Supervision and Management Skills

Communication
Critical to effective supervision and management is the ability to communicate. Having worked in the theatre has provided me with an ease in communication that has been refined and polished with my growth as an educator and administrator. Whether it’s facilitating a workshop, teaching a class, or co-authoring an article, I possess the skills necessary to interact with a variety of audiences: students, faculty, administration, partnering institutions, and more.  Recognizing the importance of intercultural communication will be vital in ensuring successful placements in experiential learning contexts.

I present a video here, one of many digital tools I used recently to facilitate a course for a distance learner:


Leadership
I subscribe to a collaborative leadership model informed by the works of Peter Senge, Peter Drucker and others. Within an institution of higher education it is critical that I exercise strategies that promote a learning organization which features opportunities for colleagues to own new ideas. This is in contrast to the idea of "buy-in" to new initiatives.

In a talk I co-presented with SNHU faculty at the Association of American Colleges and Universities General Education and Assessment conference, I emphasized the idea of ownership in my work implementing the new general education program at SNHU. This framing allows all stakeholders to become engaged and succeed.

 

Supervision
As noted, my current position includes the management of the SNHU Experience courses. Each semester I run upwards of 70 sections and supervise over 40 instructors. My educators include full-time faculty, adjuncts and professional staff.

The hiring of instructors includes interviews, conversations with their supervisors, and review of relevant materials. I provide substantial training that touches on curriculum, teaching practices, technology, and assessment. I distribute weekly updates of events on campus that support the SNHU Experience curricula. I also engage in classroom observations using a tool developed by the university's Center for Teaching and Learning. The observation includes a follow-up conversation about what I saw with recommendations for new approaches when necessary.

For instructors who are struggling, I have worked with them one-on-one using reflexive practices to help them achieve greater engagement with their students. Weekly conversations, monthly observations and the use of a closed discussion board have resulted in effective teaching practice. I work hard to promote the success of my colleagues.
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About Me

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I work in higher education overseeing AI policy. I came to this position in the after a long tenure as an associate dean which included the guidance as well as development of academic polidies. My current position oversees the development and support of guidelines on AI policy use and adoption, as well as curriculum initiatives. I moonlight as an adjunct, teaching undergraduate courses first-year seminar and the humanities, and have taught graduate courses in philosophy and arts education. I came to higher ed by way of a career as a stage actor in NYC where I also helped manage several theatre companies and venues. My graduate work at Teachers College introduced me to Maxine Greene who influenced how I encounter art, the creative process, and education. Greene's focus on social justice has set me off on a successful career in education and was the subject of my dissertation, "The Lived Life in the Writings of Maxine Greene."