Consult our workshops page for more information about these events and to register! 

Dr. Jeanie Tietjen

Dr. Jeanie Tietjen is Professor of English at MassBay Community College, and founded and directs the Institute for Trauma, Adversity, and Resilience in Higher Education. The Institute promotes an understanding of the profound impact trauma and adversity have on academic resilience in higher education, as well as how a strengths-based, trauma-informed campus and community support student success. She served on an 18-month consensus study “Supporting the Whole Student: Mental Health and Well-Being in Higher Education” with Washington D.C.’s National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and contributed an article “Naming the Urgency: The Importance of Trauma-Informed Practices in Community Colleges” in the edited collection on Trauma Informed Pedagogies: A Guide for Responding to Crisis and Inequality in Higher Education. She earned her doctorate from the Department of English at Brandeis University in 2016, and her dissertation examined representations of excremental violence in Holocaust literature. She has taught for over 20 years in diverse settings: two- and four-year colleges, prisons and homeless shelters, and residential treatment facility for adolescent girls.

Trauma, Resilience, and Strengths in University Teaching: Perspectives on Student Wellbeing and Success in Higher Education
Jeanie is a co-panelist alongside Melissa Morris (Course Instructor and Practicum Advisor, Trent University School of Education) and Madisyn Brownlee (Indigenous Student Therapist, First Peoples House of Learning, Trent University).
January 24th, 2024 – 10-11:30 am, via Zoom.

Dr. Melissa Hills

Dr. Melissa Hills is a Molecular Biologist and Associate Professor at MacEwan University, an undergraduate university in Edmonton, Alberta. She believes equitable access to higher education is a human right and values Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a means to respect students’ diverse identities, abilities, experiences, and circumstances. Melissa is actively engaged in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, which she uses to interrogate her teaching practices, amplify student voices, and advance international discourse on student-centered pedagogy. Her past and present projects have explored topics such as UDL in the lab, flexible deadlines, team-based learning, and bridges and barriers to UDL implementation faculty experience.  

2024 Trent SoTL Symposium Keynote Speaker 
February 21st, 2024 – 9:30-10:45 am via Zoom

Dr. Pat Maher

Dr. Patrick T. Maher, PhD, is a Full Professor in Physical and Health Education at Nipissing University. He was the inaugural Dean of Teaching (2019-2023), responsible for founding the award-winning Teaching Hub. In 2014 Pat was awarded a 3M National Teaching Fellowship and in 2020 became a Fellow of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL).  He is currently Vice-President Canada for ISSOTL and also sits on the Board of Directors of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE).  Pat is the Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning and was previously co-editor of the Canadian Journal of Environmental Education (2017-2023) and the Journal of Experiential Education (2010-2016).

Documenting Your Teaching: A Workshop on Teaching Portfolios
March 25th, 2024– 10-11:30 am via Zoom

Join us for a workshop on teaching portfolios with internationally recognized teaching scholar Pat Maher. Pat will be offering a workshop on how to document your teaching in order to effectively showcase your teaching experiences for internal purposes, as well as to successfully apply for external teaching awards. This workshop is open to faculty and graduate students.  

Abstract: When you compile your teaching portfolio, you are entering a strategic and reflective process.  How do you design your portfolio to showcase your priorities, your practice, maybe even your promise? This workshop will highlight how to be intentional, authentic, yet still creative in the process.  Whether you need a teaching portfolio to get a job, keep a job, or be celebrated within your existing job – this workshop should have something for everyone.