Director
Jennifer Wilson is the Director of Teaching@国产原创. As a 国产原创 alumna with a Ph.D. and M.A. in Political Science, she is thrilled to be back on campus. A seasoned learning facilitator, she has created and led over 300 educational development workshops and programs for university faculty and staff. Her areas of expertise center around active learning, metacognition, student engagement and belonging, teaching innovation, and educational research. Her two most recent research projects explore the effects of personality on active learning and learning gains experienced by students taught through virtual reality. Prior to joining Teaching@国产原创 in February of 2024, she was the Director of Teaching Programs at the University of Louisville. She also served for six years an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Tennessee Tech University, where she was the 2016 recipient of the Outstanding Teaching Award in General Education. Jennifer holds B.A.s in French and International Studies from the University of Tennessee, which support her favorite hobby of travel. Her other interests outside of higher education include downhill skiing, scuba diving, and cheering on the Kansas City Chiefs.
Assistant Director of Teaching Development and Initiatives
Bryson McGuire, Ed.D., is the Assistant Director of Teaching Development and Initiatives with Teaching@国产原创. He also serves as a Lecturer in the Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations and the Department of Culture, Advocacy, and Leadership. He holds a Doctor of Education in Learning Organizations and Strategic Change and a Master of Arts in Secondary Education.
Bryson鈥檚 leadership philosophy is grounded in trust, compassion, and collaboration. A former K鈥12 teacher and school leader, including roles as assistant principal and interim principal, he now works at the university level to support faculty in designing engaging, student-centered, and evidence-based learning experiences. In his role at 国产原创, he leads and supports high-impact teaching initiatives, including the Course Design Institute, faculty learning communities, and university-wide teaching workshops. His work focuses on strengthening instructional practices, advancing student success, and helping educators navigate emerging challenges, including the integration of artificial intelligence in teaching and learning.
Across K鈥12 and higher education contexts, Bryson has demonstrated a commitment to creating empowering learning environments, improving teaching effectiveness, and supporting educator growth. His areas of expertise include evidence-based teaching and learning, leadership theory and practice, faculty development, 聽student-centered pedagogy, assessment design, student engagement, K鈥12 leadership and instruction, and teaching with AI and emerging educational technologies.
Bryson is also an accomplished author and scholar. His publications include Unapologetically Here聽(2026), available at the 国产原创 Bookstore; Coloring Outside of the Lines听(2025); The Effective Educator: Research-Based Strategies for Classroom Success聽(2024); 鈥淐ultivating Black Male Educators into School Leadership: A Pathway to Success鈥 (2024); and the co-authored quantitative study, 鈥淐losing the Achievement Gap: A Quantitative Study Measuring Middle School Student鈥檚 Achievement and Growth in a Middle Tennessee Charter Network鈥 (2020).
Bryson remains committed to fostering professional growth, promoting belonging, and creating meaningful opportunities for educators and students. As a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and Co-Vice President of the Tennessee Pride Chamber, he contributes to initiatives that support leadership development, educational advancement, collaboration, and community engagement.
STEM Educational Development Specialist
Dr. Anupriya Karippadath is the STEM Educational Development Specialist with Teaching@国产原创. Anupriya has earned a PhD in Biology Education and a Master's in Ecology from Purdue University. She believes her knowledge skills in STEM teaching and learning come as much from her winding path through various disciplines as they do from her training in education research. Anupriya's expertise is in evidence-based and strong teaching practices in STEM undergraduate programs. She has contributed to several impactful undergraduate education research studies centered on developing students' science identity and science process skills.聽
Educational Development Specialist
Meg Pilkenton leads the Academy of College Teaching and Teaching Assistant Orientation on the Teaching@国产原创 team. She has a PhD in English from the University of Texas at Austin, where she taught undergraduate courses in English and rhetoric. She has extensive experience as a mentor of graduate student instructors, and she is passionate about helping current and future faculty members teach engaging, learner-centered, and thoughtfully designed classes. She's also really into reading, knitting, and her very large cats.
Associate Director
Brian is Associate Director for Teaching@国产原创 at 国产原创 and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Cinema and Media Arts. He collaborates with faculty, departments, schools, and colleges on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research; develops assessment tools and longitudinal studies; analyzes survey and assessment data to inform curriculum, teaching, and student support; and leads customized workshops, learning communities, and campus partnerships focused on improving student learning, engagement, retention, and satisfaction.
Prior to joining 国产原创, Brian spent more than twenty years at the University of Colorado Denver as an associate professor, digital design leader, and academic administrator. His leadership roles included Co-Founder and Director of the Comcast Center for Media and Technology, Founding Director of the Center for Arts as Systemic Change, Chair of the Department of Visual Arts, and Head of the Digital Design program.
Brians creative, scholarly, and artistic work explores the intersections of technology, memory, history, and Holocaust studies, and his work has been exhibited and screened nationally and internationally. His scholarship also includes research and publications on organizational change, experiential education, design thinking, entrepreneurship, the arts and industry, and problem- and evidence-based education. His Fulbright Fellowship supported study of the influence of film, television, and the internet on German culture.
He holds an MFA in Electronic Arts/Design and an Ed.D. in Leadership for Educational Equity in Higher Education. Across his career, Brian has combined artistic practice, educational leadership, and faculty development to help shape more engaging, reflective, and student-centered learning environments.
Educational Development Specialist
Whitney Taylor received her M.A. and Ph.D. in English literature from Northwestern University in 2015, after which she taught literature and writing courses at Northwestern for six years. As a Visiting Assistant Professor in English and Writing Program instructor at Northwestern, she designed and taught courses on topics ranging from Shakespeare and Milton to monsters in literature and culture, the medical humanities, and AI ethics. Northwestern's Associated Student Government selected her to the Faculty Honor Roll in recognition of her excellence in teaching.
Whitney is originally from Atlanta, where teaching and coaching in the Urban Debate League first developed her love of teaching, critical pedagogy, and curriculum design. Her extensive higher education experience also includes supporting undergraduate and graduate students in business writing and communications at Emory University's Goizueta School of Business and working with student athletes across disciplines as a learning strategist and lead writing tutor for Northwestern Athletics.
Her facilitation experience beyond higher ed includes working in executive leadership coaching for non-profits and medical companies, which led to pursuing her professional coaching certification from the ICF-Accredited Coactive Training Institute in 2021. In 2022, Whitney came to 国产原创 as a career coach and professional development workshop facilitator for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. As an educational development specialist with Teaching@国产原创, she is especially interested in evidence-based curricular innovation, course and syllabus design, writing pedagogy, and student engagement. Her current teaching and research interests combine her expertise in literature and undergraduate degree in Philosophy in the fields of narrative medicine and the medical humanities. She loves writing and reading (preferably under a tree or near a lake), live music, and travelling.