Tanya Allred is the Developmental Education Team Lead and Professor of English at NMSU Alamogordo. In addition to her English degrees, she also has a Masters in Education with a Specialization in Reading. She has been a Quality Matters (QM) Peer Reviewer since 2014 and a Master Reviewer since 2015. She earned her Graduate Certificate in Online Teaching and Learning in 2016. She has designed and taught face-to-face, asynchronous, synchronous, hyflex, and hybrid courses throughout her career and has successfully met QM standards for eight unique courses. She is familiar with Canvas and uses it every semester for both online and face-to-face courses. She regularly attends Canvas training offered at both NMSU and on the Alamogordo campus. She is very familiar with DesignPlus, TurnItIn, peer review, groups, gradebook, Studio, quizzes, assignments, discussions, and other elements available in Canvas. Additionally, she is comfortable with Zoom and many of its capabilities and utilizes it multiple times a week for teaching and conferencing. She has been mentoring junior faculty and adjuncts since 2010 and is excited to work with Teaching Scholars throughout the Summer and Fall of 2023!

Amy Collins is a professor of Public Health at Dona Ana Community College.  She also teaches with the Department of Public Health Science at NMSU. Amy earned a Masters of Science from the University of El Paso, Texas. In addition, she is a Certified Health Education Specialist. After joining the academic world, she earned the Online Teaching and Learning Certificate from NMSU, which then encouraged her to complete a second Master’s Degree of Art in Education with an emphasis in online course teaching. Amy has taught all teaching modalities, in person (both small and large classes), hybrid and fully online for over 15 years.

Specific to Quality Matters, Amy has completed the Applying the QM Rubric, Peer Reviewer Course,QM Rubric Update,QM Rubric Update and Peer Reviewer Resource Site. In addition, she has reviewed over 20 courses as a QM reviewer and also has four Quality Matters certified courses.

During the pandemic, Amy was part of an amazing team at DACC whose task was to quickly and effectively move to online learning. The team planned, implemented and facilitated online training during the summer to ensure the Fall courses would meet the needs of our online students.

Amy has been designing courses and teaching with Canvas since NMSU adopted the LMS. In addition, she has worked with Blackboard, Blackboard Ultra and Moodle. Amy is now learning how to use Articulate360 for community training in order to reach more people who may not have access to formal training. 

Dr. Stacy Gherardi is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work within the College of Health, Education, and Social Transformation. Dr. Gherardi is a Licensed Clinical Social Work and prior to coming to NMSU was a school social worker and a fourth-grade teacher in the Chicago area. Her experiences in PK-12 education inform her university teaching and research. Her current research is largely focused on creating, implementing, and evaluating equity-centered trauma-informed education. This commitment to trauma-informed practice goes beyond her research, and she is passionate about infusing these principles into teaching and student engagement. Dr. Gherardi has taught across the social work curriculum using in-person, hybrid, synchronous, and asynchronous online models and has gone through the internal Quality Matters review process for five different courses.  Dr. Gherardi credits the Teaching Academy with much of her development as a scholar and educator. She is thrilled for the opportunity to support the work of her colleagues across the university in her work as a Digital Faculty Fellow.

Ryan Goss is an associate professor in the Plant and Environmental Sciences Department, located within the College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at New Mexico State University (NMSU). With a teaching tenure spanning nearly 18 years, Dr. Goss has taught both undergraduate and graduate students through various instructional modalities. Throughout his career, he has delivered 65 courses across 10 distinct subjects. Dr. Goss' instructional repertoire encompasses a broad spectrum of horticultural sciences, specializing in areas such as turfgrass management, introduction to plant sciences, forestry, and urban water use. Notably, he has also contributed to the holistic education of NMSU's diverse student body by teaching two courses in the "Viewing a Wider World" category, as well as a general education science course. Furthermore, beyond his formal teaching responsibilities, Dr. Goss dedicates himself as a mentor to both faculty and graduate students within the department while focusing of the principles outlined by Quality Matters. His commitment to continuous improvement led him to actively participate in the NMSU Teaching Academy, the NMSU Online Course Improvement Program, and Academic Technology, which have played a vital role in his ongoing development of teaching best practices. Lastly, Ryan previously lead campus and department wide efforts for academic departmental assessment of student learning for nearly a decade. You can reach Ryan Goss at ryangoss@nmsu.edu or 575-646-3297.

Lisa Hermanson is an assistant professor in the Department of Theatre Arts. She teaches courses in musical theatre, theatre history, playwriting, general theatre, and acting. Lisa holds her MFA in Pedagogy, specifically in Theatre Pedagogy, and has worked in theatres across the country as a director, musician, composer, and theatre educator. A deep portion of her tenure research is focused on pedagogical methods and their effectiveness on student engagement. Lisa has also earned an ACUE certificate of Effective College Instruction, and was the Lead Coordinator and Coach for the Effective Speech Department at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she provided curriculum and course development support to the rotating staff of the department. When not teaching or studying teaching methods, Lisa’s other research focuses on the production of musicals, especially new works. Her current theatrical project is a new musical on the question of immigration. Lisa brings a “yes, and” approach to all of her work and is thrilled to be working with the Teaching Academy this year!

Patricia MacGregor-Mendoza, is a Professor of Spanish and Linguistics. She has been teaching with web support since about 1997, but has taught wholly online courses since 2008. What she loves about online teaching and learning is the opportunity to provide education that is accessible to people who work full time, who live in remote locations, and who are entering or re-entering academia at different points in their lives. As a Digital Faculty Fellow​ since 2021, she has worked with faculty to create solid learning objectives, develop assessment activities and provide feedback to streamline their course prep, improve their students’ experience and reduce the time faculty spend on grading.

Melissa Warr, is an Assistant Professor of Educational Design, Learning, and Technology in the School of Teacher Preparation, Administration, and Leadership. She began her career as a junior high and high school music teacher where she discovered the power of formative assessment in teaching and learning. She has applied this concept to online learning, focusing particularly on how to encourage, represent, and evaluate idea development in a virtual space. Her research blends teacher education, design, creativity, and technology, including how creative tools can support culturally-sustaining learning and assessment. She also explores the role of design in systemic change, design and technology in teacher education, and ethical implications of emerging technologies. She has extensive experience teaching online in undergraduate and graduate settings as well as designing and managing online graduate programs.