Curriculum (Re)design

Elon Lang, wearing a vertically blue-striped shirt, smiles while leaning against a red pole.

Elon Lang

Current Fellow
Liberal Arts Honors and Humanities Programs
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College of Liberal Arts
Initiative Focus
Curriculum (Re)design
Faculty Communication
Improving Teaching and Learning
Institutional Resource

Elon Lang is an Associate Professor of Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches a variety of undergraduate literature survey courses on ethical topics, medieval and early modern studies, dramatic literature, and Experiential Learning courses based in archival research. One example was his 2020-2021 courses called Archival Advocacy in which students learned how to bring archival techniques to bear on a real-world social justice issue facing the East Austin, Texas, community: the closing of one of Austin's historically Hispanic elementary schools.

Headshot of Marina Alexandrova in front of a bookcase.

Marina Alexandrova

Current Fellow
Slavic and Eurasian Studies
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College of Liberal Arts
Initiative Focus
Curriculum (Re)design
Student Success
Student Wellbeing

Dr. Alexandrova teaches a variety of courses on Russian history, culture, and language. Her current research interests include international modernism and avant-garde, Russian radical and revolutionary movements, spirituality in Imperial Russia, and, most recently, cultural and spiritual ties between Russia and the United States. Her Signature Course, UGS 303 "Tsars and Mystics," examines (un)Orthodox spiritual practices of Russian rulers from Ivan the Terrible to Nicholas II.

The head and torso of Niveen AbiGhannam, a woman with brown and blonde hair, smiling in a black dress.

Niveen AbiGhannam

Current Fellow
Electrical and Computer Engineering
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Cockrell School of Engineering
Initiative Focus
Curriculum (Re)design
Institutional Resource

Dr. Niveen AbiGhannam is a science communication researcher and educator whose work centers around the strategic and inclusive communication of technical knowledge. More specifically, her research seeks to understand individual, organizational, and social factors that can drive or hinder public engagement with STEM behaviors. She also examines the identities of publicly engaged scientists and engineers and the meanings that they associate with their engagement experiences. On the teaching front, Dr. AbiGhannam has taught Engineering Communication at UT since 2015.

The head and torso of Matt Bowers, a white man with a brown mustache and beard, smiling in a teal button up shirt.

Matt Bowers

Current Fellow
Kinesiology and Health Education
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College of Education
Initiative Focus
Curriculum (Re)design
Interdisciplinary Learning

Dr. Matt Bowers is an Associate Professor of Instruction in Sport Management at the University of Texas at Austin. He studies youth development in and through sports and has published research studies related to the impact of sport participation on creativity and the value of sandlot/unstructured sports for children. His work has been featured in Sports Illustrated, Wired, The Atlantic, and Wall Street Journal, SXSW, and the Aspen Institute’s Sport for All, Play For Life: A Playbook to Get Every Kid in the Game.

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Peer Mentor Leadership Project

Cohort
2021
Fellow(s)

The Peer Mentor Leadership Project (PMLP) empowers undergraduate students to explore and develop their leadership styles. Participants design and implement mentoring and leadership projects that align with their goals and values, while assessing the impact of their work. The program emphasizes introspection, reflection, and professional growth, helping students strengthen their resumes and leadership skills.

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Making New Scientists: Supporting the Training of Incoming Science Majors

Cohort
2021
Fellow(s)

Traditional science degree programs concentrate primarily on content and are not known for preparing their graduates with other skills needed for scientific careers.

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Digital Research Apprenticeship: Projects For Intersectional Justice

Cohort
2021
Fellow(s)

Research and scholarship in Digital Humanities applies technology to humanities questions and subjects technology

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Internship in the Media Industries

Cohort
2021
Fellow(s)

Internships have increasingly become a critical step in the college-to-career transition in the media industries and beyond.

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Race, Democracy, and Global Social Justice: How Studying Inequality and Vulnerability can Transform the World

Cohort
2020
Fellow(s)

My initiative will achieve better learning outcomes in undergraduate and graduate students in History and the LBJ School by examining the intersection of history and contemporary policy, specifically its disparate impact on communities of color. Currently, departments, centers, faculty and students work independently of one another and lack valuable opportunities to collaborate. Genuine collaboration has evolved into a rare and difficult concept.

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Mentored Research Learning: An Evaluation

Cohort
2020
Fellow(s)

Mentored research defies the traditional higher education approach, which separates research and teaching into distinct activities. Instead, mentored research fully integrates faculty research activities and student learning. In this approach, researchers do not simply carry out their research in isolation with a paid set of PhD-level research assistants. Further, students do not simply learn from in-class lectures or more traditional out-of-classroom experiences, such as study abroad.

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