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- About the Coulter Faculty Commons
About the Coulter Faculty Commons
The Coulter Faculty Commons for Excellence in Teaching & Learning at Western Carolina University serves full and part-time faculty and Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) in all areas of teaching & learning. We work to create an environment where faculty can come together in the spirit of creativity, collaboration, and community, where becoming an ever better teacher or mentor is the most significant and recognized achievement that any faculty member can seek and where students have superior learning opportunities and experiences.
The Commons designs activities and consultations to spread excitement for the scholarship of teaching and learning. We want WCU faculty to know and experience themselves as part of a teaching and scholarly community where there are continuous open discussions and support for teaching and scholarly activities, where senior faculty remember why they first became teachers, where junior faculty seek excellence in teaching and research, and where new faculty and GTAs experience a wise and compassionate teaching internship or apprenticeship.
Right: Dr. Myron Coulter, Chancellor Emeritus, and Mrs. Barbara Coulter, whose generous $100,000 endowment gift funds faculty work in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
The Commons, which was the dream and vision of Chancellor Emeritus Myron Coulter, supports faculty in their professional development as teachers and scholars and learners. Faculty and GTAs have an open invitation to contact or visit the Commons and talk with the staff. Commons staff are also willing to meet with faculty in their offices or elsewhere.
Establishment
The Faculty Center for Teaching Excellence was established at Western Carolina University in 1988 based on recommendations from the Chancellor's Task Force, commissioned by Chancellor Myron L. Coulter in 1985, on Faculty Development and Evaluation. After three years of researching teaching literature and sponsoring teaching events, the Task Force submitted a 60-page summary report that recommended a structure for the new center. Chancellor Coulter accepted this report in June 1988, and the Center opened that August. The new center was located on the main floor of Hunter Library near the University Media Center. The Task Force's Instructional Services Coordinator, Ben Ward, became the Center's founding director. To staff the Center, the Chancellor provided funds for three Faculty Fellows:
- Faculty Fellow for Publications
- Faculty Fellow for Programs
- Faculty Fellow for Internationalizing the Curriculum
The Myron L. Coulter Faculty Center
In 1994, after Chancellor Coulter announced his retirement, the WCU Board of Trustees renamed the Center in his honor, designating it the Myron L. Coulter Faculty Center for Teaching Excellence. Later that year, the University Media Center was phased out and the Media Center's six full-time staff members merged with the Faculty Center to provide increased support for faculty development in instructional technology. At that time, the Center's staff affected a further name modification: The Myron L. Coulter Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.
Until his retirement in December 2001, Dr. Ben Ward served as the Center's director and ably guided it during years of contributing to the enhancement of the teaching & learning experience at Western. Dr. Alan Altany, previously a professor of religious studies at Marshall University, became the new director in December of 2001.
The Center designated the academic year 2003-2004 as the "Year of the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (SoTL)." Under Dr. Altany's direction, Western became recognized nationally for its SoTL work, specifically the development of Mountain Rise, an international peer-reviewed journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Faculty Learning Communities were established and the annual SoTL Faire grew and expanded to a 2-day event.
The Reorganization of the Coulter Faculty Center
In 2005, Provost Kyle Carter called for a study to reorganize the Center to better serve faculty efforts to enhance student learning. In response to faculty requests, the Coulter Faculty Center combined its resources with Educational Technologies and the Division of Educational Outreach. Center staff began to integrate professional development activities, instructional design, and technology support into a single point of service in Hunter Library.
Dr. Anna McFadden moved from her position as Chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Foundations to lead the effort as Director of the reorganized center. McFadden, a faculty member for 10 years at WCU, spent three months studying in-depth the needs of faculty. The faculty's desires were clear: they wanted a seamless solution to enhancing both their pedagogical techniques and technical abilities. In response to this need, the Center clarified its vision, mission, and strategic direction.
In the expanded Center, faculty find assistance in designing curricula, integrating supported technology to augment student learning, using distance learning formats, training to use technologies, and exploring the scholarship of teaching and learning.
In 2010, Dr. McFadden moved to a new position as Director of Academic Engagement and
Governance for the Division of IT. From 2010-2016, the Center was led by Dr. Laura
Cruz, an Associate Professor in the Department of History who also was instrumental
in changing the name from "Center" to "Commons" in recognition of the aspirational
goal to be a part of a connective matrix of faculty support and engagement rather
than simply a "place" for them to come.
In 2016, Dr. Martha Diede was appointed as the interim director and confirmed as the Director after a national search in 2017. Her focus during her tenure was on improving faculty outcomes while helping them clarify and improve student learning outcomes and course alignment. Dr. Diede left WCU for a position at Syracuse University. Dr. Jonathan Wade, the Senior Educational Technologist at WCU, served as the Acting Director of the Center from June of 2018 to March of 2019.
In March of 2019, after a national search, Dr. Eli Collins-Brown took the reign as the new Director of the Commons. Dr. Collins-Brown has been working in higher education for 20+ years as a curriculum developer, instructional designer, technologist, instructor and leader. Her focus has been on web-based, blended and online education but over the years has branched into the improvement of teaching and learning environments in all modalities and educational/faculty development. Her work centers on creating effective and meaningful learning environments, with or without technology. Through her research and practice, she has found that technology-supported instruction can create significant learning experiences in different modalities that enhance engagement, discussion, access to content and connectedness to students.
Mission
The mission of the Coulter Faculty Commons is to be WCU’s center for teaching and learning excellence that supports sustainable activities, integrating pedagogical best practices, teaching and learning technology, scholarly research, and effective course design.
Vision
The Faculty Commons will foster a community of teacher-scholars promoting excellence in teaching and learning and other forms of scholarship.
- To advance research and innovation in Teaching and Learning
- To expand faculty development to enhance student learning;
- To expand the role of the Faculty Commons as a central resource for support and information for all faculty, both on and off campus;
- To facilitate the effectiveness of technology in teaching and learning;
- To provide support or facilitate events and opportunities for collaboration and conversation among faculty and students;
- To support the strategic goals of the Western Carolina University as articulated in the 2020.20 Strategic Plan
Strategic Goals
To advance research and innovation in Teaching and Learning.
- Promote initiatives that advance the broad understanding and practice of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL).
- Provide tools and support for scholarship as defined by the Boyer model.
- Engage in and promote opportunities for peer-reviewed SoTL publications and presentations.
- Engage in mutually beneficial collaboration with scholars in other states, national, and international programs.
To expand faculty development to enhance student learning.
- Provide collaborative opportunities that motivate and support faculty to enhance learning experiences inside and outside the classroom.
- Foster the integration of technology with teaching and learning.
- Tailor individual faculty development services in order to accommodate a range of needs and talents.
- Provide a variety of formative assessment opportunities for adapting and improving instructional quality.
- Encourage and model innovation in teaching and learning.
To expand the role of the Coulter Faculty Commons as a central resource for support and information for all faculty both on and off campus.
- Create effective electronic resources for faculty support.
- Promote awareness of and participation in Commons events.
- Effectively use a monthly e-mail update to briefly announce CFC events.
- Create and update a variety of self-help training material for all faculty.
- Continue to refine and support the 24/7 electronic support for the Learning Management System.
- Maintain the visibility of the Commons through the director’s advocacy role on campus.
To facilitate the effectiveness and efficiency of technology in teaching and learning;
- Bring together CFC staff with instructional technology expertise and those with the pedagogical expertise to work with faculty in a team approach to choose appropriate technologies for teaching and learning.
- Explore, introduce, and model effective use of appropriate technology.
- Provide effective user support and training for technology in teaching.
- Maintain a reliable and robust online learning infrastructure.
- Support distance education initiatives.
To provide support or facilitate events and opportunities for collaboration and conversation among faculty and students.
- Provide opportunities for faculty to gather and collaborate in a professional and social setting.
- Involve students in appropriate events and opportunities to share a student voice with faculty.
- Partner with other university organizations to plan and implement events for the shared interest of students, staff, and faculty.
Related Information
Contact Us
Myron Coulter Faculty Commons for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
166 Hunter Library
Cullowhee, NC 28723
Phone: 828.227.7196
Fax: 828.227.7340