Ann Brunjes, Director

Office of Teaching & Learning

Maxwell Library

508-531-2435

abrunjes@bridgew.edu

Ann Brunjes is the Director of the Office of Teaching and Learning, located in Maxwell Library Room 200. She was a member of the BSU English Department from 1997 - 2008, serving as chair of that department from 2006 - 2008.  With four other BSU faculty members, she co-founded the Adrian Tinsley Program for Undergraduate Research (ATP).  Ann has mentored Adrian Tinsley Program summer grants as well as several undergraduate honors theses and graduate theses, and is the 2007 recipient of the Dr. V. James DiNardo Award for Excellence in Teaching.  Her publications and academic conference presentations are in Early American literatures, especially the literature of the early Republic. She holds MA and PhD degrees in English from New York University and a bachelor's degree from Colgate University.

The fellows work with the DTL to achieve the mission of her office, which is to support faculty as they work to improve the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning on the BSU campus.  Toward that end, the fellows conduct outreach to academic departments, programs and individual faculty members to learn their teaching concerns and interests and develop programming (such as workshops, speakers, brownbag and discussion groups) around those issues.  They are also available to work one-on-one with faculty members seeking to strengthen and reflect on their own teaching.  This includes (but is not limited to) confidential class visits and assistance with syllabus, assignment, and course design.  Lastly, the fellowship is a professional development opportunity to reflect on their own practice, research ways to improve their effectiveness, and share their knowledge, ideas and ongoing questions with the BSU community.

Karen Richardson,

Teaching Fellow

Tinsley Center, Room 223

508-531-2067

karen.richardson@bridgew.edu

Dr. Karen (Pagnano) Richardson, Ed.D.

Karen Richardson joined the MAHPLS department in 2003 in the area of physical education pedagogy. She currently teaches classes in physical education methods, instructional strategies and curriculum. Education - Dr. Richardson earned her B.S. in Physical Education from Springfield College in 1988 and then taught physical education and health in a Maine high school for 10 years. In 1998 she earned her M.S. in Physical Education at Indiana State University. In 2004 she earned her Ed. D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is excited about the opportunity to serve as a Teaching Fellow:

I feel fortunate to work on a campus with resources devoted to improving teaching and learning and look forward to making a contribution to this effort. I care deeply about engaging all students in the learning process and supporting college faculty as they embrace new approaches to teaching. My teaching is grounded in constructivist theories, which holds students as active participants in their own learning process, both from a cognitive and socio-cultural perspective. Critical for learning is the need for relevance within the context in which subject matter content is framed. I feel that working as a Teaching Fellow is a unique opportunity to work with BSU faculty who are committed to improving teaching and learning in our college community. I hope to create a “community of practice” among faculty who are engaged in efforts to improve their own teaching and learning with the recognition that each faculty member will bring to the classroom a unique and diverse set of experiences and skills.

I would enjoy talking with you about teaching, sharing quick and easy ways to assess your students, watching you teach, or even helping you design a study about teaching/learning in your classroom. I am always willing to do a walking or running meeting as well, so if time is tight, we can meet and go for a walk or a run while we talk!

John Kucich,

Teaching Fellow

Tillinghast Hall, Room 314

508-531-2722

jkucich@bridgew.edu

Dr. John Kucich

In my dozen years of teaching at the college and secondary school level,  I've been continually fascinated watching how literature opens up the world for me and for my students. Literature jolts us out of our familiar assumptions and understandings, forcing us to confront the world anew. As a teacher, my focus has always been on giving my students the tools to refashion their understanding of the world, helping them attend to the nuances of language and the complicated cultural forces in which literature takes shape. My research in American literature has focused on how people have used writing to reshape their own environments, both natural and social, particularly across cultural lines, and I've brought the same perspective to the classroom. I use literature to challenge students (and teachers of students) to confront the limits of their assumptions and to wrestle with worlds of difference literature embodies.