Plenary Speakers

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  Bryan Dewsbury, Ph.D. 

  Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University

  Bryan Dewsbury is an Associate Professor of Biology at Florida International University (FIU). He is the Principal Investigator of the Science Education and Society (SEAS) research program, which blends research on the social context of teaching and learning, faculty development of inclusive practices, and programming in the cultivation of equity in education. He is an Associate Director of the STEM Transformational Institute where he directs the Division of Transformative Education. He is also a Fellow with the John N. Gardner Institute where he assists institutions of higher education cultivate best practices in inclusive education. He is the creator and executive producer of the Massive Open Online Course called Inclusive Teaching. He is a co-editor of the book the Norton Guide to Equity Minded Teaching. He has led faculty development workshops in over 150 institutions across North America, Europe and Western Africa. Dewsbury grew up in Trinidad and Tobago and immigrated to the United States in 1999. He received a BS in biology from Morehouse College and an MS and PhD in biology from FIU. 
• 

  Anissa Lokey-Vega, Ph.D.

  Professor of Instructional Technology and Associate Vice Provost, Kennesaw State University

  Anissa Lokey-Vega is a professor of Instructional Technology.  She currently serves as the Associate Vice Provost providing oversight of curriculum, digital learning, academic policy, and academic innovations. In this role she leads and supports the institutional curriculum review process, general education, and online course quality review. Under the umbrella of academic innovation, she supports several cross-campus initiatives including Double Owl Pathways, Micro-credentialing, and learning analytics. Her scholarly activity has focused on curriculum alignment, online teaching and learning, and new learning models. 
• 

  Karen Manarin, Ph.D.

  Professor of English (retired), Languages and Cultures, Mount Royal University

  Karen Manarin taught literature and writing classes at Mount Royal University. An award-winning teacher, she was named Board of Governors Teaching Chair in Advanced Literacy for her SoTL work on undergraduate reading. She has also published on academic identity and Humanities approaches to SoTL. Her most recent book, written in collaboration with Michelle Yeo and Janice Miller-Young, is SoTL Research Methodologies: A Guide to Conceptualizing and Conducting the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (Routledge, 2024). 
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  Shannon Sipes, Ph.D.

  SoTL Program Director and Lead Instructional Consultant, Indiana University

  Shannon is the Director for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and a Lead Instructional Consultant in the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning at Indiana University. She holds an M.A. in experimental psychology and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction with a focus on higher education and has applied this to her work as an academic developer specializing in assessment, SoTL, and curriculum design for 20 years. She most enjoys supporting faculty in their transition from scholarly teacher to SoTL practitioner. Shannon is a member of both the POD Network and the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL). Her activity within ISSOTL includes serving on three of the four standing committees at some point (i.e., advocacy, recognition, convenings), participating in two International Collaborative Writing Groups (i.e. one on mentoring in SoTL and another on SoTL leadership), and serving as co-chair of the upcoming 20th anniversary ISSOTL conference. As a researcher, she is a pragmatist who navigates toward mixed methods designs. As an instructor, she has taught psychology and education courses at a variety of institutional types (i.e. community college, small private technical, regional) and modalities (i.e. on campus, hybrid, virtual; both synchronously and asynchronously).