Mentors
Carly Tribull
Department: Biology
Teaching Style & Philosophy
- Works actively to incorporate group work and discussion into lecture
- Values mentoring greatly
- Seeks student feedback and input on her teaching
Work & Communication Style
- Very collaborative within department
- Seeks to make contributions to teaching and improving the undergraduate experience
Mentorship Goals
- Eager to provide pedagogical and professional guidance
- Wants to share PUI experience with new teachers
Read More on My Faculty Page
Gonca Altuger-Genc
Department: Mechanical Engineering Technology
Teaching Style & Philosophy
- Works to accommodate different types of learners so that none feel isolated
- Open to trying new teaching techniques and styles
- Holds high expectations of students, sets them up to meet challenges
Work & Communication Style
- Collaborative
- Likes to establish tasks and responsibilities
- Emphasizes the importance of timelines and deadlines
Mentorship Goals
- Wants mentee to feel confident and relaxed about teaching, not fearful
- Use teaching mentoring as a way to serve her profession and give back for the mentoring she received
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Jeff Hung
Department: Mechanical Engineering Technology
Teaching Style & Philosophy
- Emphasizes instilling strong work ethics
- Practical, solution-based, problem solving focus
- Very strict on deadlines and timelines, more flexible on grades
Work & Communication Style
- Does not micro manage (Chair of dept.)
- Very open, values initiative and tends to be less structured
Mentorship Goals
- Wants to help mentee develop their teaching style and understand PUI student needs
- Looking to hire LI based faculty to work for department
- Values mentee initiative and self-motivation in developing and maintaining the mentoring relationship
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Marya Carter
Department: Psychology
Teaching Style & Philosophy
- Works to engage empathy in education
- Elicits students' own life experiences to create personal meaning and relevance
- Uses conversation to engage students
- Listens and encourages student input and feedback from students, seeks to grow in her teaching from them.
Work & Communication Style
- Collaborative, seeks out the input of others
- Describes herself as linear and practical
- Emphasizes effective communication
Mentorship Goals
- Eager to give back the great examples of effective and meaningful mentorship she had
- Wants to hire quality adjunct/full time faculty
- Seeks to perpetuate a culture that values teaching through pedagogical mentorship
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Michael Figuccio
Department: Psychology
Teaching Style & Philosophy
- Has converted many classes into applied learning models
- Integrates service learning into curriculum
- Incorporates research into lower level classes
- Values teaching as much as research
Work & Communication Style
- Highly collaborative
- Emphasizes listening and reframing to achieve comprehension
Mentorship Goals
- Hopes to learn from mentee and improve his own teaching through mentoring
- Seeks to provide an understanding of teaching at a PUI
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Mihaela Radu
Department: Electrical & Computer Engineering Technology
Teaching Style & Philosophy
- Practices active and project- based learning
- Seeks to achieve deep vs. superficial learning
- Emphasizes written and oral communication and developing technical vocabulary early
Work & Communication Style
- Open and friendly with colleagues
- Appreciates deadlines and punctuality
Mentorship Goals
- Wants to see how young people are approaching teaching and learn from them how to approach the new generation better
- Seeks to provide an understanding of PUIs for mentees considering working at one
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Paulo Castillo
Department: Electrical & Computer Engineering Technology
Teaching Style & Philosophy
- Strong emphasis on balancing theory and practice and solidifying theoretical knowledge first
- Listens to students to learn their goals and teaches to those goals when possible
- Encourages “thinking” before “doing”
- Believes that students should not feel intimidated in the classroom
Work & Communication Style
- Prefers to work with and learn from others
- Very collaborative within department
Mentorship Goals
- Seeks to help mentees understand and navigate the positive and negative aspects of teaching
- Wants to help mentee convert motivation for teaching into conviction and practice
Amanda Shore
Department: Biology
Teaching Style & Philosophy
- Gives students multiple formats to communicate through to build confidence, encourage questions and dialogue (uses specific technology to facilitate discussion in and outside of class)
- Emphasizes meaningful and intentional use of visuals and management of information on slides to make lectures engaging
- Considers herself to be performative in class- uses storytelling to make concepts relatable, moves around, is energetic and enthusiastic
- Does not generally suffer from stage fright around teaching and leans into silence
- Uses case studies to develop students’ applied learning skills
- Has previously completed microteaching experiences herself as a postdoc
Work & Communication Style
- Needs deadlines to stay organized
- Likes to come together for high level planning and then complete tasks individually
- Email can be easiest way to reach her
Mentorships Goals
- Eager to help dissertators think about teaching meaningfully and instill placing the student and what they are getting out of the experience at the center of teaching philosophy
- Seeking to gain insight into and refresh her own teaching
- Interested in understanding more about teaching methods at other institutions through sharing dissertator experiences
Adaobi Mofunanya
Department: Biology
Teaching Style & Philosophy
- Gives students multiple formats to communicate through to build confidence and encourage questions and dialogue
- Establishes open and welcoming class environment, wants students to feel comfortable saying “I don’t know”
- Makes sure that lectures are interactive, encourages questions and relates material and concepts to students so they are engaged
Work & Communication Style
- Considers herself adaptable and collaborative
- Experience immigrating from Nigeria was formative in shaping her ability to adapt to different situations and communicate with students and colleagues of all different work and communication styles
- Incorporates listening into interactions with students and colleagues
Mentorships Goals
- Seeks to guide mentee in learning to make information accessible to and manageable for students (how to craft slides and integrate them into lectures meaningfully)
- Sees AGEP as an opportunity to make new connections and gain new perspectives on her own teaching
- Eager to provide mentorship that she did not receive as a dissertator herself
NSF-AGEP@FSC
Dr. Paulo Castillo
Principal Investigator
Dr. Tracy Callender
Co-Principal Investigator
Dr. Christopher Malone
Co-Principal Investigator