Faculty Liaisons in the Academy for Teaching Excellence

The Academy for Teaching Excellence works collaboratively with all faculty at Harper College. Designated liaison roles for faculty members provide opportunities for leadership in assisting with strategic College and Academy programming and initiatives. Learn more below. 

Ana Maria Contreras

Disciplinary Partner – English Department
acontrer@harpercollege.edu, 847.925.6838
Disciplinary Partners serve as liaisons between an academic department and the Academy for Teaching Excellence to develop targeted programs to address needs in that area. Ana assists the Academy in developing and facilitating programs to address equity gaps in English.

The goals of the Disciplinary Partners are to:

  • provide opportunities for English faculty to explore writing pedagogies and equity practices
  • work with the English department chairs and the Academy to determine programming needs and recruit faculty participants
  • develop targeted English workshops by examining data in identified gateway courses and evidence-based practices to address equity gaps
  • plan and facilitate workshops, including outside coaching of participants in implementation of strategies and completion of an assessment cycle to determine impact of interventions on student outcomes

DuBoi McCarty

Evidence-Informed Teaching Coach
dmccarty@harpercollege.edu, 847.925.6393
DuBoi assists with utilizing student success and student feedback data to inform and assess faculty development programs with an emphasis on equity data literacy.

The goals of the Evidence-Informed Teaching Coach are to:

  • become well versed in equity data at the college to support programming for identifying patterns of inequity and actionable data to improve student experience and student success outcomes
  • coach individual and small groups of faculty to help them become more adept at examining institutional, division, department, and course level data for equity gaps and potential ways to address these disparities
  • support use of student success and student survey/focus group data in Communities of Practice program-including action plans, workshops, and CoP projects
  • work with Academy team and Teaching for Equity Community of Practice to support further Equity Literacy Project Implementation in college programming, including adding student voices and recommendations
  • support the development of “students as partners” programming for Small Group Instructional Feedback (SGIF) focus groups and reviewing instructional materials
  • support integration of actionable student success data into Academy programs and tools

Joe Wachter

Open Educational Resource (OER) Coordinator
jwachter@harpercollege.edu, 847.925.6157
Joe assists with updating the OER grant opportunities and processes, convening the group to review applications, and providing small group and individual support for OER projects.

The goals of the OER Coordinator are to:

  • adjust the types of OER grants and processes as needed
  • recruit groups and individuals to apply for OER grants
  • help to provide feedback to facilitate discussions between applicants and the reviewing body
  • create and maintain materials to support OER platforms such as Pressbooks
  • educate faculty on the variety of features available that make OER accessible and interactive
  • assist faculty and groups working with OER on designing, developing, and copyrighting their work
  • share information about OER opportunities at Academy and other campus events
  • serve as part of groups collaborating with Harper on OER projects

LaVonya Williams

Inclusive Teaching Coach
lwilliam@harpercollege.edu, 847.925.6393
pronouns: she/they
LaVonya assists with supporting programs and mentoring faculty on inclusive teaching pedagogies and practices.

The goals of the Inclusive Teaching Coach are to:

  • support the Equity Teaching Academy GEC series as part of the development and facilitation team and provide coaching and mentoring in the Redesign for Equity grant program
  • work with the Academy team to support the Enacting Equity Review process by providing coordination, course review coaching, and mentoring as a leader in a group of faculty reviewers
  • facilitate equity and inclusion dialogues and workshops
  • collaborate with the Academy team to provide support for inclusive pedagogy and enhancing equity components of programming
  • provide mentoring and support for faculty engaging in equity work