About our Centre

Current Fellows

Keltie Hamilton

July 2025 - June 2027

Keltie Hamilton

Prior to becoming a University Instructor, I was unaware there was an entire area of research dedicated to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). I have been fortunate enough to work with the Teaching Center receiving invaluable guidance and feedback as I navigated being a new instructor. While working with the Teaching Center I discovered a passion for SoTL research and realized many faculty members engage in SoTL work without knowing.

During my teaching fellowship I hope to understand what students need to feel included in the classroom and what supports faculty members need to increase equity and inclusiveness in the courses they teach.  By getting both the learner and teacher perspectives, I hope to develop a targeted workshop series on classroom equity for faculty. The drive for equity in my teaching is also driven by my background in public health, and recognizing that students have vastly different lived experiences when they arrive in our classrooms. I am so excited to work alongside amazing teaching fellows over the next 2 years and contribute to our campus community. 

Aaron Stout

July 2025 - June 2027

Aaron Stout

I have often been interested in the scholarship of teaching and learning. Before I came the University of Lethbridge I taught high school social studies for eleven years. During that time, I was curious about how students engaged with information and made it their own. I was interested in understanding how students learned in the best ways possible. These questions led me to do a M.A. in Education, working closely with the Faculty of Education and the History department. As an educator I value the conversations that are held among different people, departments, and sectors. As we talk together, we grow together. As a teaching fellow, I’m looking forward to working with Dr. Sheila McManus as we consider how little things that teachers do can have profound effects on student experiences.

I was fortunate to come to the University of Lethbridge, in 2016,  through a program that invited K-12 teachers to teach in the Faculty of Education. In that position I was surrounded by mentors and students that enriched my own learning experiences. As a teacher we are always a learner. That one-year position opened the door to an instructor position that has kept me in the Faculty of Education. As an instructor I value the many interrelationships that we have as an institution. I continue to be involved with the K-12 teaching community as well as the Alberta Teachers Association. Another passion of mine is the intersection of wellbeing and learning. As a faculty we have been considering how to prioritize health and wellness as a precondition for learning. Working with colleagues in the faculty and in the province, I have been fortunate to belong to the Teacher of Tomorrow National Forum.  I look forward to exploring how diverse interrelationships inform and transform how we approach teaching and learning during my time as a teaching fellow.

Sheila McManus

July 2025 - June 2027

Sheila McManus

The Teaching Centre can’t quite seem to get rid of me.  I had the pleasure of receiving a Teaching Fellowship back in 2012, which led to the Instructional Skills Workshop and Facilitator Development Workshop, which led to serving as Board of Governors’ Teaching Chair 2014-1016, and then the Distinguished Teaching Award in 2018, then chairing the ReSet team since 2021…. and now another Teaching Fellowship, which I am lucky enough to share with Aaron Stout as we explore how to help colleagues across campus improve their first-year courses.

Jenny McCune

July 2026 - June 2028

Jenny McCune

I am a plant community ecologist and conservation biologist. I currently teach Principles of Ecology (BIOL 2200) - a core course in the Biology BSc program. I also teach third year Community Ecology, and our fourth year course in Conservation Biology.

During my time as a Teaching Fellow, I would like to explore techniques for interdisciplinary teaching. In particular, I want to learn more about how to integrate traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) into biology courses focused on ecology. The call to weave TEK into biological education is not new (e.g. Kimmerer, R. W. 2002. Weaving traditional ecological knowledge into biological education: a call to action. BioScience, 52(5), 432-438), but I wonder where it is being done most effectively. I hope to gather information on how this weaving has and is being done at Universities across Canada and around the world. I would also like to have discussions with local TEK holders about how we could weave TEK into biology courses here at Iniskim. For example, our department currently offers a course called Field Biology, in which students live in a provincial park for a week together, learn about and observe the species and ecosystems there, and undertake their own ecological experiments. I would like to explore ways that we might integrate TEK into this course, and how to do it in a good way.

Kaylan Schwarz

July 2026 - June 2028

As a faculty member in the School of Liberal Education, I work within an interdisciplinary research and teaching environment which allows for flexible topic exploration and engenders opportunities for collaborations within and beyond the university.  I teach a range of courses including LBED 2000: Identity and Liberal Education, LBED 3010: Travel and Tourism, LBED 3350: Themes in Innovation, and LBED 4000: Capstone Ideas in Liberal Education.
 
Part of my teaching practice involves exposing students to a variety of campus locations by hosting occasional class sessions in the Innovation Zone and/or the Dr. Margaret (Marmie) Perkins Hess Gallery. It is not uncommon for upper year students to tell me that they had yet to visit these spaces on their own, and that having a dedicated occasion to do so was an enjoyable, enriching, and memorable aspect of my course. Arranging ‘beyond the classroom’ opportunities for students has also supported my own integration as a University of Lethbridge faculty member, helping me to become familiar with campus-based resources and feel more connected to colleagues across departments.
 
As a Teaching Fellow, I am interested in exploring: How can we build a culture of interdisciplinarity and collaboration across our institution and within our own teaching practices? What types of ‘beyond the classroom’ opportunities are available, but perhaps not widely known? How do these spaces and activities enhance student learning and experience?