr. Michael Andreychik
Associate Professor of Psychology
E-mail: mandreychik@fairfield.edu

Fall 2020

Dr. N. Sila Alan
Assistant Professor of Finance
E-mail: nalan@fairfield.edu

Dr. Joshua Elliott
Assistant Professor of the Practice and Program Director for Educational Technology
E-mail: jelliott@fairfield.edu

Dr. Christine Rodriguez
Assistant Professor of the Practice in Biology
E-mail: crodriguez@fairfield.edu

Spring 2021

Dr. Kendra Andrews
Assistant Professor of the Practice for Core Writing
E-mail: kandrews@fairfield.edu

Dr. Uma Balaji
Associate Professor and Chair of Biomedical Engineering and Electrical Engineering
E-mail: ubalaji@fairfield.edu

Dr. Tom Schmidt
Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies
E-mail: tschmidt@fairfield.edu

2019-2020 Academic Year

Dr. Michael Andreychik
Associate Professor of Psychology
E-mail: mandreychik@fairfield.edu

Fall 2019

Elizabeth Hohl
Assistant Professor of the Practice, History
E-mail: ehohl@fairfield.edu

Nicholas Kapoor
Visiting Instructor, Mathematics
E-mail: nicholas.kapoor@fairfield.edu

Matt Kubasik
Professor of Chemistry
E-mail: mkubasik@fairfield.edu

Spring 2020

Joshua Elliott
Assistant Professor of the Practice, Educational Technology
E-mail: jelliott@fairfield.edu

Shahrokh Etemad
Professor of Mechanical Engineering
E-mail: setemad@fairfield.edu

Jillian Smith-Carpenter
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
E-mail: jsmith-carpenter@fairfield.edu

Fall 2018

Dr. Michael Andreychik
Associate Professor of Psychology
E-mail: mandreychik@fairfield.edu

Dr. Susan Bartos
Assistant Professor of Nursing
E-mail: sbartos@fairfield.edu

Dr. Virginia Kelly
Professor of Counselor Education
E-Mail: vkelly@fairfield.edu

Spring 2019

Dr. Michael Andreychik
Associate Professor of Psychology
E-mail: mandreychik@fairfield.edu

Dr. Imara Liz Hernandez
Professor of the Practice in Modern Languages and Literatures
E-mail: ihernandez@fairfield.edu

Dr. John Jagtiani
Visiting Professor, Dolan School of Business
E-mail: ljagtiani@fairfield.edu

Dr. Joan Weiss
Professor of Mathematics
E-mail: weiss@fairfield.edu

Fall 2017

Dr. Michael Cavanaugh 
Associate Professor of Management
E-mail: mcavanaugh@fairfield.edu

Dr. Laura McSweeney
Associate Professor of Mathematics
E-mail: lmcsweeney@fairfield.edu

Mehdi Safari
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering
E-mail: msafariqariq@fairfield.edu

Spring 2018

Dr. Mike Andreychik
Associate Professor of Psychology
E-mail: mandreychik@fairfield.edu

Dr. Shannon Kelly
Associate Professor of English
E-mail: skelley@fairfield.edu

Dr. Valeria Martinez
Associate Professor of Finance
E-mail: vmartinez@fairfield.edu

Dr. Mike Andreychik
Associate Professor of Psychology
CAE Liaison
E-mail: mandreychik@fairfield.edu

Dr. Valeria Martinez
Associate Professor of Finance
CAE Liaison
E-mail: vmartinez@fairfield.edu

Dr. Kris Sealey
Associate Professor of Philosophy
CAE Liaison
E-mail: ksealey@fairfield.edu

Dr. Harsha Srinivas Sundarram
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering
CAE Liaison
E-mail: ssrinivassundarram@fairfield.edu

Dr. Betsy Bowen
Professor of English
CAE Liaison to Arts & Humanities
E-mail: bbowen@fairfield.edu

Dr. Laura McSweeney
Associate Professor of Mathematics
CAE Liaison to STEM & Nursing
E-mail: lmcsweeney@fairfield.edu

Dr. Kathy Nantz
Professor and Chair of Economics
CAE Liaison to Social & Behavioral Sciences, Business, and Education
E-mail: nantz@fairfield.edu

Dr. Valeria Martinez
Associate Professor of Finance

Dr. Glenn Sauer
Associate Professor of Biology

Dr. Emily Smith
Associate Professor of English Education

Contacts & Location

Newsletter

Spring 2022 (Volume 12, Issue 2)

Fall 2021 (Volume 12, Issue 1)

Spring 2021 (Volume 11, Issue 2)

What We Do

The CAE offers opportunities for professional and organizational development through various activities (e.g., workshops, group or individual consultations, annual conference, institutes) and resources (e.g., library books). Below you will find an overview of the CAE's offerings.

Professional Development Programs

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Professional Development Programs

Communities of Practice
The CAE facilitates the formation of various communities of practice across campus. These informal communities include: teaching circles, writing circles, and mentoring circles, all of which are intended to assist in building networks and help individuals meet their teaching and scholarship goals.

Faculty Leadership Fellows
Beginning in Fall 2012, the CAE's Leadership Development program will work to build campus expertise and cultivate campus leadership for teaching and learning. Fellows will gain hands-on experience through ongoing CAE leadership roles in mentoring, campus partnerships and collaborations, sustained learning communities, integrative teaching and learning, engaged teaching and scholarship, strategic planning, grant writing, assessment, conference and event planning and management, SoTL research and publishing and other CAE endeavors.

New Faculty Mentor Program
Every year the CAE sponsors a new faculty mentoring program in which incoming faculty members are paired with tenured colleagues. Mentors are selected from outside the new faculty member’s department in consultation with the department chair and dean. Goals of the Mentoring Program are to help new faculty: (a) meet and network with other faculty and staff; (b) become familiar with university culture, and resources; and (c) adjust to the new environment and become active members of the university community.

Organizational Development

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Organizational Development

The CAE is available for group consultations on a variety of topics pertaining to faculty, instructional (course and curriculum design, implementation, and evaluation), and organizational development (focus on the facilitation and implementation of institutional strategic initiatives).

To schedule a group consultation, please e-mail the CAE.

Email Us

Individual Consultations

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Individual Consultations

The CAE offers consultations to individuals on a variety of topics whether in-person, over the phone, or via e-mail. These consultations are confidential. Previous consultation topics include: the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), interpreting student evaluations, discussing classroom strategies and pedagogies, elements of course design.

Mid-semester Assessment of Teaching (MAT) by appointment (Fall and Spring Semesters)

MATs are confidential, informal, off-the-record, formative feedback from your students about which processes in the classroom are helping them learn and which would help them more. For more information on the MAT procedures, please view our informational MAT handout (PDF).

To schedule a MAT for your course, look for the call from the CAE in your inbox.

*Confidentiality Policy:
To retain our formative / improvement function, we do not reveal which individuals have used our services without prior consent. We also do not advocate for or argue against promotion, tenure or retention of faculty.

To schedule a consultation, please e-mail the CAE.

Email Us

Workshops & Events

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Workshops & Events

Workshops on Teaching & Learning

Every academic year the CAE hosts or co-hosts workshops for faculty and professional staff on a variety of teaching and learning topics. Previous topics include: Critical Thinking, Classroom Discussion, Engaging Students through Active Learning Strategies, IDEA Student Ratings of Instruction, Community Engagement as Scholarship, Classroom Assessment Techniques.

Institutes

The CAE regularly hosts Institutes focused on a range of topics (e.g., course design, online course development, assessment, dossier preparation). The multi-day Course Design Institutes offer individual faculty the opportunity to design new courses or revise a course, while the Online Course Design Institute is run over four-weeks as a completely asynchronous course.

View Upcoming Workshops & Events

Teaching Resources

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Teaching Resources

The Center for Academic Excellence maintains an extensive website for University faculty and staff that is continually updated with new resources on a wide range of teaching topics. Among other items, the site contains sample syllabi; reference materials on course design, active learning, assessment, and online teaching; and information on, and registration links for, all of our upcoming events. 

You can visit the CAE internal website at https://fairfield0.sharepoint.com/sites/cae. Please note that you'll be asked to log in using your NetID Username and Password.

View CAE Resource Site

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