The Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning announces Derek Lackaff as new associate director.
The Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning is excited to announce that Derek Lackaff, associate professor of communications, will begin a four-year term as associate director of the center at the start of the 2017-18 academic year.
During his seven years at Elon, Lackaff has designed and taught a range of courses at Elon, including undergraduate and graduate courses in communications, multiple sections of Core 110 and Honors seminars and study abroad courses in Denmark, Singapore, and several other countries. He regularly incorporates a variety of innovative and effective teaching and learning strategies into his courses, including mentored research and writing, service learning and civic engagement, and global engagement.
Lackaff has actively pursued professional development and leadership opportunities to develop and support this work, including grants from the Writing Excellence Initiative, CATL and the Kernodle Center. He has served as an academic program evaluator for DIS Copenhagen and curriculum reviewer for the Forum on Education Abroad, and was selected as a Sustainability Scholar and as a Coleman Foundation Faculty Entrepreneurship Fellow.
An active scholar, his research examines the theory and application of interactive media in contexts including civic engagement, democratic governance and endangered language revitalization. In addition to his own scholarship, Lackaff has regularly mentored graduate and undergraduate researchers, which resulted in presentations and publications.
Lackaff has held a number of important service roles on campus including serving on the Graduate Council and FR&D selection committees, and has advisory memberships on German Studies Advisory Board, Emerging Technologies in Teaching and Learning Advisory Group, Environmental Advisory Council, and the Downtown (Burlington) Innovation Group. He also served as faculty advisor for the Communications LLC.
CATL would like to thank Sophie Adamson, who chaired the Associate Director search committee, and the entire committee: Anthony Hatcher, Yuko Miyamoto, Chris Harris, Ahmed Al Fadaam.