Mentoring and Teaching Philosophy Statement
Quality education of young people in any community is essential. A young person’s happiness is often closely tied to discovery of their inherent talents and abilities, especially when followed by opportunities to cultivate and apply new skills to personal and community improvement.
Adulthood can be initiated through educational experiences in classroom activities and co-curricular activities. An optimal learning environment for students and teacher/mentor interaction is based on an expectation of student motivation, willingness on the part of both teacher and student to learn together, the understanding and sharing of knowledge, use of efficient transfer of knowledge methods, and regard for differing social point-of-view perspectives.  Each of these components must be considered, and efforts must be made to incorporate them into any course, in order to create a positive learning setting for students.
Students arrive at university with a multitude of expectations, perspectives, and past classroom experiences.  This personal history often defines or controls individual student behavior and can prejudge student expectations.  Setting a classroom environment which defines and explicitly states expectations of student participation and performance, asking each student to reflect on what preceded this moment in their learning journey, consideration of why and how each class convenes, preparing students to learn, guiding the content, and finally accepting responsibility for and meeting course objectives, are all part of moving on through a university education and toward a successful future.  This message of educational success and relevance is most effectively communicated and carried out through building an effective and trusting relationship between teacher and students, based on mutual intellectual excitement and interpersonal rapport.
Teaching is about engaging an audience and sharing information – but that is just the start.  My goal is for students to find a way to authentically engage with the course content using resources that include information discussed in class meetings, independent work on assignments, and most importantly through peer-to-peer review - sharing the learning journey.
There are 2 essential parts in the development of a professional teacher.  First is competency within the area of study and course topics, and second is an understanding of how people communicate effectively.  It is an essential organizational task for the instructor to define and reflect on what knowledge forms the essence of their course topic.  That is the easy part of course development.  For a professional teacher to be successful, one must recognize and use methods to organize and convey information using proven cognitive processes with consideration of the confines of a classroom setting.
Few people are naturally born excellent teachers, and I have benefitted from forgoing ego and nurturing vulnerability toward finding a way to “know more” about professional teaching.  My continuing journey toward professional teacher excellence asks me to learn and develop effective methods to convey information to students, and to develop the means to seamlessly lead students to a place of competency with course content.  It is a journey that continues with every course I teach and I look forward to sharing this journey with every student.

Selected Professional Development activity related to effective teaching:
Designing Courses for More Significant Learning: L. Dee Fink, PhD, International Consultant in Higher Education, Former Director, Instructional Development Program, University of Oklahoma. Author of: Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses, UofL TILL workshop: February 2018
Frontiers of Engineering Education Symposium – National Academy of Engineering, Irvine, CA, Symposium mission: Recognizes accomplishments, facilitates learning, broadens collaboration and promotes dissemination of pioneering practices in engineering education, October 2015
National Effective Teaching Institute (NETI) – Phase II, Inquiry-based learning, cooperative learning, and problem-based learning, sponsor: ASEE and NSF, Seattle, September 2012
Understanding Today's Learners: Meet Generation NeXt, “Generation NeXt: Today's Postmodern Student-Meeting, Teaching, and Serving,” presenter: Dr. Mark Taylor, Delphi Center for Teaching and Learning, Continuing and Professional Education, February 2011
Engineering Inclusive Teaching, Active Learning – Live and Online, sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) Education Foundation, webinar, April 2015
Body Language, Image Theatre workshop – Theatre of the Oppressed. Augusto Boal: by Raven Railey, University of Louisville, Theatre Arts Dept., September 2010
ASCE Exceed Teaching Workshop, sponsor: ASCE, Univ. Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, July 2002
SUCCEED Outcomes Assessment Workshop, sponsor: NSF, Washington, D.C., November 1998
National Effective Teaching Institute (NETI), sponsor: ASEE and NSF, Seattle, June 1998
Delphi U - Teaching Online Courses, Delphi Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Louisville, spring term 2015
ASEE (American Society of Engineering Education) – Virtual Communities of Practice (VCP) program – Civil Engineering research-based teaching strategies project – September 2013-April 2014 
Pedagogicon conference – Practicing Scholarly and Creative Teaching, sponsor: Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, Eastern Kentucky University, May 2014
Pedagogicon II conference – Closing the Achievement Gap through Scholarly and Creative Teaching, sponsor: Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, Eastern Kentucky University, May 2015
Pedagogicon III conference – Closing the Achievement Gap through Scholarly and Creative Teaching, sponsor: Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, Eastern Kentucky University, May 2016
NSF ENGAGE - Faculty Student Interaction, Research-based, time-effective tips to engage students, American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Webinar, November 2011
Let Data Drive Inquiry: Engaging Your Students in Questioning, Discovery and Critical Thinking, UofL Delphi Center for Teaching and Learning, presenter: Dr. Tine Reimers, September 2011