ACADEMIC AFFAIRS | Karie Huchting ’00, M.A. ’04, Ph.D., associate professor in the LMU School of Education, has been appointed director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, said Associate Provost Kat Weaver of research, professional development, and online learning, and professor of biology. Huchting was selected from a strong pool of 20 nominations after a semester-long search process, Weaver said.
“Dr. Huchting is committed to the CTE’s role in collaborating with campus offices to expand diversity, equity, and inclusion work and support faculty well-being,” Weaver said.
The CTE, established in 1998 and funded by an endowment, provides an open and supportive environment for professional dialogue about teaching across the disciplines. The center hosts presentations by distinguished invited specialists, professional learning communities for LMU faculty, workshops on the scholarship of teaching and learning, online teaching certification programs, and more. The CTE is the central location for LMU faculty to share their expertise in teaching methods and in educational research, contributing to LMU’s reputation for excellence in teaching.
Huchting, a former associate director of the doctoral program in Educational Leadership for Social Justice, has been an LMU faculty member since 2005 and is well known as a champion for graduate students, including a strong commitment to research mentorship. Huchting plans to build on the work of previous directors and provide a robust set of programs and resources that will appeal to full- and part-time faculty across the disciplines.
She has a long history of activity and partnership with the CTE and has been a regular presenter for workshops. Huchting has been awarded grants from a Family Foundation and the Hilton Foundation, and she is a recent recipient of LMU’s Open and Affordable Textbook Initiative grant to support her co-authorship of an open-access research methods textbook for graduate students. In 2018, she was a Fulbright Specialist, working with faculty to develop research capacity and publication skills at an Islamic university in Indonesia.
Huchting earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from LMU, a master’s degree in education from LMU, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in applied social psychology from Claremont Graduate University.
She succeeds Martina Ramirez, Ph.D., professor of biology, who served as director from 2018-21 and expanded the faculty learning community program, welcomed input and collaboration, and added a multitude of new workshops, asynchronous trainings, newsletters, and video contributions.
