Biggio Center announces newest faculty fellows

The Biggio Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning is pleased to announce its 2022-23 cohort of Faculty Fellows. Now in its fourth year, the Faculty Fellows Program supports talented faculty whose commitment to advancing instruction contributes to Auburn’s goals of excellence in teaching and learning. The fellows will work to support instructional faculty by developing and integrating high-impact, community-based learning experiences.

This year’s faculty fellows include Kimberly Garza from the Harrison College of Pharmacy, Kelley Noll from the College of Nursing, Ana Grinberg from the College of Liberal Arts and Erin Garcia, representing the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering. Each will serve three-year appointments where they will facilitate faculty learning communities, or FLCs, designed to bring together faculty members from across campus for discussions and partnerships in teaching and research. The fellows will also support the Biggio Center's teaching feedback services, including course observations and small group instructional feedback.

“Our newest fellows are an exciting addition to our existing program, and I am confident they will work to develop innovative practices and promote those approaches across our academic community,” said Lindsay Doukopoulos, associate director of educational development. “Each demonstrates extraordinary dedication to faculty engagement, and I look forward to seeing the new approaches they introduce to connect our faculty with pedagogical best practices.”

Representing diverse academic fields, Garza, Noll, Grinberg and Garcia join six other Biggio fellows who will develop strategies to share innovative teaching and learning approaches with colleagues across campus and foster deeper connections among faculty and the Biggio Center: 

Erin Garcia

A lecturer in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Garcia’s scholarly interests include exploring new classroom activities, building pedagogical structures, and advancing technologies to improve student understanding of technical concepts. She is also working on baseline measurements for the current state of various factors in the classroom to develop effective interventions to enhance self-efficacy and classroom performance.

Kimberly Garza

As an associate professor and graduate program officer in the Department of Health Outcomes Research and Policy, Garza’s research examines the use of immersive technologies to influence the perception of the risk and severity of chronic diseases. Engaging in extensive immersive virtual reality experience, Garza integrates technological approaches to educate students on needs assessment and patient education. She has authored multiple peer-reviewed articles and co-edited a book and a special journal issue related to the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Ana Grinberg

As the Ruth T. Faulk Distinguished lecturer in the Department of English, Grinberg’s research and innovative pedagogical interests intersect with engaged and active approaches to global pre- and early modern epic literature. In addition to scholarly works about medieval representations of epic youth and cultural exchange between Islam and Western Christendom, Grinberg engages in various events and conferences focused on innovative teaching methods.

Kelley Noll

An associate clinical professor in the College of Nursing, Noll’s teaching interests include professional transitions, curriculum and evaluation, and student success. Her scholarly areas focus on effective teaching and curriculum development. Kelley holds national certification as a Certified Nurse Educator and Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator. She is active in the community providing perinatal education with fellow faculty and students.

To be considered, faculty must demonstrate a strong track record of engaging in teaching that promotes pedagogical innovations, have an interest in communicating the results of their research to broader audiences and work to bring that knowledge back into the classroom and to their peers.