Gary L. Long, Katherine R. Allen selected for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award

11 Apr 2012

Katherine R. Allen, professor of human development in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, and Gary L. Long, associate professor of chemistry in the College of Science, each received the university’s 2011-12 Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award for their continued commitment to scholarship addressing higher education teaching and learning.

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award, presented annually by Virginia Tech’s Center for Instructional Development and Educational Research, recognizes faculty members who have dedicated themselves to the examination and investigation of higher education teaching and learning. Allen and Long received their awards on Feb. 10, 2012, at the fourth annual Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy.

Long, an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry, with specialties in atomic spectroscopy and environmental chemistry, has 28 years of teaching experience.

“I wanted my students to share my passion and excitement about the laboratory,” Long said. “But it became clear to me that substantive change was needed in our chemistry curriculum. This change required an infusion of new technology and new ideas that better linked the lab experience to the learning gains in the chemistry classroom.”

In 2000, he was part of the team that launched the Mobile Chemistry Laboratory Program. The program, of which he was the director from 2001 to 2005, brought state of the art technologies to over 9,000 high school students. At the collegiate level, Long developed curriculum, authored texts, and was an early adopter of online homework systems. His Math Toolkit series is in its 28^th edition, and his Lab Manual for Analytical Chemistry is in its 16^th edition. He has authored multiple papers on his scholarship of teaching and learning work and continues to share his experiences through regular speaking engagements.

Long has been recognized for his teaching excellence, service and outreach with numerous awards, including the William E. Wine Award for Teaching Excellence, Alumni Award for Excellence in Team Outreach, and Excellence in Access and Inclusion Award. He is a member of the American Chemical Society (Analytical and the Chemical Education Divisions), Sigma Xi, and the Virginia Academy of Science. He has been a Fulbright Research Scholar at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.

Allen, a professor in the Department of Human Development, and a faculty affiliate in the Center for Gerontology and the Women and Gender Studies Program, has spent 23 years teaching and researching in the areas of family diversity, feminist perspectives in family studies, human sexuality, and family gerontology. Reflexive teaching practice and passionate scholarship are the foundation of her work.

Of her experiences in the classroom Allen says, “I seek to enhance the value of these practices with real life confirmation — learning from students and taking their advice for how to improve the message and delivery of knowledge.”

She has been publishing articles on teaching in the primary journals in her field, providing pedagogical strategies for teachers and students in interdisciplinary classrooms, based on feminist theory. Allen is well known and respected internationally, and she has served as a visiting scholar in residence at a number of institutions including University of Alberta, Oregon State, and Ochanomizu University in Tokyo, Japan.

Allen is an award-winning scholar and teacher and past chair of the Academy of Teaching Excellence. She has been selected for many of the university’s most prestigious awards such as the William E. Wine Award for Excellence in Teaching, Diggs Teaching Scholars, and the Outstanding Dissertation Advisor. She also received the Ernest Osborne Award for Excellence in Teaching from the National Council on Family Relations.

Long earned his Ph.D. from North Carolina State University. Allen earned her master's and Ph.D. from Syracuse University.

To find out more about the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award, visit the Center for Instructional Development and Educational Research website or contact Cortney Martin at 540-230-9366.