Our Speakers
Keynote Speaker
Our featured speaker for this year's Forum is Dr. Todd Zakrajsek. Dr. Zakrajsek is the Founding Director of The Faculty Center for Innovative Teaching at Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. Previously, Dr. Zakrajsek was the founding Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Southern Oregon University, where he also taught in the psychology department as a tenured associate professor.
Dr. Zakrajsek has written two introductory psychology instructor's manuals for McGraw-Hill and a student study guide for Addison-Wesley. He received his Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Ohio University and currently teaches The Psychology of Learning and Memory, Statistics, and a Graduate Teaching Seminar. He has published and presented widely on the topic of student learning, including workshops and conference keynote addresses in 30 states, and Canada, Switzerland, and Sweden over the past five years.
We feel very fortunate to have someone of the stature and reputation of Dr. Zakrajesk coming to Murray and feel sure he will have a lasting impact on all who are able to attend his sessions.
Session Presenters
Our distinguished panel of award winning faculty is no less impressive as all have achieved national and international recognition both in their disciplines and as scholars.
Dr. Ricky Cox teaches a variety of courses in the Department of Chemistry and served as the 2005–06 Teaching Scholar-in-Residence in the Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology. In 2005, he won the Murray State University Regents Teaching Award for the College of Science, Engineering and Technology. In 2007, he was appointed to the advisory board of The Teaching Professor Conference, nationally known as the premier conference for faculty interested in improving course design and teaching practice. He has received funding for his educational research from Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft and has worked closely with Elluminate, a company involved in developing web conferencing applications at all educational levels. Over the past five years, he has published numerous papers in peer-reviewed journals and presented his work on technology-based teaching to national audiences in person and via webinars.
Dr. David Durr, a Professor in the Economics and Finance Department, was awarded the 2006 Regents Teaching Award for the College of Business and Public Affairs. Dr. Durr holds the Bauernfeind Endowed Chair in Investment Management. He has several speaking engagements throughout the year, including teaching investment-related seminars/courses to financial services professionals. CTLT is pleased to welcome Dr. Durr as the 2007-08 Teaching Scholar-in-Residence.
Dr. Sue Sroda is an Associate Professor of English and the Graduate Coordinator of the MA in Teaching English to Speaker of Other Languages at Murray State.
Dr. Sroda has received numerous teaching and service awards, including 2004 Professor of the Year from the MSU International Student Association. She is a Fulbright Lecturer award recipient and serves as an ESL Specialist Consultant to the US Department of State, designing and delivering in-service training to teachers in the Middle East.
As the 2006–07 CTLT Teaching Scholar-in-Residence, Dr. Sroda initiated and continues to spearhead the MSU Second Life project for exploring educational outreach possibilities in virtual environments. 