The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) at Kennesaw State University
is committed to advancing a culture of teaching excellence, innovation, and inclusive
learning. Through collaborative partnerships and evidence-based practices, we support
faculty in their professional growth and in creating transformative educational experiences
for students. Our team is composed of dedicated professionals and faculty leaders
who bring diverse expertise and a shared passion for academic development
CETL Staff
The CETL staff forms the backbone of our operations, offering strategic leadership,
program coordination, and individualized support for faculty across the university.
This team includes specialists in teaching and learning, educational research, and
faculty engagement. Together, they design and implement initiatives that promote effective
pedagogy, inclusive practices, and scholarly teaching.
Faculty Fellows are experienced educators who collaborate with CETL to lead targeted
initiatives that enhance teaching and learning. These fellows bring disciplinary expertise
and innovative approaches to faculty development, mentoring, and curriculum design.
Their work helps bridge the gap between theory and practice, enriching the academic
environment for both faculty and students.
Affiliated Lead Mentors are faculty members who serve as peer leaders within their
colleges or departments. They provide mentorship, share best practices, and support
the professional development of their colleagues. These mentors play a key role in
fostering a supportive and collaborative teaching culture across the university.
The Faculty Development Committee serves as both a think tank and an oversight body for all faculty development programs at Kennesaw State University. Its purpose is to provide strategic guidance and ensure the relevance and effectiveness of CETL’s initiatives. The committee is composed of one elected faculty representative from each degree-granting college, along with the Executive Director of CETL serving in an ex officio capacity. Additional CETL staff may participate as non-voting members to support the committee’s work.
The committee meets at least once per semester, and members serve a two-year term,
contributing their insights and expertise to shape the future of faculty development
across the university.
Dr. Brown provides support to KSU faculty in the areas of education research and evaluation.
In her role, she strengthens KSU's educational research initiatives by facilitating
professional development opportunities for faculty members, collaborates with them
to draft compelling grant proposals, and broadens CETL's involvement in securing external
funding. Her responsibilities include collaborating with the faculty on assessment
planning, methodologies, analysis, and interpretation. She also plays a vital role
in developing and implementing educational grant proposal evaluation plans.
Dr. DiPietro oversees university wide faculty and graduate student development efforts,
both in pedagogy with Scholarly Teaching unit of CETL and beyond.
With their former Carnegie Mellon colleagues, Dr. DiPietro is a co-author of "How Learning Works: 7 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching." The book was listed at #3 in a "Top 10 Books on Teaching" list on the Chronicle of Higher Education. Their scholarly interests include learning sciences, diversity and inclusion, the scholarship of teaching and learning, academic integrity, statistics education, the consultation process in faculty development, and teaching in times of tragedy. Dr. DiPietro was the 2015 recipient of the Bob Pierleoni Spirit of POD award, the highest honor bestowed in the field of educational development for professional achievement and legacy to the field.
Misty Grayer
Position: Senior Teaching and Learning Consultant, VITAL
Misty Grayer is a Senior Teaching and Learning Consultant for VITAL faculty at CETL,
where she is dedicated to supporting the scholarly teaching needs of KSU faculty,
particularly those who are visiting, instructors, teaching assistants, adjunct or
part-time, or limited-term. With over a decade of teaching experience, Misty has primarily
taught graduate and undergraduate students across various modalities in the discipline
of public administration.
Before joining CETL full-time, Misty served KSU students and faculty as an Assistant
Professor of Public Administration and Faculty Fellow for Learning-Centered Teaching.
Her career in higher education has been focused on supporting others through their
learning journeys, whether by aiding students pursuing public service careers or helping
faculty achieve their student success goals.
Currently, as a Senior Teaching and Learning Consultant, Misty provides personalized
services to those who teach at KSU, including consultations and course observations,
and she leads workshops, book chats, and institutes such as the Teaching Academy for
Part-Time Faculty. Reflecting CETL's philosophy, Misty wholeheartedly believes that
students can succeed when those who teach them are also well-supported to succeed.
Outside of CETL, Misty's primary teaching and research interests include the intersection
of public law and public management, contemporary public issues, and collaborative
decision-making.
Dr. Howard is a Senior Teaching and Learning Consultant at CETL. A former Faculty Fellow for Learning-centered Teaching, Laura has spent over 15 years teaching composition, professional writing, and literature in face-to-face, hybrid, and online modalities. She is a member of the POD Network in Higher Education and has presented multiple times at the organization's annual conference. Her interests in educational development include increasing learner engagement, implementing innovative assessment techniques, making content accessible for all learners, and fostering a culture of care to support both faculty and student success. Her work has been featured in Faculty Focus and the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. At CETL, Laura leads workshops on a variety of educational development topics, including KSU's "Nurturing Environments through Scholarly Teaching" (NEST) initiative. She also leads CETL's "Personalized Services" program and offers one-on-one consultations, classroom observations, and student focus groups. Outside of CETL, Laura teaches part-time in the English department at KSU.
Hillary Steiner
Position: Associate Director for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Educational
Psychology, Department of Psychological Science
Dr. Steiner provides support to colleges, departments, and individual faculty in the areas of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and the science of learning. She chairs CETL's international SoTL Summit conference; facilitates the SoTL Manuscript Completion and Conference Presentation Funds programs; provides consulting services and workshops on all aspects of the SoTL research process; develops and maintains the internationally recognized Hopscotch 4-SoTL webtool; develops and maintains the SoTL and science of learning micro-credentials; maintains an active SoTL-related line of scholarship; and serves on national and international SoTL committees and editorial boards, including as Regional Vice President (USA) and Publications Committee Chair for ISSOTL. Hillary also maintains the nationally recognized directories of SoTL conferences and journals, online SoTL resource pages, and the KSU-SoTL listserv. Currently a Professor in the Department of Psychological Science, she has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in first-year studies, introductory psychology and educational psychology, in online, hybrid and face-to-face formats. She received the USG Board of Regents' SoTL Award in 2017.
Hillary's Areas of Focus at CETL:
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
Cognitive and social-cognitive perspectives on learning as applied to higher education
Interpretation of student course evaluation feedback
Position: Director of Operations and Strategic Initiatives
Phone: (470) 578-6410 Email: cujj@kennesaw.edu Location: House 3211 - 203
Christina Ujj, Ed.D., provides support for all operational aspects of CETL. This includes, large-scale logistics; reporting; strategic initiatives; compliance; website development; marketing and communication; and assists Dr. DiPietro regarding finances, strategic communications and program and event development.
Christina served as a part-time faculty member at KSU teaching KSU 1200 (First-Year
Seminar in Leadership) and at North Carolina State University teaching Topics in College
Student Development. She joined CETL after working with Housing and Residence Life
to create the residential curriculum for skills on-campus residents learned while
living at KSU.
Tris Utschig
Position: Director for Scholarly Teaching and Professor of Nuclear Engineering
Dr. Utschig is dedicated to providing CETL services specifically addressing the scholarly
teaching needs of KSU faculty. In this role he manages and contributes to the CETL
Team in creating institutes, workshops, webinars, and book chats; running faculty
learning communities; conducting classroom observations; and providing custom consulting
services to colleges, departments, and individual faculty to leverage the learning
sciences in bringing a scholarly approach to all aspects of the teaching and learning
process. Tris brings significant expertise and consultation experience across a variety
of teaching modalities regarding choosing pedagogical techniques, performing course
and learning activity design, assessing student learning outcomes, conducting research
in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), and with writing and implementing
externally funded educational research proposals. As Professor of Nuclear Engineering,
Tris also teaches courses for the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Dr. Weaver brings twenty-five years of teaching experience at a variety of higher
ed institutions to her role as a Consultant in Teaching and Learning at Kennesaw State.
Grounded in her experience, her work with faculty is deeply energized by a range of
evidence-based practices that support developing and celebrating our teaching. She
is a columnist at the National Teaching and Learning Forum and has published about
pedagogy in Hybrid Pedagogy, Inside Higher Ed, The Chronicle's "ProfHacker," Recursive,
TechStyle, and the Pedagogue Podcast. She was the founding editor of Recursive Reviews:
Books About Teaching in Higher Ed. Considering herself a "metacognitive pedagogue",
her specialties include reflective and metacognitive praxis, alternative assessment,
community building, critical higher ed studies, and pedagogies of compassion, care,
and hope. Through leading workshops, book clubs, custom consultations, and other programming,
Dr. Weaver works to help faculty develop flourishing and sustainable teaching practices.
CETL Faculty Fellows
Charles Parrott
Position: CETL Faculty Fellow for Faculty Mentoring
Charles Parrott is the CETL Faculty Fellow for Faculty Mentoring and an Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre & Performance Studies. Dr. Parrott has won numerous awards for his teaching, mentorship of undergraduate research, and scholarship & creative activity. As a Faculty Fellow, Charles leverages his many years in the classroom and experience as a nationally recognized storytelling coach to help faculty through consultations, classroom observations, and workshops focused on telling academic stories across contexts. He also manages the Mutual Mentoring Groups CETL provides. When he is not mentoring faculty at KSU, he remains active in the Department of Theatre & Performance Studies and travels to universities around the country as a popular solo-performer.
Dr. Callahan works with student leaders, faculty, staff, and administrators to ensure
that CSM structures, policies, and practices align with our goal of creating an inclusive
learning environment that fosters success for the diversity of students whom we serve.
Barbara Harris Combs, J.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Department
of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Kennesaw State University. Combs is a humanist
and interdisciplinary scholar who received her Ph.D. in Sociology with a concentration
in race and urban studies from Georgia State University.
She also holds a Juris Doctorate degree from The Ohio State University and an MA in
English from Xavier University (Ohio). She brings this interdisciplinary background
to her study of society. She serves on the Scholarly Advisory Board for the Gilder
Lehrman Institute of American History, and she has also served as a facilitator of
the Cleveland Humanities Collaboratives 2022 and 2023 Anisfield Wolf Summer Seminars.
Dr. Combs is the author of From Selma to Montgomery: The Long March to Freedom (Routledge, 2013) and Bodies Out of Place Theorizing Anti Blackness is U.S. Society (University of Georgia Press, 2022). Bodies Out of Place was awarded the 2023 Ida B. Wells-Barnett Book Award from the Association of Black Sociologists and was a finalist for the 2023 Georgia Author of the Year (GAYA). A third book project, Black Places and Spaces of Political Empowerment, with co-authors Todd C. Shaw and Kirk Foster is under contract with Oxford University Press. She has published in a variety of academic outlets including, Critical Sociology, Sociological Spectrum, American Behavioral Scientist, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, The New York Times (Room for Debate), and The Conversation. She loves people and books, and she is committed to racial/social equity.
Cyril Okhio Ph.D., C. PEng., is a faculty of Engineering in the Southern Polytechnic
College of Engineering and Engineering Technology, Kennesaw State University. He graduated
with a Ph.D. from Queen Mary/Imperial College London and was a post-doctoral research
Fellow of the Science & Engineering Council SERC, United Kingdom UK. He is registered
as a Chartered Professional Engineer with the Council of Registered Engineers, UK;
a Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers UK, a Trustee of the Georgia Society
of Professional Engineers, Cobb Chapter, a Member of the American Society of Engineering
Educators ASEE, and a Member of the Institute of Transportation Engineers, USA. Dr.
Okhio has carried out experimental and numerical investigations of, and developed
statistical analysis tools and computer codes, for the numerical simulation/calculation
of complex flows. He has been co-PI in a few successful research efforts including
those related to NASA, WPAB, GE, NSF, NRO, ARO, ORNL, Honeywell, KCP, to name a few.
He has also been the co-PI on Department of Energy sponsored Project called Minority
Serving Institution Partnership Project MSIPP on Advance Manufacturing which involved
the:
use of research activities to developing studentsâ readiness for the workforce
build through collaboration, professor's knowledge and awareness of additive manufacturing
technology and funding/sponsor opportunities
build of relationships with CAM University and Industrial partners to develop opportunities
to perpetuate R&D collaborations beyond the time and funding constraints of MSIPP
He is currently involved in multi-disciplinary research and development studies concerning
Cognitive use of Electro-Encephalogram EEG Technology/Software to investigate the
Neural Processes underlying Attention, Biofeedback, Memory, Inhibition, and Language,
within the KSU Simulation and Visualization Research Center.
Professor Sheikholharam has a multidisciplinary background in architecture, religious
studies, and philosophy. He holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a terminal degree in Architecture from the University
of Miami. He has also served as a fellow at the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke
University. Building on his diverse scholarly and cultural identity, Professor Sheikholharam's
work cuts through key themes in the Humanities and design disciplines, including representations
of minority identities in public spaces, cultural productions in the Global South,
and the intersections of social and ecological justice.
LaNita Wright
Position: Wellstar College of Health and Human Services
Dr. LaNita S. Wright is an Associate Professor of Public Health and the Public Health Program Director in the Department of Health Promotion and Physical Education at Kennesaw State University. She teaches undergraduate courses pertaining to public health theory, public health writing, planning, implementation, and evaluation.
Dr. Wright's research focuses on the influence of interconnected systems on health-promoting behaviors. She has facilitated research projects related to healthcare and identity among Black transgender adults, medical distrust in Black communities, the Black Church's role in preventing teen pregnancy, and community members' perceptions of sexual health education. She has also worked in partnership with researchers studying dementia care programs for caregivers, medical cannabis advertising, and student success in higher education. Some of her recent work has been published in Health Promotion Practice, Substance Use & Misuse, Public Health Nursing, Public Health Reports, and Journal of Adolescence. She thrives in research spaces where she can collaborate across disciplines, alongside students, and in partnership with community members.
Dr. Wright offers professional service to the university, community, and profession, including serving as the Editor for Health Promotion Practice. Dr. Wright is passionate about producing and championing credible, trustworthy research and advocating for underrepresented voices.
Dr. Wright earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Health Promotion and a Master of Public Health in Health Promotion Sciences from the University of Oklahoma. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Health Services Administration from Auburn University. She is also a Master Certified Health Education Specialist.
