Course Hero-WW Fellows Named for 2019

NEWS RELEASE
FOR RELEASE: Monday, May 6, 2019
CONTACT: Frances Hannan | hannan@woodrow.org  |  (609) 945-7886

Program Provides “Genius Grants” To Tenure-Track And Non-Tenure-Track Faculty To Recognize, Promote Outstanding Teaching

PRINCETON, NJ (May 6, 2019) — Today’s educators at colleges and universities face dwindling resources, making it increasingly challenging to experiment with new, inspiring, and effective teaching approaches. To provide support to innovative thinkers, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and Course Hero have extended the reach of their Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching program in 2019 to include non-tenure-track as well as tenure-track educators.

The eight fellows announced today will receive grants to support various aspects of their research and teaching, such as hiring research or teaching assistants, purchasing materials and software, and traveling to conferences or research sites. These educators represent a broad spectrum of higher education: They teach at a variety of institutions, including public and private research universities, liberal arts colleges, and a community college, and cover a wide array of subject matter, including anthropology, biology, chemistry, and management.

The Fellowship, created by Course Hero and administered by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, is a “genius grant” for outstanding teachers in higher education. “This fellowship highlights college educators who are using innovative, forward-thinking methods to teach their students,” said Andrew Grauer, cofounder and CEO of Course Hero. “This year’s class epitomizes excellence in teaching. Fellows are pushing the boundaries in lecture halls and labs, coming up with new ways to engage learners and crafting lessons for students that will stay with them long after they’ve left the classroom. We are proud to recognize these outstanding leaders as Course Hero–Woodrow Wilson Fellows.”

For tenure-track junior faculty, the award emphasizes the balance between scholarly excellence and commitment to teaching practice that draws on new approaches to pedagogy, creating a new level of engagement for students in and beyond the classroom. Tenure-track fellows receive a one-year grant of $30,000, approximately $20,000 to engage a research or teaching assistant and the remainder to support travel and research. The 2019 tenure-track fellows are Kristina Baines, Curtis Cain, Kevin Drace, and Dwight Williams.

For non-tenure-track instructors, the fellowship supports an overall commitment to excellence in teaching. The flexible one-year, $20,000 grant supports teaching, research, and conference participation. Sarah Balcom, Jason Bruck, Ekaterina Elgayeva, and Subhalakshmi Nagarajan make up the 2019 non-tenure-track class.

(See the full list of fellows and their institutions and departments, below.)

A panel of distinguished university scholars selected the eight 2019–2020 Course Hero–Woodrow Wilson Fellows from a large pool of qualified candidates. For the tenure-track Fellows, selectors were Lawrence Bottomley, Ph.D., Chemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology; John Branch, Ph.D., Business Administration, University of Michigan; Tiffany Joseph, Ph.D., Sociology, Northeastern University; and Emily Wiley, Ph.D., Biology, Claremont McKenna College. The selectors for the non-tenure-track fellows were Dolores Bradley Brennan, Ph.D., Vice Provost for Faculty, Spelman College; David Edwards, Ph.D., Vice President for Academic Affairs, Camden County College; and Willard Gingerich, Ph.D., Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Montclair State College.

“These selectors are a thoughtful, experienced, knowledgeable group with a broad range of perspectives, and they made it clear that they were very impressed with these new fellows—with their creativity in the classroom, with the energy they give their students, and with their commitments to their fields,” said Beverly Sanford, vice president and secretary of the Foundation. “The Woodrow Wilson team is delighted to be able to offer this kind of support to the fellows. They’re emerging faculty stars.”

The newest Course Hero–Woodrow Wilson Fellows, already great college educators, are emerging leaders in their fields who are on a clear trajectory to help their students grow into the thought leaders—and innovators—of tomorrow.

For more information on the Course Hero–Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, please visit www.woodrow.org/coursehero.

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About the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
Founded in 1945, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation (www.woodrow.org) identifies and develops the nation’s best minds to meet its most critical challenges. The Foundation supports its fellows as the next generation of leaders shaping American society.

About Course Hero
Course Hero is an online learning library where members can access over 25 million course-specific study resources contributed by a community of students and educators. Find practice problems, study guides, videos, class notes, and step-by-step explanations for every subject that students are studying—from economics to literature, biology to history, accounting to psychology, and everything in between. Course Hero has been recognized as one of the 2018 Technology Fast 500 by Deloitte. Learn more at www.coursehero.com.

COURSE HERO–WOODROW WILSON EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING FELLOWS, CLASS OF 2019

Tenure-Track

Kristina Baines, Ph.D.
Guttman Community College (CUNY) • Anthropology

Curtis Cain, Ph.D.
Howard University • Management and Information Systems

Kevin Drace, Ph.D.
Birmingham-Southern College • Biology

Dwight Williams, Ph.D.
Kalamazoo College • Chemistry

Non-Tenure-Track

Sarah Balcom, D.V.M.
University of Maryland • Animal and Avian Sciences

Jason Bruck, Ph.D.
Oklahoma State University • Integrative Biology

Ekaterina (Kate) Elgayeva, Ph.D.
University of Minnesota Duluth • Management

Subhalakshmi (Subha) Nagarajan, Ph.D.
Bowling Green State University • Chemistry