ATHENS — Lauren DiPaula, Ph.D., associate professor of English and modern language at Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW), just completed the 2016 Governor’s Teaching Fellowship at the University of Georgia’s Institute of Higher Education. As one of 15 faculty members from colleges and universities across the state, DiPaula was selected as a Governor’s Teaching Fellow after a highly competitive application and selection process.
Established in 1995 by former governor Zell Miller, the Governor’s Teaching Fellows Program provides Georgia’s higher education faculty with opportunities to develop important teaching skills and learn about emerging technology and instructional tools.
DiPaula joined the faculty at GSW in 2010. She received her bachelor of arts from James Madison University, her master’s of arts from Townson University and her doctoral from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
She applied for the program at the recommendation of her GSW mentor Gabriele Stauf. Paul Dahlgren, associate professor of English at GSW, was a Governor’s Teaching Fellow at the time DiPaula applied. This is the second year in a row that GSW has had an English faculty member named as a Fellow.
After completing the program, DiPaula is back at GSW and implementing her new knowledge this summer. She is thankful for the opportunity.
“I worked with an amazing group of colleagues,” she said. “The program allowed me to interact with professors across disciplines, from across the state. I’m grateful they have this program, and I really admire the people who put it together and taught me so much.”
The Governor’s Teaching Fellows Program is an outreach program of the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia. To date, more than 89 subject areas, professions and teaching areas have been represented and Fellows have come from more than 61 public and private institutions.