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2022 Awards for Innovations in Teaching and Learning

August 17, 2022
Submitted By: Office of Marketing and Communication

The University’s annual Awards for Innovations in Teaching and Learning recognize faculty members who have shown exceptional dedication, innovation, and effectiveness in the classroom through recent and specific achievements in teaching. The 2022 winners were announced during the faculty-staff kickoff on Aug. 16. This year’s awardees:

photo of Susan CardilloSusan Cardillo, assistant professor of digital media and journalism in the School of Communication, is being recognized for the exemplary work she accomplished by giving the musical theatre program a vibrant life last year despite the deleterious effects of the pandemic. She brings a wealth of experience to her students, having worked in Los Angeles as a motion picture production manager and associate producer, and as a stage, television, and film actor for 20 years. This followed extensive training at the University of Arizona (B.A. in radio/television communications and theatre) and the New School (M.S. in interactive media). She also taught at the high school level and at several other colleges. With the help of another instructor who teaches film, she created a method called Filmed Theater that enabled musical theatre students to put on Spring Awakening while abiding by strict COVID guidelines. “As technology has advanced, so has the ease of maneuvering equipment,” she explains as just one component of the comprehensive program. One task included embedding camera crews on stage to give multiple points of view. “It is not hyperbole to say that Susan rescued the musical theatre program at Hartt in the spring of 2021,” says Tracey Moore, professor of theatre at Hartt. “She is creative, jovial, enthusiastic, and possesses an almost superhuman energy.”

photo of Billie LeeBillie Lee, assistant professor of fine arts at the Hartford Art School, joined the faculty as a McLean Fellow in 2018 and now teaches Drawing From Life, Visual Culture, and other courses. She is being acknowledged for her innovation integrating trauma-informed mobile technology tools to cultivate inclusive student learning. At the beginning of the pandemic, she noticed how the challenges of remote learning were experienced unevenly across the student population based on socio-economic factors, housing stability, wellness, emotional challenges and more. This often negatively affected student participation, performance, and meaningful interactions. She decided to employ WhatsApp, a free mobile platform that allows students to share work and participate in discussions in a way that is easy to navigate, works well with low internet connections, and features a variety of video, voice, text, file sharing, and multimedia functions. She now uses it in every class, remote and in-person, due to positive feedback. Other professors have noted how Lee’s strategies support diversity and inclusion in the classroom. “She had also developed other similarly brilliant, impactful innovations that are quickly transforming our department,” says Cat Balco, professor of painting. Mari A. Firkatian, a professor of history at Hillyer College who took one of her classes, says, “I felt myself transported to a shared classroom space where I ‘met with’ my fellow classmates.” She says it was a revelation to be unconstrained by pandemic protocols and enter “a free space of creativity.”