Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, Weber State University

Congratulations to all of the 2026 Thrive Award recipients and nominees.❤️

📚Teaching is more than sharing knowledge, it’s creating opportunities for discovery, growth, and connection.

As we reflect on the academic year, what is one classroom moment that made you smile?😊

Weber State University

As we wrap up the 2025-26 academic year, we want to pause and recognize the people behind the scenes at CETL who worked tirelessly to support our Weber State University faculty this year.

Dustin Grote is CETL's Research Fellow who approaches his work with a “put me in, coach” spirit.

In his easy-going style, he observes processes and then recommends how to ground them in structured, sustainable ways. Plus, he makes sure that we are appropriately measuring our program outcomes and improving their quality.

He also brings his excitement for research and teaching scholarship that pushes us to think beyond whatever programming we are doing now toward how we contribute to the broader higher education community. Thank you, Dustin, for keeping CETL grounded in significant ways that allow the ecosystem to thrive.

As we wrap up the 2025-26 academic year, we want to pause and recognize the people behind the scenes at CETL who worked tirelessly to support our Weber State University faculty this year.

A conversation with Alees Lee always leaves you thinking bigger.

I still remember one of our earliest meetings. The rest of us were excitedly discussing a new program when Alee paused, looked slightly up and to the right, and said, “Hmmm... I wonder...” What followed was not a critique of the idea, but an invitation to think more deeply. Alee helps us move beyond what we are planning to what is truly possible. Her questions have shaped CETL’s approach in profound ways, pushing us toward more meaningful, transformative forms of faculty support. She brings intellectual depth coupled with the determination to turn ideas into reality, funding and all.

Alee joined CETL to build our classroom coaching program, which pairs faculty in duos and trios to support one another as they strengthen their teaching and pedagogical practice. And she has brought so much more.

She imagined a different kind of professional development experience and brought that vision to life through the highly successful Teaching Transformation Design Lab at the end of April. It was built around the question—what would it look like if we truly gave faculty the time, space, and support they need to transform their teaching?

Well, we received the answer loud and clear after a TON of work. It looks like energized faculty learning and growing together; it looks like excitement to update activities and syllabi; it looks like new approaches to try out; and it looks like connection and belonging.

The Design Lab brought together 118 faculty participants over two and a half days, five collaborating units, and 17 facilitators. It was an extraordinary success and a testament to Alee's leadership, imagination and attention to detail.

CETL and Weber State are lucky to share in Alee’s brilliance, curiosity, and heart.

As we wrap up the 2025-26 academic year, we want to pause and recognize the people behind the scenes at CETL who worked tirelessly to support our Weber State University faculty this year.

Megan Elizabeth Van Deventer brings a quietly powerful presence to CETL.

In the midst of all the big ideas and fast-moving work, Megan is a deep listener who finds the pearls and relates it back to what faculty are feeling, needing, fearing, and becoming. She creates spaces where people can think deeply together, wrestle with hard things, and still feel affirmed as human beings so they have the mental room and support to grow.

In addition to our Communities of Practice, Megan shepherded a successful deliberative dialogue series this year that helped faculty learn how to engage difficult topics in the classroom with grace, care, and humanity. She has a remarkable ability to help people lean into challenging conversations without losing sight of one another’s dignity.

And, she brings these gifts to our CETL team. Megan reminds each of us of our strengths, steadies the nervous energy academia can create, and helps us work together with care and intention. And somehow, alongside all of that thoughtfulness, she also has impeccable comic timing. Megan speaks softly, thoughtfully and powerfully. It is the kind of presence that makes everyone lean in and listen more carefully. Thank you for sharing your powerful gifts of affirmation and humanity that elevate CETL and Weber State faculty.

As we wrap up the 2025-26 academic year, we want to pause and recognize the people behind the scenes at CETL who worked tirelessly to support our Weber State University faculty this year.

Today we are shouting out our program coordinator Rachel Cox-Vineiz. Rachel is the foundation of CETL helping to ensure that we are always steady. She's the OG who's been here since it was the Teaching and Learning Forum, and brings continuity, institutional knowledge, organization and the kind of behind-the-scenes support that allows everything else to function well.

She manages the many logistical details (and geez there are SO many) of the New Faculty Retreat and all of our many programs so we can actually be in community with one another instead of worrying about the mechanics behind the scenes.

And best of all she brought us - Book Groups! Honestly, this is one of the most successful and community-centered programs CETL has, and from our reckoning, the best book group program at any university. We might be biased, but anyways:). Long before CETL was CETL, back when it was still TLF, Rachel ideated and executed these groups out of her genuine love of books, reading, and bringing people together through ideas. That passion continues to shape the program today. Her selections every semester are phenomenal and contribute so much to Weber State’s overall culture of connection, reflection, and community. With an average of 530 participations each year, Book Groups benefit not only faculty but staff across the university, creating spaces where people can think together, learn together, and simply feel more connected to one another.

Thank you Rachel for making CETL, and Weber State, stronger!

As we wrap up the 2025-26 academic year, we want to pause and recognize the people behind the scenes at CETL who worked tirelessly to support our Weber State University faculty this year.

Jamie Wankier Randles - There are people who make events happen, and then there are people who make people feel cared for. Jamie does both effortlessly. She thinks about every detail - seriously, every single one. She thinks of the mood in the room, the flow of the experience, whether faculty feel welcomed, seen, supported, and whether their time with us truly mattered. She is also incredibly witty and will bust out with a comment that will have you in stitches, then will ask the most practical question in the next breath. She keep CETL both joyful and moving forward.

CETL hums the way it does because Jamie has helped us to structure it that way, and works hard to maintain it. When things work well, we often forget the people who make it happen and just bask in the experience of a well-run shop. Jamie, you are the reason the shop has improved the way it runs and the experiences it provides. Thank you. You are truly a rockstar on campus!

Collaboration, conversation, and creative problem-solving in action. Thank you to everyone who participated and shared their perspectives throughout today’s event. We loved seeing such thoughtful engagement and discussion across the room! ✨

Weber State University