Our Team

CETL Staff

Name
Position

  • Sheena Brown

    Sheena Brown Lead for Educational Development Scholarship and Evaluation

    image of Sheena BrownPosition:
    Lead for Educational Development Scholarship and Evaluation

    Phone: (470) 578-6410
    Email: sbrow566@kennesaw.edu
    Location: House 3211


    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.

  • Haleigh Campbell

    Haleigh Campbell Operations Coordinator

    image of Haleigh Position:
    Operations Coordinator

    Phone: (470) 578-6410
    Email: hcampb17@kennesaw.edu
    Location: House 3211


    Haleigh Campbell provides operation support to all members of CETL, working closely with the Director of Operations and Strategic Initiatives. 

    Haleigh graduated from KSU with an undergraduate degree in Psychology. 

  • Michele DiPietro

    Michele DiPietro Executive Director for Faculty Development, Recognition and the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and Professor of Mathematics

    headshot of Michele DiPietroPosition:
    Executive Director for Faculty Development, Recognition and the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and Professor of Mathematics

    Phone: (470) 578-6410
    Email: mdipietr@kennesaw.edu
    Location: House 3211 - 113


    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.  

  • Laura Howard

    Laura Howard Senior Teaching and Learning Consultant and Master of Arts in Professional Writing Teaching Assistant Coordinator and Online Technology Coordinator and Senior Lecturer of English

    image of LauraPosition:
    Senior Teaching and Learning Consultant and Master of Arts in Professional Writing Teaching Assistant Coordinator and Online Technology Coordinator and Senior Lecturer of English

    Phone: (470) 578-2617
    Email: lhowar40@kennesaw.edu
    Location: EB 110


    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 and has presented multiple times at the organization's annual conference. Her interests in edcuational 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" progam 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

    Hillary Steiner Associate Director for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Educational Psychology, Department of Psychological Science

    image of HillaryPosition:
    Associate Director for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Educational Psychology, Department of Psychological Science

    Phone: (470) 578-6147
    Email: hsteiner@kennesaw.edu
    Location: House 3211


    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

    Hillary's Faculty Website

  • Christina Ujj

    Christina Ujj Director of Operations and Strategic Initiatives

    Christina Ujj HeadshotPosition:
    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 aspecits 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

    Tris Utschig Director for Scholarly Teaching and Professor of Nuclear Engineering

    image of TrisPosition:
    Director for Scholarly Teaching and Professor of Nuclear Engineering

    Phone: (470) 578-6410
    Email: tutschig@kennesaw.edu
    Location: House 3211


    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 fo 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.

    Tris's focus areas at CETL

    • Classroom assessment strategies
    • Collaborative learning
    • Learning activity design
    • Process education (learning to learn)
    • STEM pedagogy

  • Rebecca Weaver

    Rebecca Weaver Teaching and Learning Consultant

    image of Rebecca WeaverPosition:
    Teaching and Learning Consultant

    Phone: (470) 578-6410
    Email: rweave41@kennesaw.edu
    Location: House 3211


    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 and inclusion, 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

Name
Position

  • Misty Grayer

    Misty Grayer CETL Faculty Fellow for Learning-Centered Teaching and Assistant Professor of Public Administration

    image of MistyPosition:
    CETL Faculty Fellow for Learning-Centered Teaching and Assistant Professor of Public Administration

    Phone: (470) 578-4972
    Email: mgrayer@kennesaw.edu
    Location: SO 5051


    Misty Grayer is a CETL Faculty Fellow for Learning-Centered Teaching and an Assistant Professor of Public Administration in the School of Government and International Affairs.  As a Faculty Fellow, Misty delivers workshops on topics such as active learning, and she helps address the needs of individual faculty through one-on-one consultations and course observations.  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. 

  • Charles Parrott

    Charles Parrott CETL Faculty Fellow for Faculty Mentoring

    image of Charles ParrottPosition:
    CETL Faculty Fellow for Faculty Mentoring

    Phone: (470) 578-2347
    Email: cparrot5@kennesaw.edu
    Location: WB 220


    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. 

Affiliated Lead Mentors

Name
Position

  • Theresa Alviar

    Theresa Alviar Global Faculty MMG Lead

    Tracey AlviarPosition:
    Global Faculty MMG Lead

    Phone: (470) 578-5066
    Email: talviar@kennesaw.edu
    Location: KH 3209


    Theresa Alviar-Martin is an Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the Bagwell College of Education. Her research examines civic education through global and comparative perspectives. 
    Theresa has published several journal articles and two books: Research on Global Citizenship Education in Asia: Conceptions, Perceptions and Practice (Alviar-Martin & Baildon, 2021, Information Age); and Grassroots Organizing for K-12 Asian American Studies (An & Alviar-Martin, 2024, Palgrave).  Before joining academia, Theresa worked as an ESOL teacher in a refugee camp in Bataan, the Philippines and as an elementary teacher in international schools in Bangkok and Hong Kong.  

  • Kadian Callahan

    Kadian Callahan Assistant and Associate Deans MMG Lead

    Dr. Callahan Position:
    Assistant and Associate Deans MMG Lead

    Phone: (470) 578-2492
    Email: kcallah6@kennesaw.edu
    Location: CL 3033


    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 Combs

    Barbara Combs Chairs and Directors MMG Lead

    Barbara Harris CombsPosition:
    Chairs and Directors MMG Lead

    Phone: (470) 578-4384
    Email: bcombs2@kennesaw.edu
    Location: SO 4058


    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 Collaborative’s 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. 

  • Tanja Link

    Tanja Link Assistant and Associate Chairs MMG Lead

    Position:
    Assistant and Associate Chairs MMG Lead

    Phone: (470) 578-2292
    Email: tlink1@kennesaw.edu
    Location: SO 4054


     

Faculty Development Committee

Name
Position

  • Dabae Lee

    Dabae Lee Bagwell College of Education

    Position:
    Bagwell College of Education

    Phone: (470) 578-4520
    Email: dlee159@kennesaw.edu
    Location: KH 2328


     

  • Darina Lepadatu

    Darina Lepadatu Chair of FDC, Norman J. Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences

    Position:
    Chair of FDC, Norman J. Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences

    Phone: (470) 578-6953
    Email: dlepadat@kennesaw.edu
    Location: House 3201 - 110A


     

  • Deborah Mixson-Brookshire

    Deborah Mixson-Brookshire Coles College of Business

    dr mixsonPosition:
    Coles College of Business

    Phone: (470) 578-2074
    Email: dmixson@kennesaw.edu
    Location: BB 311


     

  • Cyril Okhio

    Cyril Okhio Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering Technology

    Position:
    Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering Technology

    Phone: (470) 578-5063
    Email: cokhio@kennesaw.edu
    Location: G 219


    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 (1) use of research activities to developing students’ readiness for the workforce, (2) build through collaboration, professors’ knowledge and awareness of additive manufacturing technology and funding/sponsor opportunities, (3) Build 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.

  • Dominique Petite

    Dominique Petite College of the Arts

    Position:
    College of the Arts

    Phone: (470) 578-6151
    Email: dpetite@kennesaw.edu
    Location: WB 104


     

     

     

  • Seyedamin Pouriyeh

    Seyedamin Pouriyeh College of Computing and Software Engineering

    Position:
    College of Computing and Software Engineering

    Phone: (470) 578-6109
    Email: spouriye@kennesaw.edu
    Location: J 391


     

  • Ehsan Sheikholharam Mashhadi

    Ehsan Sheikholharam Mashhadi College of Architecture and Construction Management

    Ehsan SheikholharamPosition:
    College of Architecture and Construction Management

    Phone: (470) 578-5086
    Email: esheikho@kennesaw.edu
    Location: N 153


    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.

  • Jianming Wen

    Jianming Wen College of Science and Mathematics

    Position:
    College of Science and Mathematics

    Phone: (470) 578-4206
    Email: jwen2@kennesaw.edu
    Location: H 260K


     

  • LaNita Wright

    LaNita Wright Wellstar College of Health and Human Services

    LaNita Wright photoPosition:
    Wellstar College of Health and Human Services

    Phone: (470) 578-2196
    Email: lwrigh92@kennesaw.edu
    Location: CC 3008


    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. 

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