As one of the interim co-directors at the Center for Educational Innovation, Jeff reports to the vice provost for faculty and academic affairs and provides strategic direction and operational leadership for the Center. He coordinates the CEI MPACT 2025 Education Grants, which advance student success and belonging in departments across the UMN system. He also coordinates the Teaching Enrichment Series workshops, Teaching Assistant and Post Doc Professional Development program, and the Thank-a-Teacher program.
He is co-chair of the Faculty Development for Online Teaching (FDOT) task group, a system-wide collaboration working together to develop and curate curriculum, resources, and guidelines for online teaching. In this role, he led a team that developed the University-wide Guidelines for Online Teaching and Design. He is also a co-instructor for the Designing & Delivering Online Learning course.
He has been a facilitator or small group leader in several faculty programs, including Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), Internationalizing the Curriculum, and the Early Career Teaching Program. In addition, he consults with and provides workshops for faculty, instructors, and teaching assistants on a variety of teaching and learning topics, including course design, internationalizing curriculum, and assessment. He serves on the Classroom Advisory Subcommittee and represents CEI as a Teaching Support partner.
Jeff lived in China for six years, taught English at Peking University, and speaks Chinese (Mandarin). He has a PhD in Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development (Higher Education track), MA in TESOL (Teaching English as a Second Language), and a BA in English, all from the University of Minnesota.
Jeff serves as liaison to:
- University of Minnesota Crookston
- Medical School (UMD & UMTC)
- Graduate School