Keynote Speaker - Russell Carpenter, Ph.D.

Keynote

Creative Approaches for (Re-)engagement:
Innovative Possibilities for Teaching and Learning

At many institutions, student success, learning, and retention continue to factor prominently in teaching initiatives. Barriers to (re-)engagement, however, suggest the need for innovation. Higher education institutions continue to ask big questions in these areas, especially in light of recent technological shifts. How can we (re-)engage students in meaningful interactions and learning? How can creative and innovative approaches help us identify new ways of designing impactful practices across teaching spaces and student learning experiences? We will first identify barriers to (re-)engagement in teaching and learning. Foregrounding creativity in teaching, we will then examine innovative approaches you can incorporate into your courses to (re-)engage students, form meaningful relationships, and foster learning to address these barriers. 

Russell Carpenter, Ph.D.

Russell Carpenter, Ph.D., is Assistant Provost and Professor of English at Eastern Kentucky University. Carpenter serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Faculty Development and past editor of the Communication Center Journal. Carpenter has written or edited a wide range of books including Engaging Millennial Faculty, Studio-Based Approaches for Multimodal Projects: Modules to Promote Engaged Student Learning, Writing Studio Pedagogy, and Sustainable Learning Spaces. Articles have appeared in Computers and Composition, Journal of Learning Spaces, Across the Disciplines, Journal of Excellence in College Teaching, Academic Leader, and the Journal of Creative and Artistic Education, among others. Carpenter is the former President of the Southeastern Writing Center Association (SWCA) and Chair of the National Association of Communication Centers. He received the 2018 Turner Award from the National Association of Communication Centers, along with the 2015 Preston Award for Leadership. In 2020, he was awarded the Southeastern Writing Center Association’s highest recognition, the Achievement Award. He designed and implemented the Faculty (Re)Engagement Institute, now in its third iteration.

He has most recently co-authored a book with Sohui Lee, Design for Composition: Inspiration for Creative Visual and Multimodal Projects, that is scheduled to be released on July 1, 2023, through Parlor Press.

Design for Composition offers a range of creative, multimodal projects aimed at improving student proficiency and awareness of how we, as humans, create visual, verbal, vocal, and multimodal messages. With an emphasis on learning by doing, these projects give students an active introduction to modes, composition processes, and design concepts essential for twenty-first-century literacy. Design for Composition is unique in focusing on creativity as a heuristic, as a part of the composing process, and as a tool or skill that can be applied across a wide range of making.. Each chapter introduces students to different multimodal projects (visual, tactile, auditory, verbal, physical/embodied, or a combination), layered with different levels of creative engagement. Design for Composition provides students with experiences in composing and communicating that are creative, fun, and relatable. Each creative project comes with its own chapter and includes student and professional samples, steps in the process, suggested tools, collaboration guidelines, context discussions, worksheets, and reflection questions.