Contact Us:
Email: cte@ggc.edu | Phone: 678.407.5100
Schedule a one-on-one or small group consultation
Sign up for the CTE listserv to receive weekly information on our upcoming events. Updates are sent out on Fridays during the Fall and Spring semesters.
Where We Are:
We are located in the beautiful (and LEEDS Gold certified) Daniel J. Kaufman Library & Learning Center (Building L) on the campus of Georgia Gwinnett College.
The CTE suite (L-2135) is on the second floor directly across from the elevators.
Who We Are:
Full-Time Staff:
Dr. Sha-shonda Porter is the Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Georgia Gwinnett College, where she provides strategic leadership to advance excellence in teaching and learning, instructional innovation, and the scholarship of teaching and learning in support of student success.
With more than 18 years of experience in higher education, Dr. Porter has served in a range of faculty and senior leadership roles, including Director of the Writing Program, Associate Dean, Dean of Instruction for Academic Affairs and Student Success, Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, and Executive Director of Organizational Excellence and Development. Prior to her career in higher education, she held corporate leadership positions in information technology and implementation services, bringing a systems-oriented perspective to institutional leadership.
Dr. Porter holds a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies (Humanities and Culture) and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing. She also holds numerous professional certifications in areas such as strategic planning, project management, change management, intercultural development, agile leadership, executive leadership, and equity, diversity, and inclusion in higher education. A published author, her work reflects a sustained commitment to teaching excellence, leadership development, and organizational effectiveness.
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Michael D. Smith, M.Ed. is the Digital Learning Specialist and full-time faculty developer for the Center for Teaching Excellence. Michael has worked in the CTE since the spring of 2016, designing, developing, coordinating, and facilitating faculty workshops and other communal learning experiences on a variety of pedagogical topics, such as best practices for hybrid and online teaching and learning, digital tools and instructional technologies, generative AI, and faculty wellness and work-life balance. Due to a series of staff reorganizations and shortages from late 2019 through the present, Michael has taken on a more active role assisting the CTE Director with the administration and management of the CTE, including planning, scheduling, and facilitating day-to-day operations, weekly workshops, annual institutes, and other special events, providing support for our faculty affiliates. and coordinating our New Faculty Academy (NFA).
Michael is an avid proponent of lifelong learning and holds an M.Ed. in Learning, Design, and Technology (with an emphasis on Instructional Design and Development) from UGA. He is also currently a graduate student in UGA’s Ed.D. program in Learning, Leadership, and Organization Development, studying adult learning, leadership, coaching, organization development, change management, and action research.
Some of the topics Michael is particularly interested include: faculty development and support; coaching (leadership / life / organization / personal development / transformational / transitional); leadership (adaptive / authentic / inclusive / servant / transformational); organizational development and change management; the intersection of leadership, motivation, engagement, and happiness; identity in personal and professional life; wellness and work-life balance; mindfulness, self-compassion, and mindful leadership; engagement in online and blended / hybrid learning; online learning communities; storytelling, imagination and play in learning; gamification, game-based and gameful learning; and virtual worlds and immersive 3D learning environments.
678.407.5560 (office) | 470.531.0070 (softphone)
mdsmith@ggc.edu
https://www.linkedin.com/in/arcanatechnica/
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Jacqueline Villatoro is the Administrative Assistant III for the Associate Provost for Faculty and for the Center for Teaching Excellence.
678.407.5100 (CTE front desk)
tvillato@ggc.edu
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Faculty Fellows:
Dr. Susan Bussey is an Associate Professor of English at GGC and the Faculty Fellow for Integrative Learning for the Center for Teaching Excellence.
Dr. Susan Bussey teaches composition and various courses in American literature. She takes special interest in students pursuing a future as secondary English teachers, serving as the primary advisor to education preparation students in language arts. Her current research involves teaching first-year composition in ways that help students envision writing in their career path.
sbussey@ggc.edu
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Dr. Josh Morris serves as the Faculty Fellow for Online Teaching and Learning at the Center for Teaching Excellence and is an Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry. At the CTE, he champions innovative online education methods, including the flipped classroom, student-created videos, and diverse active learning strategies.
Dr. Morris has produced over 300 educational videos for his YouTube channel “Real Chemistry,” the University System of Georgia’s eCore program, and the online private school “MiaPrep”. He shares his video creation expertise through workshops and one-on-one consultations. Additionally, Dr. Morris is developing a comprehensive training program for Georgia Gwinnett College faculty who teach online. He also leads the Faculty Learning Community on Excellence in Online Education, where he guides faculty through research projects focused on the science of teaching and learning.
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