New CETR Gaultier Fellows Take on Assessment

The Center for Community-Engaged Teaching and Research (CETR) has named three professors as its 2018-2019 Gaultier Community-Engaged Teaching Fellowship class.

The Gaultier fellows work closely with Duquesne instructors and students by sharing successful community-engaged teaching strategies and best practices, and by serving as strong advocates for the University’s community-engaged programs.

The new Gaultier fellows are Assistant Professors Dr. Cathleen Appelt and Dr. Andrew Simpson, both of the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts, and Assistant Professor Dr. Jessica Devido of the School of Nursing.

For each year’s call for applications, CETR establishes a theme that reflects an aspect of community-engaged teaching that needs to be strengthened at Duquesne. Developing effective assessment tools to measure student learning, neighborhood perspectives and the impact of student experiences on the community will be the focus of this year’s fellows.

Appelt has worked with students to understand the social context of health status, researching the differences in health among individuals, race-based health inequities and community health.

Working with fellow colleagues, Simpson involves graduate and undergraduate students in ongoing multidisciplinary, community-engaged research with the goal of translating those skills to future career opportunities.

Devido engages students in research to evaluate the potential impact of health care provision and diversity and its influence on students’ long-term career goals, specifically the pursuit of graduate nursing degrees.

“Assessment is key to understanding and enhancing community-engaged learning,” said CETR Director Dr. Jessica Mann. “Through the fellows’ work this year, we will gain a greater knowledge of the impact of our community-engaged teaching and learning programs, and further our expertise in creating new educational opportunities.”