Changes are coming to the Adams Center for Teaching and Learning as a result of personnel changes and vacancies.
“The search committee for the next Director of the Adams Center began its work in January,” said Dr. John Weaver, dean of library and educational technologies.
The committee consists of seven professors from multiple disciplines on campus. Weaver aims to fill the position by end of the calendar year.
“I know the search committee is committed to finding the right person for this important role, even if it requires an extended search,” he said.
Dwayne Harapnuik, former director of faculty enrichment in the Adams Center, left during the summer to become assistant provost at Concordia University College of Alberta in Canada. And Jackie Hughes, who served as digital media designer, left to become instructional technology coordinator at Ferris State University in Michigan. Dr. Nancy Shankle is serving as the interim Director of the Adams Center.
“Spots will be filled,” said Nuria Hall, administrative assistant in the Adams Center. “We’re waiting to see what happens with the budget.”
Sally Sanchez, who served as assistant instruction designer for ACU Online, was laid off at the beginning of the school year. She was recently rehired as the new summer online manager in the Adams Center.
“I’m here to support faculty in Blackboard, instructional design and as an educational media developer,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez has already met with half-a-dozen teachers this month, but she expects her position requirements and involvement to change in the upcoming year.
“I anticipate that my role will move toward more instructional design,” she said. “The change comes with block tuition.”
The switch to block tuition in the fall will result in more classes offered during the summer. For Sanchez, that means the development of new courses and the revamping of others.
The Adams Center helps improve classroom technology and encourages faculty to do research. Sanchez found a unique approach to the job through working with “subject matter experts” – teachers – to help them relate to students. “They know their stuff, but they don’t know how to impart it so that a student will grasp it,” Sanchez said. “We want [students] to get it and enjoy getting it.”
Despite the changing of the guards in the Adams Center and the still vacant position, Hall is confident that the job will still be done.
“If a faculty member needs something, we’ll find a way to meet that need,” she said.
