Kimberly K. Eby, Ph.D.
Associate Provost for Faculty Development
Director, Center for Teaching Excellence

Kim is a community psychologist with broad interests in domestic violence; violence and gender; and collaboration and community building in a variety of contexts, especially in interdisciplinary teaching and learning.  A faculty member at Mason since 1996, she taught primarily in New Century College, an undergraduate integrated and interdisciplinary studies program.  In addition to New Century College, she is a Women's Studies faculty member and affiliate of the Department of Psychology.  In recent years she has co-edited an interdisciplinary reader on violence and gender and written about faculty roles in interdisciplinary collaborative work; collaborative learning; pedagogical strategies in teaching about controversial and sensitive issues; and responding to the needs of domestic violence survivors.  This past year she was awarded a University Life Faculty Fellow to explore the use of electronic portfolios for integrating students' curricular and co-curricular learning around the topic of leadership.  She was a consultant for the National Learning Communities Project and continues to present at national and regional meetings, as well as individual institutions regarding developing interdisciplinary curricula, faculty collaboration, working with student and faculty diversity, integrating service learning in the classroom, and other pedagogical issues.  She served as Mason's campus team leader for a Ford Planning Grant titled, "The Engaged Campus in a Diverse Democracy: Student Learning and Faculty Work."

Joshua Eyler, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Center for Teaching Excellence

Josh specializes in medieval English literature, with a particular emphasis on Chaucer. He also has interests in medieval drama, disability studies, children's literature, and sports literature. Before coming to the Center for Teaching Excellence in July 2011, he was an Assistant Professor of English at Columbus State University in Georgia, where he was also his department’s assistant chairperson as well as a former acting assistant dean. At Columbus State, Josh was the university's nominee for a statewide teaching award twice (2008 and 2010) and was a finalist for the student-selected Educator of the Year award (2008 and 2009). He has published peer-reviewed essays on Beowulf, the Knight's Tale (with John P. Sexton), the Miller's Tale (with John P. Sexton), Piers Plowman (with C. David Benson), and on the N-Town cycle of mystery plays. His edited collection, Disability in the Middle Ages: Reconsiderations and Reverberations, was published by Ashgate in 2010.

Ashleen Gayda
Administrative and Program Specialist

Ashleen graduated from George Mason University with a Bachelor of Arts in Art and Visual Technology, concentrating in digital art and animation with a minor in English.  Prior to joining the Center for Teaching Excellence in July 2008, she held positions of both mentor and student administrative supervisor at the Student Technology Assistance Resource Center while pursuing her studies.

Shannon Jacobsen
QEP Research Associate

Shannon is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Sociology with an emphasis in Crime, Delinquency, and Corrections. She graduated from George Mason University's New Century College in May 2009, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Integrative Studies with an individualized concentration in Social Inequalities and Violence with minors in Leadership and Psychology. She joined the CTE Team in the spring of 2008.

Perry Threlfall, M.S.
CTE/QEP WebMaster

Perry is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Public Sociology with a research focus on Gender, Social Capital, and Institutional Stratification. She received a Master of Science in Sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2007. Previously, she studied design at the Fashion Institute of Technology and Marymount University. She has designed and maintained websites since 2000 for a variety of non-profit organizations, institutions of higher education, and political campaigns. Perry joined the CTE Team in the fall of 2009.

Bethany M. Usher, Ph.D.
Director, Students as Scholars Initiative
Associate Director, Center for Teaching Excellence

Bethany is a biological anthropologist who studies cemeteries from both osteological and archaeological perspectives to understand the social structure and health of past communities. Prior to joining the Center for Teaching Excellence in January 2010, she was faculty at the State University of New York at Potsdam, where she established the Center for Undergraduate Research and served as its Director. At SUNY Potsdam, she was an Associate Professor of Biological Anthropology and past chair of the Anthropology Department. She has a long history of collaborating with undergraduate researchers. Bethany is directing the implementation of the Students as Scholars initiative through the newly formed Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research (OSCAR).