The Office of Instruction announces four faculty receiving a 2019 Creative Teaching Award. Joseph Goetz (Financial Planning, Housing and Consumer Economics), Keith Herndon (Journalism), Mark Huber (Management Information Systems) and Sarah Shannon (Sociology). The four faculty were notified in person with a surprise visit from Vice President Rahul Shrivastav and associate vice presidents Naomi Norman and William Vencill.
The Creative Teaching Awards recognize UGA faculty for excellence in developing and implementing creative teaching methods to improve student learning. These awards are presented annually on behalf of the Office of Instruction, the Center for Teaching and Learning, and the Office of the Provost to faculty who have demonstrated either the use of innovative technology or pedagogy that extends learning beyond the traditional classroom, or creative implementation of subject matter that has significantly improved student learning outcomes in their courses.
Joseph Goetz, associate professor in Financial Planning, Housing and Consumer Economics, fosters student engagement creatively through experiential learning. He developed the ASPIRE Clinic, a teaching center that is the first of its kind in the country, through which he created the nation’s first clinical practicum, service-learning course in financial planning. Under his direct supervision during the past seven years, over 120 students have provided more than 1,000 sessions of pro-bono financial planning and counseling services to 400+ couples or individuals from the local community. Students are actively engaged in all the steps of the financial planning process and receive regular feedback from their peers and Dr. Goetz.
Keith Herndon, professor of practice in the Grady College of Journalism, has engaged nearly 200 students since 2013 through two highly successful extracurricular programs to help them become better prepared to tackle real-world changes in an ever-changing media market. Each year, eighteen Grady Mobile News Lab students experiment with new video editing technologies using virtual reality with funding Herndon secured from the National Association of Broadcasters. Another 15 faculty-nominated students in the James M. Cox Jr. Institute for Journalism Innovation gain career perspectives each year as emerging leaders through eight weeks of training and reflection on conflict resolution and decision making, as well as leadership in the context of a chaotic news media.
Mark W. Huber, senior lecturer in Management Information Systems, created a unique approach to teaching his MIST 5770 Information Security Management course, offered every semester to 35 undergraduate students. Dr. Huber integrates custom cases with a flipped classroom approach, weekly involvement by practicing experts from industry, and a final case competition sponsored by PricewatershouseCoopers, LLC. Cases, associated presentations, and remote call-in meetings provide “realistic” in-class experiences to facilitate a deeper understanding of concepts and to foster critical thinking. The challenge of managing meetings and providing consulting advice to clients, who sometimes are intentionally difficult, is an invaluable experience for students.
Sarah Shannon, assistant professor in the Department of Sociology, launched her SOCI4470S service-learning course, the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, in collaboration with the local Clarke County Sheriff’s Office, to exchange ideas and perceptions about crime and justice, the criminal justice system, and imprisonment, from both personal and psychological perspectives. One student called the class “the most meaningful academic and social experience of my time at UGA.” An incarcerated participant likewise reflected on the course’s impact, saying “Inside-Out has given me some hope that positive change may eventually seep into the criminal justice system.”