About This Issue

Welcome to the Spring 2020 issue of Utah State’s Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence. We hope this issue finds all well, safe, and healthy. As scholars, we are all acutely aware of the constraints and opportunities offered by the world health crisis occurring at the time of this issue’s publication. This issue explores opportunities to strengthen academic and intellectual vigor by focusing on the tripartite mission of higher education: that of teaching, research, and service.

We open with a book review by Robert Peterson, Associate Director of USU’s Uintah Basin Statewide Campus, and the Uintah Basin USU campus director of Students. He offers valuable insight and response to Dr. Steven M. Gavazzi and E. Gordon Gee’s book, Land-Grant Universities for the Future: Higher Education for the Public Good (2018). Peterson’s review pairs nicely with the next selection, an article by Dr. Gavazzi himself, titled “Teaching Excellence: The Core of the Land-Grant Mission.” He discusses the tri-partite mission of the land-grant institution and the unforced errors that universities make that lead them away from their mission of teaching, research, and service.

In the remainder of the issue, authors bring to bear their land-grant backgrounds in timely, relevant, and applicable ways. Dr. Antje Graul offers strategies for converting courses to on-line content, an article of great value in this time of urgent need for alternative course delivery options. Dr. David Law and his colleagues explore the literature on faculty to undergraduate mentoring programs and open a dialogue for future research. Dr. Sherena Huntsman and her colleagues share research regarding Open Educational Resources as a way to increase accessibility for all students. Finally, Dr. Christopher Garrett adds a vital piece to the tripartite conversation with his research on and application of Discussion Based Learning.

Please enjoy all this issue has to offer and be inspired to teach, research, and serve classrooms, universities, and communities in new and unconventional ways. Invite colleagues to do the same. Download this issue, click “follow” to subscribe, and submit your work on empowering excellence in education soon.

References

Garrett, C. D. (2020). Three Key Principles for Improving Discussion-Based Learning in College Classrooms. Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence, 4(1).

Gavazzi, S. (2020). Teaching Excellence: The Core of the Land-Grant Mission. Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence, 4(1).

Graul, A. R. H. (2020). Successful Strategies for Content Creation and Design of Online Classes. Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence, 4(1).

Huntsman, S., Edenfield, A. C., Davis, E. (2020). Open Access Textbooks in a Professional Communication Classroom: A Pilot Study. Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence, 4(1).

Law, D. D., Hales, K., Busenbark, D. (2020). Student Success: A Literature Review of Faculty to Undergraduate Mentoring. Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence, 4(1).

Peterson, R. (2020). The Impact and Importance of Understanding the Role of Land-Grant Universities in Higher Education, a Book Review of Teaching Excellence: The Core of the Land Grant Mission by Gavazzi, Gee, and McGrath (2018). Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence, 4(1).