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Curriculum Design Committee
Membership | Activities
Membership
Last updated: Sept 27,2007
Philip Best |
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Department of Physics
University of Connecticut
2152 Hillside Road
Storrs, CT 06269-3046
Telephone: 486 2942
Fax: 486 3466
E-mail: best@phys.uconn.edu |
Philip Best is a Professor, and Associate Department Head for Undergraduate Education in the Physics Department at the University of Connecticut. He received his B.S. (Hons.) and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Western Australia. Before coming to the University of Connecticut in 1971, he was a Research-Associate/Instructor at Cornell University, and an Experimental Physicist at United Aircraft Research Laboratories. Dr. Best has over 50 publications in refereed journals, including four book chapters. His research has centered on experimental aspects of electron, x-ray and infrared spectroscopies, and their interpretations. From both attending and presenting workshops, Dr. Best knows of various impediments to students learning physics, and some of their fixes. The impediments include student misconceptions, lack of problem-solving skills/critical-thinking, and the several mismatches between teaching and learning styles, so significant in abstract subjects. Dr. Best is a member of the Executive Committee of CTEAMS, a group whose mission is education outreach in Math, the sciences, and engineering. In that capacity he directs the Physics portion of Kids are Scientists Too, (KAST), two weeks of summer science camp for kids between 4 th and 8 th grades. Other outreach work involves demonstrating properties of matter at liquid nitrogen temperatures to local area schools.
Dr. Best's Vita (pdf) |
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Department of Political Science
Unit 24
Storrs, CT 06269
Phone: 860-486-3156
Fax: 860-486-8307
Email: boyer@uconnvm.uconn.edu
Personal Web Site |
Mark A. Boyer is a professor of political science at the University of Connecticut and Co-Director of the GlobalEd Project (www.globaled.uconn.edu). He is also chair of the TNE Curriculum Design Team (www.tne.uconn.edu). He holds a B.A. from Wittenberg University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Maryland . His research and teaching interests focus on international cooperation, political economy, negotiation and conflict resolution, experimental and simulation methods and international studies education. He is the 2004 recipient of the UConn Alumni Association's Award for the Excellence in Teaching at the Graduate Level, the recipient of the 2001 UConn Chancellor's Information Technology Award and the 2000 APSA Rowman and Littlefield Award for Innovation in the Teaching of Political Science. Currently, he is collaborating with Scott W. Brown on Educating Global Citizens (Paradigm Publishers, 2008). He is author of International Cooperation and Public Goods (Johns Hopkins, 1993), co-author of Defensive Internationalism ( University of Michigan Press , 2004), co-author of Negotiating a Complex World , 2nd ed (Rowman and Littlefield, 2005), co-author of International Politics on the World Stage , Brief 7th ed. (McGraw-Hill, 2008), and co-author of Making American Foreign Policy (Dushkin 1996). He has also published numerous book chapters and articles in such journals as the Journal of Conflict Resolution , Journal of Peace Research , Review of International Political Economy , International Journal , Diplomacy and Statecraft , Instructional Science , and Social Science Computer Review , and Globalization, Societies and Education among others. He was the founding editor (2000-2004) of the journal International Studies Perspectives , a journal of the International Studies Association and becomes editor of International Studies Review in 2008. Dr. Boyer's Vita (pdf)
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Higher Education & Student Affairs Master's Program
Department of Educational Leadership
Neag School of Education
249 Glenbrook Road Unit 2093
Storrs , CT 06269-2093
Phone: 860-486-4223
Email: jennifer.lease@uconn.edu
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Dr. Jennifer Lease Butts is the Associate Director of Honors Programs at the University of Connecticut. She received her Ph.D. in Student Affairs Administration from the University of Georgia. Originally from Arkansas, Dr. Lease Butts attended the University of Arkansas where she earned her bachelor's degree in History, and a master's of education degree in Higher Education. Dr. Lease Butts has worked in many different functional areas of Student Affairs throughout her career, including residential life, judicial affairs, student activities, and orientation, as well as working with Upward Bound. Her research interests include psychosocial and cognitive development of college students, honors programs, assessment and evaluation, and staffing practices and supervision in student affairs. |
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Department of History
241 Glenbrook Rd., Unit-2103
Storrs, CT 06269-2103
Phone: 860-486-2711
Email: michael.dintenfass@uconn.edu
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Michael Dintenfass is an associate professor in the Department of History at the University of Connecticut. He wrote extensively on British economic and business history for many years and on the philosophy of history. He now concentrates his intellectual energies on the study of the existential and ethical discourses of the West from the ancient world to the present. For over a decade Professor Dintenfass has been developing a skills-intensive approach to teaching history as one of the humanistic disciplines anchored by a tradition of great books.
Dr. Dintenfass' Vita (pdf) |
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Alan Marcus |
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Department of Curriculum & Instruction
Neag School of Education
249 Glenbrook Road, Unit 2033
Storrs, CT 06269
Phone: 860-486-0281
Fax: 860-486-0280
Email: alan.marcus@uconn.edu |
Alan Marcus is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction. His research and teaching focus on social studies education and teacher education with an emphasis on the benefits and dilemmas of film and television as pedagogical tools in the history classroom. Alan earned his Ph.D. from Stanford University in curriculum and teacher education. Prior to attending Stanford he taught high school social studies for seven years. In addition to Alan's work mentoring future social studies he is currently editing a book on film, history, and pedagogy and serves on the Board of Directors for the Connecticut Council for the Social Studies. |
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Instructional Design and Development
University of Connecticut
368 Fairfield Road Unit 2142
Storrs, CT 06269-2142
Phone: 860-486-3121
Email: desmond.mccaffrey@uconn.edu |
| Desmond McCaffrey is the Assistant Director of the Instructional Design and Development group at the Institute for Teaching and Learning. He works with faculty in Undergraduate Education to apply instructional design principles and best practices in pedagogy in face to face, blended, and online learning environments. |
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Department of Mathematics
Storrs, CT 06269-3009
Office: MSB 328
Phone: 860-486-3989
Fax: 860-486-4238
Email: mckenna@math.uconn.edu |
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Department of Sociology
344 Mansfield Road, Unit 2068
Storrs , CT 06269
Phone: 860-486-4083
Fax: 860-486-6356
Email: ralph.mcneal@uconn.edu |
Dr. Ralph B. McNeal Jr. is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Connecticut ; he also holds a dual appointment in Educational Leadership at the Neag School of Education. He received his BA in sociology from the University of Miami , and his MA and PhD in sociology from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill . His research areas include sociology of education, adolescent substance use, risk behavior and program assessment and evaluation. His publications have appeared in leading sociology, education, and health journals including Social Forces, Social Science Quarterly, Sociology of Education, Evaluation Review, Journal of Educational Research, Health Education Research, Health Education and Behavior, and Journal of Drug Issues. His recent research focuses on substance use, dropping out of high school, parent involvement, adolescent employment, and participation in extracurricular activities. He is an experienced program evaluator and has co-authored evaluations of the D.A.R.E. and All-Star programs. Dr. McNeal has also published methodological selections on constraints placed on program effectiveness and on strategies for gaining convergent validity when evaluating program effectiveness. Dr. McNeal’s research has received funding from various agencies and institutes including the National Center for Education Statistics, the UCONN/Hartford School Partnership, and the National Institute of Drug Abuse.
Dr. McNeal's Vita (pdf) |
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Neag School of Education
249 Glenbrook Road, Unit 2064C
Storrs, Connecticut 06269-2064
Gentry - 240C
Phone: 860-486-0249
Fax: 860-486-0280
Email: david.moss@uconn.edu |
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Dr. David M. Moss is an Associate Professor who specializes in environmental education and teacher education. He has published numerous articles and books designed to promote educational reform. He was recently designated a Teaching Fellow at the university, the highest honor for instructional excellence. Dr. Moss directs the Teacher Education London Study Abroad program, and engages in scholarship in London schools. |
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Executive Program Director
First Year Programs
Center for Undergraduate Education, Unit 2232
Storrs, CT 06269-2064
Phone: 860-486-3772
Fax: 860-486-8325
Email: david.ouimette@uconn.edu
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David Ouimette has spent the last 15 years at the University of Connecticut. After eight years as an Assistant Dean of Students focusing on student discipline and academic retention, David moved into his current role as Director of First Year Programs in May 1999. As Director, David's primary responsibility is building a comprehensive support package for first year students combining FYE coursework, peer mentoring, and tutoring on campus. David Ouimette is currently the Executive Director of First Year Programs at the University of Connecticut. His primary responsibility is building a comprehensive support system for first year students combining FYE coursework, peer mentoring, and tutoring. David's prior positions include Assistant Dean of Students at UConn and Director of the Office for Student Conduct at University of Southern California. David has a Masters in Higher Education Administration from University of Vermont and a degree in History from Gettysburg College.
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Director of African American Cultural Center
Student Union, Unit 3180
Storrs, CT 06269-2064
Phone: 860-486-3433
Email: willena.price@uconn.edu |
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Committee Chair
Department of English
215 Glenbrook Road, Unit-4025
Storrs, CT 06269-4025
Phone: 860-486-4048
Email: Capshaw@uconn.edu
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An Associate Professor of English, Katharine Capshaw Smith teaches courses in children's literature, young adult literature, and African American literature. Her monograph , Children's Literature of the Harlem Renaissance , won the 2006 award for best scholarly book from the Children ' s Literature Association. She also researches Caribbean children ' s literature and culture . She is at work on a book on children ' s literature and cultural nationalism during the American " Black Arts " movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
Dr. Capshaw Smith's Vita (.doc) |
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Department of Geography
Clas Bulting Unit 4148
Storrs, CT 06269-2064
Phone: 860-486-2213
Email: alexander.vias@uconn.edu |
Alexander Vias is a population/economic geographer. In his research he brings an extensive background in the analysis and modeling of population change, especially migration, using a number of statistical and geo-spatial tools. This background was developed from work at the Census Bureau, the University of Arizona (Ph.D. in population geography), and specialized workshops on spatial analysis in the social sciences at the University of California at Santa Barbara . Over the past few years he has published a number of articles in leading peer-reviewed journals that touch on population issues, including interstate migration, the development of micropolitan areas, and rural population change. To finance his research, he has won grants from the USDA and NSF, and currently receives funding through the USDA to participate in a Multistate Research Project (W1001), "Population Change in Rural Communities." Dr. Vias' current and future research projects include analysis of micropolitan areas of the US . A slightly different research area will examine migration to rural areas, but with a focus on the impacts of population change (especially population decline) on rural public services such as health care, and the changing health care needs of the more diverse population emerging in many rural areas today. Some of this work will also investigate the health care needs of recent Hispanic immigrants to Connecticut communities.
Dr. Vias' Vita (.doc) |
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Department of Mathematics
Unit 3009
Storrs, CT 06269-3009
Phone: 860-486-3944
Fax: 860-486-4236
Email: vinson@uconnvm.uconn.edu |
Dr. Charles Vinsonhaler is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Connecticut. He received a B.S. in Mathematics from the California Institute of Technology and an M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Washington. He has published almost 100 papers, mostly in the area of Abstract Algebra, with a few in Actuarial Science and Mathematics Education. He is coauthor of a Problem Solving book with T. DeFranco. Dr. Vinsonhaler recently completed a 6-year term as Head of the Department of Mathematics. He was chosen as the 1992 Case Connecticut Professor of the Year, a University Teaching Fellow in 1994, and received the Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching of Mathematics from the Northeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America in 1999. His primary interest in the TNE project is in curriculum reform.
Dr. Vinsonhaler's Vita (pdf) |
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Manuela Wagner |
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Department of Modern and Classical Languages
337 Mansfield Road, Arjona, Room 208
Storrs, CT 06269-1057
Phone: 860-486-3317
Fax: 860-486-4392
Email: manuela.m.wagner@uconn.edu
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Manuela Wagner is Assistant Professor of Foreign Language Education at the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at UCONN. She holds a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Graz in Austria . During her graduate studies she spent 2 years in the baby lab of Psychophysics in the department of Neurophysiology at the Max-Planck-Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt/Main, Germany , and 3 years in the Department of Human Development and Psychology at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her research interests include pragmatic development in first, second and foreign language acquisition, methods of foreign language teaching, intercultural communication and communicative development in special circumstances. In her role as the director of the Critical Languages Program in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages she finds it interesting to apply current methods of foreign language education in a program of less commonly taught languages.
Dr. Wagner's Vita (.doc) |
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