Specifically, Joy won a grant to attend the 2009 Lilly-East Conference on College and University Teaching held at the University of Delaware April 16-17. Joy joined her adviser, Dr. Jaime Schultz (a 2008-09 Lilly Fellow) and Dr. Marvin Scott (2007-98 Lilly Fellow) at this year's conference, entitled "Millennial Learning: Teaching in the 21st Century."The Healthy Turtle talked with Joy about the conference, the application process, and the history of female professional wrestling (we may get some unintentional Google hits from that last subject). Enjoy:
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Healthy Turtle: How did you come to receive your grant to attend your conference? What was the process like?
Joy Bauer: My advisor, Dr. Jaime Schultz, is a 2008 -2009 CTE-Lilly Fellow at Maryland, and she mentioned the Lilly teaching conference (and grant availability!) to the graduate students in our area last fall. I didn't give it much though at that point, but I got involved with other activities run by the UMD CTE (Center for Teaching Excellence) during fall and into spring.
The deadline came up for the grant application, I glanced at the requirements, and I figured I could put together a decent portfolio and have a shot at the grant. I took KNES 620 (Teaching Kinesiology to Undergraduates) in fall with Dr. Jane Clark, and part of our final portfolio for that class included our teaching philosophy and teaching statement.
Both of these documents were requested by the grant committee, so with a bit of editing, I was able to complete the application rather painlessly. The application process was completely online, so that added to the convenience. I submitted the application and heard back that I was one of the awardees a few weeks later.
HT: What does this mean to you to win?
JB: Being one of the recipients of the grant holds many meanings for me. First, I was extremely honored to be chosen in my first year of teaching. Second, the fact that grants were provided for a teaching development conference affirmed the UMD and Lilly Foundation's commitment to undergraduate education, which I believe doesn't always get the attention or funding it deserves.
Third, it meant I would have the opportunity to meet graduate students and faculty who share my dedication to improving undergraduate teaching both from other departments at UMD and other institutions. And fourth, I felt a sense of responsibility upon receiving the award, both to the department and to CTE. I would attend this conference as a representative of UMD, the Kinesiology Department, and the School of Public Health, and I took that task very seriously.
HT: With the conference having already taken place, what did you come away from it with?
JB: I got most everything I expected out of the Lilly-East Teaching Conference, plus a little more! The opportunity to interact with faculty and students who share a commitment to undergraduate education was both exhilarating and overwhelming. The conference included scholars from a diverse set of subjects and institutions, but the collective goal led to a feeling of collaboration and sharing rather than competition and divisiveness.
I interacted with many different people--going to a conference where I knew none of the other attendees from Maryland was actually a benefit, as I had to start the social networking immediately upon arriving in Delaware. Everyone, students, faculty, and administrators, were welcoming, hospitable, friendly, and stimulating.
I even had the great luck to run into Doug Hochstetler, who had taught me at Penn State while I was working on my undergraduate degree and he was working on his PhD. While it made both of us feel a bit old to come to the conclusion that that time was over ten years ago, it was wonderful to sit with him for a meal and catch up on where life has taken each of us. (And he claimed that he remembered me--even if it may not have been true, it still was nice to hear! That’s a note to all future professors...)
HT: How will attending this conference help you in your research and your future plans?
The conference will directly aid my teaching, rather than my research, and that was the goal of the Lilly conference. Even on the first day back from the conference, I utilized some of the tips and ideas learned at the conference in my classes.
I am always looking for ways to engage students in deeper level thinking rather than employing the typical teacher-talks-student-listens format. I know that I have a lot of knowledge to share, but truly, there is so much more for students to learn from one another and for me to learn from the students.
The conference reaffirmed my desire to be a college professor and made me all the more eager to learn new techniques and continue the long road of developing into a good (hopefully great!) teacher.
HT: What are your primary research interests?
JB: I'm currently developing a study that I hope to continue over summer that will examine the experiences how retired female gymnasts negotiate pain and injury both in their previous athletic lives and in their current (post-competitive) lives.
I'm also working (very early stages) on a historical project that will examine women's professional wrestling in the 1930's-1960's and uncover how the sport reflected the status and progress of women and femininity during that time in US history. I'm also toying with doing work on dance, amateur wrestling, Soviet sport, and a bevy of other ideas, but that'll have to wait until I actually finish these first two projects.
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Joy Bauer is a doctoral student in the School of Public Health's Department of Kinesiology. Information about the Lilly-East Conference on College and University Teaching can be found at their site: http://www.udel.edu/lillyeast/.
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