Jennifer Meta Robinson, Professor of Practice, IU Bloomington, received the 2017 P.A. Mack Award for distinguished service to teaching. The Mack award recognizes "distinguished service" which is leadership or creative participation that significantly and demonstrably advances the goals and ideals of FACET.
Jennifer was recognized with the 2016 Distinguished Service Award from ISSOTL, for helping to establish the organization in 2002, and for participating in its leadership both on its board and as its President from 2008-2011. She co-chaired two annual ISSOTL conferences with 450 and 700 participants respectively. Success in this role brought worldwide attention to IU, which resulted in IUB’s Sotl Program receiving the Hesburgh Award, which was the first time a Big Ten institution received the award. Lee Shulman, Carnegie President at the time, described IUB’s SoTL program as a “flagship ” program for SOTL.
The program has had a wide reach and many long-standing effects: in its first three years over a quarter of IUB faculty members had attended SoTL events, which included lecture series, FLC’s, writing groups, research teams, method-sharing collaborations, and “think tank” meetings.
Jennifer spearheaded IUB’s participation in the Carnegie Academy for SOTL and served on the founding steering committee of the Bay View Alliance. Supported by a $150,000 Teagle Foundation grant to support graduate student teaching across the disciplines. Her nominator, FACET member Valerie O’Laughlin, and she currently are working on a book-length volume that can be used to inform and inspire graduate students in every field in the US.
She serves as a co-founder and co-editor of SoTL’s only academic press book series, which addresses innovative pedagogy.
She has published books on Teaching Environmental Literacy, A Cultural Approach to Interpersonal Communication, and Selling Local: Why Local Food Movements Matter.
Olaughlin says of Jennifer's work: Her student communities, like her faculty learning communities, benefit from her consistent attention to “the other kind of sustainability”: recognizing social, physical, intellectual, and personal needs in the academic professions so that one is able to capitalize on the joy and energy possible when teaching and research mutually inform each other to decise alternatives to a siloed academic existence, and establish healthful work habits tha can sustain one through a lifelong career.
Congratulations to our PA Mack awardee! She has demonstrated sustained commitment to FACET’s central goals of enhancing excellence, innovation, research and community.