We expect systematic and repeated peer evaluation of your classroom performance throughout

your probationary period. We also expect evidence of your response to these peer evaluations, and documentation of changes to your instruction that you have made as a result of such feedback.

More senior faculty as well members of my tenure advisory committee have observed my teaching and mentoring in three distinct settings: Drs. Troy Beckert, Jeffrey Dew, Yoon Lee, and Amy Odum have observed multiple lectures in my undergraduate sections of FCHD 1500: Human Development across the

M.S. and M.Ed. students in PEP courses; Drs. Troy Beckert, Beth Foley, and Richard Gordin have all visited and/or participated in the Families in Sport Seminar to observe my teaching and mentoring style.

In each of these settings, feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and has provided me with points of emphasis to improve and integrate my teaching and mentoring practices moving forward. A comprehensive documentation of peer review (i.e., observational feedback), in the form of letters of evaluation, can be accessed in Appendix H. Below I offer a selection of quotes that capture the generally positive peer observations of my classroom climate.

COMMITMENT TO HIGH QUALITY EDUCATION

Criterion 5: We expect you to participate in activities intended to improve your skills as an instructor and to demonstrate your continued commitment to high-quality instruction.

In the first year of my appointment, I participated in the Utah State University Teaching Academy, a twice-monthly meeting of all new faculty on the USU campus. This program provided a broad foundation of knowledge, ranging from IDEA student ratings to Canvas and iClicker workshops. As part of the Teaching Academy, I read the text How learning works: 7 research-based principles for smart teaching. This book outlines seven evidence-based principles to help facilitate learning in the classroom. In Appendix I, I outline these principles, discuss how they have shaped my teaching practices, and outline how I use feedback from students to continually tweak my teaching style.

In my second year, I sought additional on- and off-campus opportunities to learn from senior faculty and experts in university pedagogy. Over the winter break, I read McKeachie's teaching tips: Strategies, research, and theory for college and university teachers. I have subsequently implemented many helpful strategies for dealing with the everyday challenges of being a university professor. One of the specific ways I have attempted to enhance my large course sections is by building community. Specifically, I have used pre-tests to assess collective knowledge at the start of class, posted media examples and discussion threads on Canvas that support the knowledge being gained in lecture, and prioritized the goals of the class. Prior knowledge of families in sport. For examples of collaborative publications with my four graduate students,

see Appendix F.

In addition to the students under my direct supervision, I currently serve as a committee member for six graduate students. Additionally, I have served as a committee member for 13 graduate students who have earned PhD or MS degrees from Utah State University and one who earned a PhD from the University of Montana. My role on these committees has varied, but I am typically utilized as a content area expert and/or qualitative methodologist. I do not take these mentoring relationships lightly and attempt to offer these students the same level of

mentorship and critique as I do students under my direct supervision. In evidence of this, see

Appendix G for an edited

dissertation, as well as an acknowledgement (at right) that was included by the same student in her final dissertation document.

On top of these responsibilities, I have supervised 13 graduate teaching assistants in my sections of FCHD 1500: Human Development across the Lifespan. In supervising these students, I take a keen interest in working closely with them on their professional development. One example of this is allowing them to substitute lectures for me once or more over the course of the semester. Subsequent to each guest lecture, I meet with the student to discuss their strengths and weaknesses, and I provide them with a hand- written evaluation of their experience to further their development. This mentoring load exceeds the expectations set forth by my department head and has challenged other, more senior, faculty to engage with graduate and undergraduate students.

PEER EVALUATIONS

Criterion 4: We expect systematic and repeated peer evaluation of your classroom performance throughout

your probationary period. We also expect evidence of your response to these peer evaluations, and documentation of changes to your instruction that you have made as a result of such feedback.

More senior faculty as well members of my tenure advisory committee have observed my teaching and mentoring in three distinct settings: Drs. Troy Beckert, Jeffrey Dew, Yoon Lee, and Amy Odum have observed multiple lectures in my undergraduate sections of FCHD 1500: Human Development across the

In addition to my formal teaching experiences, I have undertaken supervision of 59 undergraduate students as they complete semester-long (or multiple semester) research assistantships in the Families in Sport Lab. In this role, I have assisted with study

conceptualization, data analysis, and interpretation for 11 student-led research projects, including three undergraduate theses. I take great pride in socializing graduate and undergraduate researchers to become future leaders in the field. This is accomplished by mentoring them through the process of peer-reviewed publication, as well as conference submission and presentation. Collectively, graduate students in my research laboratory have authored 18 conference or symposium presentations, and six published, two submitted, and six in progress peer-reviewed

manuscripts. Undergraduates in my research laboratory have authored 37 conference or symposium presentations, four successful URCO grant proposals, and nine published, four submitted, and six in progress peer-reviewed manuscripts. I take great pride in the fact that each undergraduate who works in my lab gets a hands-on research experience. I treat them not as an extra set of hands to do the dirty work, but as budding colleagues. This philosophy of interaction is supported by the email at right from one of my recent undergraduate research assistants.

In addition to pursuing these research products, my group of graduate and undergraduate students meets twice monthly in the Families in Sport Seminar to discuss relevant literature in psychology, communication, and sociology journals. The goal of this seminar is to socialize students as effective consumers of research. I typically assign one reading (of a published manuscript in our collective area of interest) per week. When the group comes together (typically 2-3 faculty, 3-4 graduate students, and 4-5 undergraduate students), one of us will typically provide a brief synopsis of the reading and then guide the discussion of its strengths, weaknesses, and knowledge of the literature and prepare them to become future reviewers for journals,

chapters, and their own students. Importantly, I view these opportunities as a bridge between my teaching and research agendas, and a chance to enrich the experiences of students who commit to working in my laboratory. See Appendix K for an example Families

in Sport Seminar reading list from a recent semester. to my third year, I took part in the Empowering Teaching Excellence: Foundations of USU

Teaching workshop. In this one-day workshop, I received personalized assistance to enhance my teaching, learned how to improve upon and implement powerful educational tools, and gained insights to student engagement, and course organization.

In addition to these targeted activities, I have taught outside of my own assigned course sections. On campus, I have sought out professors teaching courses in my area of expertise (e.g., Dr. Richard Gordin; PEP 4000: Mental Aspects of Sports Performance). In other cases, faculty peers have sought my expertise to enhance their courses in overlapping areas of interest (e.g., Dr. Lisa Guntzviller; CMST 4140: Communication in Family Contexts). I have on more than 20 occasions taught in community and organizational settings where I had opportunities to sharpen the strategies I employ in my courses.

In the first five years of my appointment at Utah State University, I have developed two new courses. I developed the first course, FCHD 6/7200: Families in Sport, in Spring 2014. I designed this topical seminar to introduce masters and doctoral students to foundational research at the intersection of family theory, developmental sport psychology, communication, and sociology. Topics included theoretical and methodological considerations, the culture of youth sport in America, the intersection of family and sport, motivation to participate in sport, sport parenting styles and practices, sibling relationships in sport, and elite athletes and their families.

I developed the second course, PEP 5200: Human Motivation in Physical Activity Contexts, in Spring 2015 to fill a gap in the KHS curriculum. Across the multiple disciplines of kinesiology, one thing that often eludes practitioners is the ability to motivate individuals to engage in proscribed behavior in various settings (e.g., sport, rehabilitation). I therefore developed this course to introduce graduate and advanced undergraduate students to the theory and science of human motivation, as well as the role of motivation in sport, physical activity, and recreational settings. I focused on the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that shape behavior and behavior change, the impact of the motivational climates created by significant others, and the positive and negative outcomes of various forms of motivation (e.g., extrinsic, intrinsic). Importantly, I also incorporated examples and gave students an opportunity to apply principles in laboratory (See Appendix J for an example lab assignment in this course).

ENGAGEMENT WITH STUDENTS