August 29, 2018
David P. Brown, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry; Natalie P. Byfield, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Sociology; and Shruti Deshpande, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, have been recognized recently for their outstanding records of teaching and service to students. Read more about their achievements:
David P. Brown, Ph.D.
Dr. Brown received an Excellence in Teaching Award from the National Society of Leadership and Success on April 23, 2018, at a reception in Taffner Field House on the St. John’s Queens campus. The reception was hosted by the Office of Leadership Development.
“I express my sincere gratitude to the University administration for their continued investment in infrastructure and other areas that guarantee a teaching-learning environment that fosters engagement, creativity, and student success,” said Dr. Brown.
Dr. Brown was nominated for the award by Chemistry majors Yohanna R. Concepcion and Huraiya A. Adhora. “Even though Organic Chemistry is a difficult course, Dr. Brown provides his students with all of the necessary tools to excel in it,” said Yohanna. “Professors have the ability to transmit their passion to students by always teaching with love and respect for the subject, as well as for the students, and this is what Dr. Brown does day after day, semester after semester, and year after year.”
“I nominated Dr. Brown for the award because he is a very caring professor who is always willing to help his students,” said Huraiya. “He made a challenging class, Advanced Organic Chemistry, fun and easy to grasp. Our notes were clear, he was organized, and the way he presented the lectures made them memorable.”
According to Dr. Brown, the ability to incorporate technology into the classroom has helped him better engage with students and assess their learning. He uses the Turning Technologies Mobi View, a mobile interactive whiteboard that allows for seamless integration of content, instruction, and formative ongoing assessment to track student performance. Dr. Brown also uses iClicker polling to encourage active learning. “These real-time, strategically designed learning activities create an environment that is supportive, intellectually stimulating, and require students to think deeply and take risks,” he said.
Natalie P. Byfield, Ph.D.
At the 21st Annual Student Affairs Award Dinner on April 18, 2018, Dr. Byfield received the Division Appreciation Award for outstanding collaboration with the Division of Student Affairs and service to students. Leonard S. Breton, Associate Director of Student Development, presented her with the award.
In her approach to teaching, Dr. Byfield names Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire as an influence. Mr. Freire’s critical pedagogy is aimed toward showing students how education can transform their interactions beyond the classroom. “I try to seize whatever opportunities exist in the courses I teach to get students to engage the world around them,” said Dr. Byfield. “The students are not in class to soak up information and dispense it as a kind of currency, but rather to make transformational change.”
For example, in a fall 2009 undergraduate course, Sociology of the Black Experience, Dr. Byfield led her students in an Academic Service-Learning (AS-L) project about the impact of mass incarceration on black communities. Students in the course critically evaluated a community organization that works with formerly incarcerated women to help them produce memoirs that reveal the structures of oppression and injustice within US society and their impact on the trajectory of their lives. As part of the evaluation study, some of the women visited Dr. Byfield’s class and shared their memoirs and participated in a discussion with the students. The project worked to overcome barriers between the University and surrounding community and fulfill the St. John’s Vincentian mission of respect for the individual.
“I remember vividly my days as a student and think about all the things I needed as a female student of color who was also an immigrant,” said Dr. Byfield. “I think of the faculty who made a difference to me in my life and try to pay that forward, especially for the female students of color, who have a unique set of needs.”
Shruti Deshpande, Ph.D.
Along with Dr. Brown, Dr. Deshpande received an Excellence in Teaching Award from the National Society of Leadership and Success on April 23, 2018.
Students Michael Grgurovic, a sophomore Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology major, and Valentina Faulisi, a junior Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology major, nominated Dr. Deshpande for the award.
“Throughout Dr. Deshpande’s work, she shows her passion for the field of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and how much she wants her students to succeed,” said Michael. “She always comes into class with an energetic and enthusiastic attitude. She makes sure we understand each hearing science topic and gives us tips to stay motivated in our future careers.”
“I decided to nominate Dr. Deshpande for the Excellence in Teaching Award because of the impact she has made on me,” said Valentina. “She teaches with such enthusiasm and love for audiology, and her love has inspired me to find what I love in life. Dr. Deshpande is truly an amazing professor.”
Dr. Deshpande describes her approach to teaching as “eclectic” and “visual.” In addition to traditional pedagogical approaches, she uses game-based pedagogy and the smart phone app Kahoot! to engage students in learning, a technique she learned about at the Magna Teaching with Technology Conference in Baltimore, MD, in February 2018. Dr. Deshpande’s attendance at the conference was funded by a Faculty Growth Grant from the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). In March 2018, she led a CTL workshop for St. John’s faculty where she gave an interactive lecture on utilizing smart-phone technology and social media in pedagogy and presented pilot data on the success of such techniques.
Dr. Deshpande gives students cell phone breaks in her classes, which results in a significant decrease in phone use during lectures and classroom activities. She incorporates Academic Service-Learning (AS-L) in her courses, including a project in the spring 2018 semester that brought students in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders to local middle and high schools to educate young people about hearing conservation. Showing students respect and kindness, and involving them in service, has led to increased student engagement and a stronger commitment to service and research among the undergraduate and doctoral students in Dr. Deshpande’s courses. “I respect my students and want to model tolerance and kindness for them, especially since they will go out and may practice with disadvantaged populations who especially need their kindness,” she said.
Dr. Deshpande mentors student research projects and three students in her Deshpande Auditory Perception and Processing Lab. The students, Audiology doctoral student Colleen O’Brien ’16C and Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology seniors Kristen McMonagle and Samantha Nadolski, received a total of six research and travel grants during the 2017–18 academic year from the University and national organizations like the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
Having previously taught at the University of Cincinnati and the University of Iowa, Dr. Deshpande joined the St. John’s faculty in 2016. “I am overwhelmed and overjoyed by this award,” she said. “It is a tremendous boost when students recognize the effort put into teaching.”