Biography
Dr. April Perry is the Program Director & Associate Professor in the M.Ed. Higher
Education Student Affairs program at Western Carolina University. Before moving to
North Carolina, she completed her PhD at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch,
New Zealand, in which her research emphasis was in Higher Education Student Development,
Career Development, and Student Transitions. As a practitioner, April has worked in
Leadership Programs, Parent & Family Programs, Fundraising & Marketing, Academic Tutoring
Services, and Graduate Student Administration. She is passionate about student development
in the college years and lives by the motto that 'the only thing better than watching
someone grow is helping them grow.' In 2016, April received the WCU Graduate School’s
<i>Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring. </i>In 2017, she was named
<i>Outstanding Professional in Graduate and Professional Student Services</i><i>,
</i>an award presented by the AGAPSS Knowledge Community of NASPA. In 2020, she was
selected for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Blue Ridge Stand Out (14 under 40).
Teaching Interests
<b>Teaching Philosophy and Approach:</b><br>I live by the motto that the only thing
better than watching someone grow is helping them grow. This motto reflects my teaching
philosophy, and what I believe to be my role as an educator. While the mission of
educational institutions is to educate the next generation of citizenry to be the
critical conscience of society, I believe it is essential for educators to also prepare
students for their futures by equipping them with professional, practical, and personal
transferable skills. I also believe that educators have a role in helping students
gain a realistic perspective of their employment opportunities, which must start early
in a student’s academic pursuits. By helping students better manage their expectations
of life-after-college and equipping them with skills to be lifelong learners, they
will become more critically engaged in their local communities and the global society.
Teaching, training, and facilitating learning environments allow me to fulfill what
I believe to be fundamental responsibilities of any educator. Those responsibilities
are based on providing learners with an educative and challenging environment where
curiosity is awakened, intrinsic motivation and active/collaborative learning (the
co-construction of meaning) are evident, and the greater connection comes from critical
analysis and reflection on both the students’ personal experiences and the course
content.<br>As a learning community (like the HESA program), knowledge acquisition
and the co-creation of meaning heavily relies on each person’s attendance and engagement
in the course work and discussion. I do not view myself as the “knower” of information
who lectures as a “sage on a stage.” Rather, I take on the role of a facilitator,
a “guide on the side” that encourages students to pull from their own and others’
lived experience to interpret course materials and co-create meaning. This complements
my personal teaching philosophy as well as the HESA Program mission, goals, and outcomes.<br><br>
Research Interests
<b>Research Interests:</b><br>Student Development<br>Student Transitions<br>Career
Development/Preparation<br>Career Transitions<br>Leadership Development<br>Student
Involvement and Engagement<br>Institutional Strategies that promote student success<br>The
Role of Higher Education in the 21 <sup>st</sup> Century<br>The Value of a DegreeFaculty
Transitions<br>Faculty-Student Mentor Relationships<br><br><b>Methodological Alignment:</b><br>April
identifies as a Qualitative Researcher and utilizes methods including, but not limited
to:<br>Symbolic Interactionism<br>Naturalistic Inquiry<br>Narrativity/Narratology<br>Case
Study<br>Ethnography (including auto-ethnography)<br>Phenomenology<br>Action Research<br><br>For
a list of publications, presentations, and other scholarly activities, view Dr. April
Perry's CV at: https://aprilperry.weebly.com/cvwork-history.html