First up: the book I mentioned in my last post – a short four months ago – was officially made available for purchase in August! My co-authors, Natasha Haugnes and Hoag Holmgren, and I are just a tad excited. “Meaningful Grading: A Guide for Faculty in the Arts” is available for purchase direct from West Virginia University Press in reasonably priced paperback or eBook formats. It’s also available in cloth cover, which I think includes a coffee and book signing with yours truly.

You can read about this book at Booktimist, the blog of West Virginia University Press. Or on Twitter under #meaningfulgradingarts. Or in the Chronicle of Higher Education’s recent Selected New Books on Higher Education.

I returned to Penn State University (I’ve been there several times to work on the Teaching and Learning Project) in September for a gala event hosted by the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence. This celebration of teaching excellence recognized all faculty at Penn State through photographs of the faculty members I have worked with over the years. It was really one of the most beautifully done events of this kind I’ve seen. Angela Linse, director of the Schreyer Institute, commissioned almost 200 prints for the display and gave them to faculty at the conclusion of the evening. Each faculty member left with four or five images of themselves teaching.

The Penn State News article Tribute to Excellence: Through a Photographer’s Lens details the event, and mentions some recent work I’ve done in collaboration with Cassandra Horii, a long time partner in the Teaching and Learning Project.

This academic year, I’m looking forward to working with the Otterbein University Center for Teaching and Learning staff. I’ll be documenting, among other faculty work at Otterbein, two important extension programs of the University. I’ll also be presenting on the Teaching and Learning Project at The Association of American Colleges and Universities 2019 Annual Meeting, and on assessment in Arts disciplines at the Annual Conference of The College Art Association.

To round things out (because you have to keep things interesting), look for a new series I’ve been playing with for a few months. It’s on some other recent developments in my life. The working title is #blendedfamily. I’ve been posting them on Instagram on occasion. I’ll post some updates here as well.