Mentoring TAs: Program for Instructional Excellence (PIE)

Program for Instructional Excellence (PIE) Teaching Associates 2008-2009

Sally Anderson is a Ph.D. doctoral candidate in the Political Science Department at Florida State University. Her teaching and research interests are in international relations, international political economy and comparative politics with a particular focus on developing countries. Her dissertation looks at the effectiveness of foreign aid in countries with high levels of ethnic diversity and income inequality.  She completed her undergraduate degree in Political Science and French at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee in 1999. Prior to coming to FSU in 2005, she worked in public affairs and international economic development in Washington, D.C. While she still calls Nashville home she have lived in 6 states and 3 countries and is looking forward to her next adventure.  

Timothy J. Bengford is a doctoral student in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities. Mr. Bengford’s research interests include men’s studies, film, literature, music, and male spirituality. Mr. Bengford has been awarded the Audrey Wilson Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and has also received a nomination for Florida State University’s Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award. Prior to coming to FSU, Mr. Bengford was a volunteer high school English teacher in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, West Indies. He is currently working on his doctoral thesis which explores masculinity and spirituality in American cinema. He is a second-year associate for the Program for Instructional Excellence and is also a professional pianist and organist.

Jordan Brown is a fifth-year graduate student in the Sociology Department in the College of Social Sciences.  He received a B.A. degree from Indiana University with a double major in Sociology and History, and a minor in Music. He also received his Master's degree in sociology from FSU, and is currently working on his dissertation which focuses on the framing of U.S. foreign policy from the cold war through the war on terror. 

Emily Ciaravolo is in her third year of the Criminology doctoral program at Florida State's College of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Specifically, Emily's area of research deals with family-related causes of crime and delinquency as well as self-control. While currently a research and teaching assistant for the department, she hopes to attain a tenure-track position at a research-oriented university in North America after graduation.

Nitin Dua is a fourth year Ph.D. candidate in Economics in the College of Social Sciences. He received a Masters Degree in Business Economics from Delhi University in India and later received a Masters Degree in Economics from FSU in 2006. He was also awarded the James H. Gapinski Award for outstanding academic achievement among the first year students in 2006. His research interests are Industrial Organization, Health Economics, and Labor Economics. His dissertation concerns the growth of Ambulatory Surgery Centers in Florida and their impact on the health care market. He is pursuing a professorship in economics at the university level.

Josh Englehardt is a doctoral student, specializing in Mesoamerican archaeology, under the direction of Dr. Mary Pohl. His current research focuses on the development of Mesoamerican writing systems in the Preclassic period and the correlation of emerging scripts with diachronic changes in material culture. He is also interested in more general questions regarding the development of complex societies, linguistic acquisition, and anthropological theory. He has lived, worked, or studied in a variety of countries, including Nepal, India, Thailand, England, Kenya, and Mexico. Department of Anthropology

Haroldo Fontaine is a native of the multicultural melting pot that is Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. He is a third-year doctoral student in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in the College of Education. He received a B.A. in International Affairs from the College of Social Sciences, and an M.A. in Humanities from the College of Arts and Sciences, both at Florida State University. Over the course of five years, he has been the instructor of record in two colleges: the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Education. His research interests are focused on the intersections between Martin Heidegger's correction of Aristotle’s Categories—insofar as the latter conceived them as a model for how the human mind works, the neurosciences, and their implications for educational policies, particularly those which govern teacher education.

Huston John Gibson is in his fifth and presumably final academic year of the doctoral program in Urban and Regional Planning at Florida State’s College of Social Sciences.  Following his graduation, Huston’s goal is to find a professorship at the university level where he is able to both creatively teach and research theoretical and application issues in the diverse field of urban and regional planning.

Sarah Horick is currently a graduate student at Florida State University. She recently completed her M.M. in Music Composition and will complete her M.M. in Music Theory in the spring of 2009. Her primary composition teachers include Clifton Callender, Ladislav Kubik, Mark Wingate, and Mark Kilstofte; she has participated in lessons and masterclasses with Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Chen Yi, Andrew Rindfleisch, and Paul Richards. Ms. Horick’s works have been performed in the United States, Canada, and Europe on the programs of a number of international music festivals and recitals. She has been commissioned to write pieces for SUNY Fredonia’s Erie Saxophone Quartet, Furman University’s Wind Ensemble, soprano Tamara Matthews, saxophonist Matthew Olson, and trumpeter Gary Malvern, among others. This fall, Ms. Horick will record a new piece for trumpet, mezzo-soprano, and piano to be included on the Nuove Musiche per Tromba CD series. In addition to being a finalist in the Vancouver Chamber Choir’s Young Composers Competition, she was also a finalist in the 2007 Schlern International Music Festival Competition in voice, is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, and was nominated for an Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award at Florida State University in recognition of exceptional classroom teaching. Ms. Horick is also serving her second year as the president of the Florida State University chapter of the Society of Composers and was a founding committee member of the CHASM Student New Music Festival.

Shaun Horton is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Religion in the College of Arts and Sciences with an emphasis on American Religious History. He received his B.A. in the areas of Religious Studies, English and Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and earned his M.A. in Religion at FSU. His research interests include the role of entertainment in religious practice, and the historical relationship between religion and science. He teaches Religion in the United States.

Joohee Kang is a third-year Ph.D. Candidate (ABD) in Art Education in the College of Visual Arts, Theatre, and Dance. Her research interests are environmental education, ecological art, and place-based education. Her dissertation concerns local artists who address the environmental concerns in their work. After graduation, Joohee hopes to teach art education at the university level.

Tracie Kelly is a third-year Master of Fine Arts student in the Interior Design Department, College of Visual Art, Theatre and Dance.  She will spend this year coordinating TA’s in her department and working on her thesis.  Her interests include how the physical environment shapes behavior, and perspective drawing and rendering.  

McKenzie Lewis is a fourth year Ph.D. student in the Classics Department in the College of Arts and Sciences.  His research interests include Latin literature and the archaeology of Rome and its provinces.  Prior to FSU, he taught Latin at the secondary level in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  McKenzie excavates each summer in Tuscany, Italy.

Lauren Mandel is a second-year Ph.D. student in the College of Information. Her research interest is in wayfinding behavior of public library patrons, specifically how understanding this behavior can lead to facilities better designed to meet users' needs. In addition to her PIE responsibilities, she is currently a CI representative to the Congress of Graduate Students (COGS).

Andrew Murray graduated from the University of South Alabama with a B.S. in Meteorology. He is currently in his second year at FSU in the Meteorology Department working on his M.S. Research interests include interaction between tropical cyclones (TCs) and global oscillations such as ENSO, TC track prediction, and impacts of TC seasons on subsequent winter weather.  He hopes to teach meteorology at the university level after achieving a Ph.D.

Benjamin Mwashote is a 3rd year Ph.D. Candidate in Chemical Oceanography in the FSU Department of Oceanography. He is a Ford Foundation Fellow, having been awarded the prestigious IFP-Ford Foundation Ph.D. Fellowship that enabled him pursue his doctorate program at FSU. He is currently working toward completing his research dissertation, which is in his main area of research interest: Submarine Groundwater Discharge (SGD), its measurement and importance to the nearshore coastal environment. In recognition of his excellent research achievements, Mr. Mwashote has recently been awarded two recognition membership awards into two acclaimed honor societies:  The Golden Key International Honor Society (2007) and The National Scholars Honor Society (2008). In additional to his research interests, Mr. Mwashote is also an accomplished instructor in Earth Sciences (Oceanography) and Math, and is currently involved in instruction at both FSU and TCC. Besides his scientific interests, he is also variously involved in community service.

Jaclyn Plona is a second year Ph.D. student in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics.  She holds an M.A. in Spanish Language and Literature and a B.A. in Spanish Multi-Level Education. Previously, she taught Spanish at both the high school and community college levels. Her research interests lie within Afro-Hispanic Caribbean literature.  Upon completion of her doctorate program, Jaclyn aspires to teach the Spanish language and Hispanic literature to university students as well as direct educational study-abroad trips.

Joshua Potter is a second year Masters student in Media and Communication Studies in the Department of Communication, part of the College of Communication. His research interests include performance, gender, critical-cultural studies, and queer theory. After completing his degree, Joshua plans to continue on to a Ph.D. program in performance studies.

Michael Quinn is a third-year doctoral student with the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems. Quinn’s focus is in Learning and Cognition while his minor is in Educational Leadership and Policy. Quinn’s research interests include the discrepancy between teacher beliefs, preservice versus inservice. Before coming to FSU, Quinn spent seven years as a dynamic high school teacher, teaching in a multitude of settings. He made the difficult decision to leave the profession after enduring five layoffs due to budget cuts. Upon completion of his dissertation, Quinn plans on seeking a deanship and building a college of education from the ground up. He is on a mission to curb teacher attrition and do his part to help new teachers stay “in the game.” Quinn is driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. And so Quinn finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home.

Rodney David Reeves is a doctoral student in Social Science Education program, School of Teach Education. He is a native Charleston South Carolina. He got his B.S. in Business Management and his M.A in counseling psychology. After several years working with youth in colleges, he went on to get his Ed.S. Degree in Instructional Design and Ph.D. in Higher Education with a major in Continuing and Adult Education. He served as a PIE associate in 2007, assisted in implementing a new electronic portfolio that all TAs and adjunct clinical faculty are required to use. From directing students in four international projects and working with international students at FSU, he found an interest in International Program Development.

Texas native Sarah Sarver graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in 2002 from Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana. Sarah then began studies in music theory at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. After earning a Master of Music degree from SMU, Sarah moved to Tallahassee to begin the Ph.D. program in music theory at Florida State University. She is currently a fourth-year doctoral student and is set to complete preliminary exams this fall. As a graduate assistant for the Department of Music Theory and Composition at FSU, Sarah has had the opportunity to teach core undergraduate music theory classes. After graduating, Sarah would like to continue teaching music classes at the college/university level.

Timothy Saunders is a second-year MA student of Theatre Studies in the School of Theatre.  He is currently working on his Master’s thesis, which explores the representation of families in postcolonial Francophone dramatic literature.  He serves as head TA for THE 2000, a newly designed hybrid course that teaches Introduction to Theatre for non-majors, and enjoys the challenge of inspiring a new generation of theatre patrons. 

Katie Shaw is a second-year graduate student in the Department of Textile and Consumer Sciences. She is pursuing her Ph.D. in Retail Merchandising and her research focuses on consumer-perceived value and the value of place in the shopping experience, visual merchandising, and sociology/psychology of clothing.  Before coming to FSU, Katie taught at Eastern Illinois University for three years and decided that teaching was the career path she wanted to follow.  After graduation she hopes to teach at a university and work as a retail research consultant.

Zac Stegen is a second year Ph.D. student in the Department of Physics. His research involves studying high-temperature superconductors in high magnetic fields, specifically their electrical transport properties. Zac hopes to obtain a position where there are opportunities to teach while continuing his research in the exciting field of condensed matter physics.

Galiya Tabulda is a second-year graduate student in the Modern Languages and Linguistics Department. She was born in the USSR, witnessed its fall and current rapid rise, and is absolutely fascinated with Russia and its language which she’s been teaching at FSU for three semesters. Her research interests include Second Language Acquisition and, in particular, how to teach Russian in the most effective way combining Traditional and Communicative approaches. She truly believes that the world we all live in now demands a special kind of person – Global Citizens, for whom she wants to make learning of a language a fascinating, exciting and beneficial activity.

Brittni Wegmann is a second year graduate student in the Department of Art, part of the College of Visual Arts, Theatre, and Dance. She received her B.A. from Goshen College, in Goshen, Indiana and before coming to FSU she served as the artist-in-residence for two years at Hesston College, in Hesston, Kansas. Her current interest is in making ceramic objects that not only invite the viewer to investigate a piece visually, but also tempt him or her to touch or even pick up the piece. She hopes to accomplish this by giving curiously shaped and textured objects a hint of familiarity while at the same time constructing specific contexts in which they are displayed. After graduation, she hopes to continue working as a professional artist and teaching studio art at the college level.

Hui Xu (Sophie) is a third-year Doctoral student majoring in piano performance in the College of Music at Florida State University. In past years, she was awarded the Music Guild and Chapman scholarships, and also won several International and National piano competitions. A good pianist must be able to play as well as to teach her skills to other students. Ms. Xu’s long-range occupational objective is to get a college teaching job where she will be able to both continue her performing career and share her experiences through teaching.

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