Higher education has faced many new challenges in the last ten years: a devaluation of higher education, sweeping changes in artificial intelligence technology, and downward trending enrollment rates. Literacy and student engagement have risen to the top of higher education’s priorities as the university assesses its institutional value. While instructors continue to negotiate their relationship with Gen Z students, on the horizon looms Gen Alpha students characterized by digital immersion and global pandemics.  Despite these challenges, it is an exciting time to nourish a new generation of scholars who will face both a new institutional setting and a rapidly changing world demanding innovative solutions. 

In this time of sweeping change, it is helpful to have instructors who can clearly connect academic course work with transferable skills that students can apply to their internships, resumes, and first professional positions upon graduation. With employment experience in the nonprofit, government, and private sectors I can clearly articulate the relationship between course content and assignments with what will be asked of them in the workplace. From designing workshops to hosting conferences, I come to university teaching with many years of experience in adult learning methods. Grounded in learning and development techniques, my goal is to design courses and materials that offer the greatest amount of return on investment while removing design experiences that lead to disengagement. This is accomplished through gap analysis, quality improvement practices, and sensitivity to student feedback.

When sweeping change is accompanied by political tension, it is helpful to have instructors who can manage tense political conversations and are versed in working through heightened emotions. I have both these requisite skills, pulled not only from my academic background but also from my career experience in the domestic violence prevention field. I have undergone extensive leadership and conflict management training throughout the last fourteen years. I am very comfortable managing tense environments with participants from a variety of political positions. I myself grew up in a rural Midwest environment. Because of this background, I acutely appreciate the potential of the undergraduate space, where I was once stewarded into a broader and transformative social understanding by my own excellent professors. Therefore, I hold a lot of compassion (and excitement) for students who are rumbling with discomfort and awakening their political consciousness. My own political consciousness is continually developing, and I am passionate about students being co-creators of knowledge. I do not pretend to know or understand all the issues, but I can offer students the step-by-step skills in finding answers and critically thinking through discourses around the issues they care about.

In addition to these practical skills, I hold a B.A. in Women, Gender, and Sexuality studies and Anthropology from the University of Kansas. My Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Kansas (MPA) and my doctoral graduate work at Syracuse focus on the interplay between motherhood, labor, and social policy with a concentration in feminist theory. I also hold a graduate certification in Peace and Conflict Studies and a Certification of University Teaching. Please see my curriculum vitae (CV) for more information on concurrent academic honors and awards.

Warmly,

Ren Morton