UW System Cluster for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning History, Structure, Activities

Leadership Site Staff

Coordinator, Renee A. Meyers

Housed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the UW System Leadership Site for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is coordinated by Renee A. Meyers (Ph.D., Communication, University of Illinois). Her primary research and teaching interests are in the area of group communication, group decision-making, and group-centered learning. Prior to her work at the Leadership Site, she served a three year term as an OPID faculty representative from UW-Milwaukee, was selected as a UW-Milwaukee Center Scholar (which involved conducting a SoTL research project on group-centered learning in the classroom), and has done numerous lectures and workshops at UW-Milwaukee and across the System on group-centered learning and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Renee has served as coordinator of the UW System Leadership Site for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning since its inception in July 2003. A primary mission of the LS under her leadership (and given her research and teaching expertise in group communication) has been (and will continue to be) to coordinate “collective and collaborative” faculty scholarship efforts within and between UW System campuses. This focus on the “collective and collaborative” compliments many of the more individually-based faculty development activities that are coordinated under OPID (Teaching Fellows, Teaching Scholars, Faculty College, OPID conference, etc.). The result is that faculty at different points in their careers can be actively engaged in teaching/learning scholarship in a variety of venues. Many faculty become interested in SoTL work via individual-based projects coordinated by OPID, and then move to collective projects coordinated by the LS that include faculty from their own, or other, campuses. In addition, these cooperative efforts of OPID and the LS help to build greater social capital on all campuses around Scholarship of Teaching and Learning activities, and keep interested faculty actively engaged in doing research (either individually or collectively) on teaching/learning issues throughout their careers.

Communication and Project Specialist, Katina Lazarides

Katina Lazarides (MA, Communication, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) is the Leadership Site Communication and Project Specialist, and has served in that role since the inception of the Leadership Site in 2003. In this role, she coordinates the completion of LS projects, and functions as a communication liaison between individuals, groups, and campuses across the system. She researched, assessed, and compiled SoTL resources for the UW System SoTL web resource center, as well as designs new print and electronic SoTL resources to provide to UW System SoTL scholars and administrators, and outside visitors to the UW System. In addition, she is instrumental to the planning and coordinating of the “SoTL in the Disciplines” project that is currently underway. As a Communication Specialist, she assists the Coordinator in communicating with important stakeholders (campus administrators, community leaders, newspapers, UW Regents, etc.) through letters, materials, and press releases. She also provides general staff assistance as needed for all LS programs and activities, including gathering materials for assessment activities, and assisting the Coordinator and Executive Committee in organizing the work of the LS Advisory Committee. Both Katina and Renee are committed to doing research on teaching/learning issues. Currently, they are working with an interdisciplinary team of faculty, academic staff, and students to investigate “student learning through research participation.”