Whittington to Serve as Director of Second-Year Transformational Experience Program

Faculty and Staff — October 23, 2017

Whittington to Serve as Director of Second-Year Transformational Experience Program

Dear Colleagues:

M. Susie Whittington, PhD, professor and director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership, has accepted our offer to serve as director of the Second-Year Transformational Experience Program (STEP).  Her appointment is effective immediately.

As STEP’s director, Dr. Whittington will coordinate with the Office of Undergraduate Education and Senior Vice President for Student Life Dr. Javaune Adams-Gaston to provide leadership for STEP’s faculty endeavors.

Dr. Whittington has taught undergraduate and graduate students for the past two decades.  Her outstanding teaching approaches earned awards at departmental and college levels.  In addition, she received the National Award for Excellence in College and University Teaching from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities.

Her research focuses on cognitive levels of teaching and learning, teaching methodologies, and content retention and transfer.  Her work is widely published, including in edited books and book chapters, journal publications, abstracts, refereed papers and presentations. Among many research honors, she received the Author of the Year from two professional associations, and the Distinguished Researcher Award from the American Association for Agricultural Education.   Dr. Whittington is the junior author of the textbook, Methods of Teaching Agriculture, and the associate author of the workbook, Toward Cultural Proficiency.

Her international experience includes work in India, Taiwan and Kenya, and her service contributions at Ohio State to her department, college and the university are wide and varied. She served as the presidential appointee to the Council on Academic Affairs and, during the past five years, Dr. Whittington served as a faculty mentor in STEP.  She received The Ohio State University Alumni Association’s Josephine Sitterle Failer Award for Outstanding Service to Ohio State Students and the Outstanding Student Organization Advisor Award from the Ohio Union and the Office of Student Life.

She earned a BS, MS and PhD in agricultural education from The Ohio State University and, in 2000, she joined Ohio State’s faculty.

Please join me in congratulating Susie.  I look forward to working with her in her new role.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth (Beth) Hume, PhD
Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies
Dean of Undergraduate Education
Professor of Linguistics