BRIDGING THE BOW:
CONNECTING CALGARY'S SoTL COMMUNITIES

Erika Smith, PhD is an Educational Developer (SoTL) in the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning at the University of Calgary. She has an interdisciplinary background in digital humanities and educational research, bringing over 20 years of professional experience with teaching, learning, and technologies in a diverse range of educational environments.

Richard Hayman (MA, MLIS), is an associate professor and digital initiatives librarian at Mount Royal University whose work sits at the intersection of practice and scholarship. He researches and applies evidence-based approaches across open access, scholarly communications, evidence synthesis, educational technologies, and students-as-partners models in SoTL.

Mx. J Overholser is a PhD candidate and sessional instructor in the Sociology Department at the University of Calgary. Their doctoral research focuses on the intersections of gender, queerness, popular culture, and fan communities. Zir teaching approach and pedagogical research primarily focuses on accessibility, inclusion, and care within academia as it applies to students and educators.

Cherie Woolmer, PhD  is Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning), based in the Mokakiiks Centre for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at Mount Royal University. Her research program focuses on student-faculty partnerships in higher education, which is informed by critical pedagogy, socio-cultural approaches to change, and the impact of pedagogical partnerships on institutional culture. She co-facilitates Mount Royal’s SoTL Development Program, runs workshops and book studies on issues relating to pedagogical partnerships and SoTL, and offers consultations with faculty and students engaged in SoTL. She also leads Mount Royal's flagship partnership program, Conversations about Teaching.

Dr. Leda Stawnychko is an Associate Professor of Strategy and Organizational Theory in the Bissett School of Business at Mount Royal University, with adjunct appointments at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business and the Cumming School of Medicine. Leda's research focuses on academic leadership development with a strong emphasis on undergraduate leadership education. Her work has been published in Educational Management Administration & Leadership, the International Journal of Leadership in Education, Imagining SoTL, the Journal of Leadership Studies, the Canadian Journal of Higher Education, The Department Chair, and The Conversation Canada. Her expertise has been sought by national media outlets, including The Globe and Mail and the Canadian HR Reporter. A dedicated SoTL scholar, Leda is a Co-Editor of Teaching & Learning Inquiry, a co-lead of ISSOTL's 2026 International Collaborative Writing Groups (ICWG), and the recipient of Mount Royal University's 2026 Leadership in Teaching and Learning Award.

Sreyasi is an  Educational  Developer  specializing  in  experiential  learning  at  the  University  of  Calgary.  With  a  background  in  evolutionary  biology,  she  supports  faculty  in  integrating  authentic  research  experiences  into  curricula.  Dr.  Biswas  also  develops  programs and  supportive  learning  environments  that  help  new  instructors  thrive in their teaching roles.

Janice Miller-Young, PhD, P.Eng. is a Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Director of Engineering Experiential Learning at the University of Alberta. She has served as Director of Mount Royal University’s Institute for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and the University of Alberta’s Centre for Teaching and Learning. She conducts Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) research in her own teaching context and enjoys mentoring colleagues interested in researching their teaching and contributing to the field. Her SoTL work includes numerous authored, co-authored, and co-edited articles, book chapters, and three books which describe SoTL projects, SoTL methodologies and frameworks, and SoTL identity. Her most recent empirical work has examined students’ sense of belonging in engineering.

Charissa Lee, MSc, PhD(c) is a faculty member in the School of Business at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) and a PhD candidate in Education at the University of Saskatchewan. Her research, situated within the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), explores professional identity development, reflective practice, and the design of applied and experiential learning in business education. Drawing on a background in organizational psychology, human resources, and coaching, Charissa brings a practice-informed and interdisciplinary lens to her work. She is particularly interested in how students make meaning of their learning across program stages and how educators can intentionally support this through curriculum design, ePortfolios, and coaching-based pedagogies. Charissa is actively engaged in building scholarly capacity within teaching-intensive contexts, creating collaborative spaces for educators who are curious about and new to SoTL. Her work emphasizes relational, accessible approaches to inquiry that invite participation and foster connection across disciplines.

Michelle Yeo is a professor, faculty developer, and teacher educator. She is the Academic Director of the teaching and learning centre, the Academic Development Centre (ADC) at Mount Royal University. From 2017-2025 she directed the Mokakiiks Centre for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. For over twenty years, Michelle has been deeply invested in teaching and learning communities, collaborating with faculty members to critically examine their educational practices. Her research within the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) focuses on decolonizing practices, interpretive research methodologies, student learning experiences, and the scholarship of educational development. In 2023, in collaboration with Karen Manarin and Janice Miller-Young, she authored the book SoTL Research Methodologies: A Guide to Conceptualizing and Conducting the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Dr. AnneMarie Dorland is the Director of the Mokakiiks Centre for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and an Associate Professor in the Bissett School of Business at Mount Royal University where she teaches marketing, branding, and creative strategy. Her current scholarship focuses on creativity in undergraduate education, dynamic routines in creative work, experiential learning, and the role of SoTL as a practice of institutional change and scholarly inquiry. Through her work as a facilitator, consultant,  researcher, and public scholar, she helps educators and organizations cultivate curiosity, creative confidence, and meaningful learning experiences. As Director of Mokakiiks, she leads initiatives that support faculty learning, interdisciplinary SoTL collaboration, and the development of inclusive scholarly communities. 

Jess Nicol has worked as an Educational Developer at Lethbridge Polytechnic and at SAIT before recently joining the University of Calgary’s Research Services Office as Research Assessment Specialist. She holds a PhD in English and Creative Writing from the University of Calgary. Jess is an eagle-eyed editor, a passionate instructor, and a devoted cat parent to a senior tripod kitty named Five. 

Austin J. Ashbaugh, MSc, is a PhD candidate in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Calgary and is the lead assistant for the Certificate for Postsecondary Teaching and Learning for Graduate Students and Post-docs (CGSPD). He has had many roles at the Taylor Institute, ranging from research assistant positions to serving on the committee for the 2025 Conference on Post-Secondary Learning and Teaching.

Bio coming soon.