Two new T@UU Council members

After the leave of Lorena, the T@UU searched for new members. We want to thank Lorena for all her enthusiasm over the years, the hard work on the internationalisation project and numerous ‘gezellige’ moments with always an Italian touch, grazie mille!

In this blog, our two (!) new council members will introduce themselves. We were very happy to be able to welcome two new members to our council and we look forward in working with them! (note: members express themselves in the language they feel most comfortable with).

Introduction Jennifer Casey

Hello! My name is Jennifer Casey, although my friends call me Jenny. I was born and raised in Southern California, meaning that I love sunshine and avocados. My partner and I relocated to Utrecht in June 2022, and I started working at Utrecht University in September 2023. I am in the Department of Chemistry, but I do not work as a chemist. While I did earn my PhD in Chemistry, I quickly realized that I was more passionate about teaching than I was about chemistry research. Now I work as an Education Development Officer, meaning that I assist instructors with implementing new practices and technologies in their classrooms.

Before starting at UU, I was an Associate Adjunct Professor at UCLA, where I taught large chemistry classes and conduced education research. I am particularly interested in student experience in the classroom, such as belonging and engagement. Given my previous role as an instructor, I recognize that teachers are busy people, and my goal as a T@UU council member is to make it easier for you to turn your creative teaching ideas into reality. I have experience with Science of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and Higher Education Research (HER), and I am excited to use my experiences to help you on your teaching journey.

Introductie Mariske Westendorp

Sinds het behalen van mijn PhD bijna 10 jaar geleden ben ik als docent betrokken geweest bij diverse programma’s op verschillende universiteiten. Sinds september 2022 heb ik eindelijk een vaste aanstelling en sindsdien heb ik niet alleen maar belangstelling voor het ontwikkelen van mijn eigen onderwijs, maar ben ik ook steeds meer geïnteresseerd geraakt in het willen kennen en leren over de universiteit als onderwijsinstituut.

In de komende jaren voer ik graag gesprekken over wat onderwijs is en zou kunnen zijn, wat “wetenschap” betekent en hoe we dat het beste kunnen doceren. Mijns inziens heeft ons onderwijs veel te winnen op het gebied van creativiteit, openheid en diversiteit, en ik vind het een uitdaging om na te denken over hoe we dit kunnen integreren in ons onderwijs, zowel in cursussen als op de universiteit als geheel.

Marijn van Ellen