Dr. Gail O. Mellow to Keynote NISOD’s 2016 Conference
Austin, Texas [January 25, 2016] – Dr. Gail O. Mellow, president of LaGuardia Community College of the City University of New York, will serve as the Closing General Session keynote speaker at NISOD’s 2016 International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence. NISOD’s annual conference is the definitive gathering of community and technical college educators passionate about excellence in teaching, learning, and leadership.
Dr. Mellow’s presentation, sponsored by Stylus Publishing, will be based on her co-authored book,Taking College Teaching Seriously: Pedagogy Matters! The book examines the important role pedagogy plays in increasing the number of American adults who complete coursework to attain their college degrees. Her talk will center on a “practice improvement model” that promotes technology as a way for faculty to improve their teaching practices.
“Our approach celebrates the individuality and creativity of great professors. We focus on self-reflection in practice for improvement. Teaching is both art and science, and we are able to place technological tools in the hands of faculty that enable them to excel in both,” said Dr. Mellow in a recent Inside Higher Ed article.
Renown as a leading expert on community college education, Dr. Mellow also co-authored Minding the Dream: The Process and Practice of the American Community College. She has been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg Businessweek, and has appeared on NPR, MSNBC, and PBS national broadcasts. Among her numerous awards are the prestigious 2006 MetLife Foundation Community College Excellence Award for Service to Underserved Students and a coveted First in the World grant by the U.S. Department of Education. Dr. Mellow was a White House appointee to the College Promise Advisory Board to organize community college constituents toward a national effort to make two years of community college cost free.
“We are thrilled to have Dr. Mellow serve as a keynote speaker at this year’s conference,” said Edward J. Leach, NISOD’s executive director. “She is a national leader in our field and her wisdom and expertise will challenge conference participants, especially faculty members, to engage in professional development that leads to positive impacts on student learning in today’s classrooms.”
“We are very proud to be associated with the Pedagogy Matters initiative that Gail Mellow initiated and has so stalwartly supported. It both validates the expertise of faculty and enables them, through the use of technology, to share effective teaching interventions,” said John von Knorring, President and Publisher, Stylus Publishing. “The great promise and achievement of the process is what it does to get at-risk students through developmental gateway courses. If these practices are widely adopted, there’s potential to transform the lives of hundreds of thousands of students.”
The 2016 International Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence will be held May 28-31, at the Austin Hilton, Austin, Texas. Visit www.nisod.org/conference for additional information.
About NISOD
NISOD is a membership organization committed to promoting and celebrating excellence in teaching, learning, and leadership at community and technical colleges. For community and technical colleges that want to make the most of their professional development dollars, NISOD provides budget-friendly, high-quality, and faculty-focused programs and resources. For nearly 40 years, NISOD’s customer-focused approach has helped align our wide array of benefits with the needs of our members, which explains why the American Association of Community Colleges named NISOD, “The country’s leading provider of professional development for community college faculty, staff, and administrators.” For more information about NISOD, visit www.nisod.org.
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