Welcoming New Faces

Feb 20, 2020

We are delighted to welcome two new colleagues to support the work of the Vice Provost of Faculty Affairs. Dr. Leslie Cramblet Alvarez will support teaching and learning and faculty development as the new leader of the Office of Teaching and Learning. Morgridge College of Education faculty member, Dr. Laura E. Sponsler, will support our initiatives concerning Teaching and Professional Faculty at DU.

Introducing the New Director of the Office of Teaching and Learning, Dr. Leslie D. Cramblet Alvarez

Dr. Laura E. SponslerLeslie has a PhD in Educational Psychology, Learning and Instruction from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. She spent the last 13 years as a faculty member in the psychology department at Adams State University, a Hispanic-serving institution in rural southern Colorado.

As an educational psychologist, her interests focus on the confluence of psychology and educational practice. This culminated in founding a Center for Teaching and Learning funded by a Title V grant. Her early research agenda focused on achievement, motivation, and goal orientation. Her interests have broadened to include replication, scholarship of teaching and learning, and gender and diversity, in particular the representation of women in the psychology curriculum.

She has served as a faculty senator and a department chair and had a leadership role in a number of campus wide initiatives including faculty handbook policy reform, HLC reaffirmation of accreditation, and general education curriculum redesign. She is excited to join DU and lead the vibrant, collaborative Office of Teaching and Learning, dedicating herself to supporting faculty growth and development full time. You can contact her at Leslie.Alvarez@du.edu.

 

Introducing the Resident-Scholar for Teaching and Professional Faculty, Dr. Laura E. Sponsler

 Dr. Laura E. SponslerLaura is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Higher Education in the Morgridge College of Education. Her scholarship broadly examines the role of colleges and universities in creating more democratic practices for all constituents and institutionalizing the civic mission of higher education in teaching and learning. She has recently written and presented two papers on non-tenure track faculty relating to teaching identity and the promotion process. Laura will assist the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and the Office of Teaching and Learning with studying the experiences of Teaching and Professional Faculty at the University of Denver and organizing professional development opportunities specifically for this group. You can contact her at laura.sponsler@du.edu.

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