Although Tracey Birdwell was recently hired as assistant director for faculty support at Purdue University’s Center for Instructional Excellence (CIE), the title she prefers for herself is instructor advocate.
“I’m deeply committed to innovative and effective instruction,” said Birdwell, whose main focus in her new role will be on supporting instructors at Purdue University in Indianapolis. “I’d happily spend the entire day learning and talking about all aspects of good teaching. I want instructors to know that I’m deeply embedded in the experience of and research on teaching.”
With a background and PhD in American history, Birdwell has spent a significant portion of her career in teaching roles and has held positions at various universities and centers for teaching and learning. Her most recent experience was at Indiana University, where she led a learning spaces initiative across their nine campuses.
When news broke about the split between Purdue and Indiana universities in Indianapolis, Birdwell recognized the visionary potential of Purdue in Indianapolis and seized the opportunity when the CIE position opened. “This is the perfect job for me,” she shared, citing her background in teaching, faculty development and learning spaces. “I’m fascinated by what Purdue is doing here with creating a footprint in downtown Indianapolis and connecting two locations to offer students all the opportunities that both environments will bring them.”
In her first three weeks on the job, Birdwell has started a listening tour, engaging with instructors at Purdue’s Indianapolis location, learning their needs and conveying the offerings and support available through CIE. Her role involves facilitating the integration of the strong teaching cultures that already exist in both West Lafayette and Indianapolis. Birdwell highlighted the collaborative and emergent culture among staff at Purdue in Indianapolis, describing it as an incubator where faculty and instructors from various departments interact and exchange ideas.
As for current IUPUI students who will become Boilermakers in July, Birdwell said many are curious about how the change will impact their student life, dining, extracurricular activities and academic programs. Their instructors, on the other hand, are focused on the fall semester and learning more about how they will be supported in the changing landscape, including how to use new teaching tools and technologies, how to teach using Purdue perspectives and how to continue their current successful teaching approaches.
“One of my main goals in my new role is to make sure we understand as much as possible about the already robust teaching culture that preceded this transformation, and learn as much as possible about how CIE and Innovative Learning can support the continued excellence,” Birdwell said. “There are a terrific amount of decisions to be made, and we’re making them quickly and in real time, but we’re not starting from zero. We’re building from a strong cohort of faculty who are deeply committed and remarkably effective instructors.”
Birdwell encourages instructors at Purdue in Indianapolis to visit the Innovative Learning website to explore existing support resources, and reach out via email to the Innovative Learning team or to Birdwell if they want to connect. She’s also excited about meeting with instructors at the Indianapolis location to discuss their teaching needs.
“I appreciate from experience the complexities of good teaching,” she shared. “There are so many ways to engage students, and so many choices to be made about how to create meaningful learning experiences. That background of time spent in the classroom with my own students fuels my desire to facilitate other instructors’ teaching journeys, especially at our Indianapolis location.”
Andrea Mattingly
Director of Communication for Teaching and Learning, andrea@purdue.edu