Dr. Jennifer Sheridan Moss
Wayne State University
Since 1995 Dr. Sheridan Moss has worked tirelessly to create a community of learning at Wayne State University. Her efforts to connect and invigorate the discipline have ranged widely, from senior thesis supervision and dissertation committees on feminist topics in other departments, to service within Wayne State directed at student learning and disabilities, to innovative pedagogies including role-playing (through Reacting to the Past Consortium) and computer based learning projects. Letters of support consistently point to this wide-ranging impact and eager search for ways to engage her students, and just as consistently make it clear that these multiple pedagogies arise out of a single and deliberate conviction that the needs of our students must be met in a variety of ways. Dr. Sheridan Moss’ students comment that “[she] is an incredible, accessible energetic force who brought out the best in her students,” a teacher who “will put a new or exciting twist on the material that makes it come alive.” A colleague comments, “Although her content is traditional, she is constantly experimenting with new techniques.” Dr. Sheridan Moss’ engagement with pedagogies is matched by a commitment to curriculum development in a larger sense. Having taught and developed a wide range of courses, she also led an effort to revise the Classics curriculum at Wayne State, has been involved in a number of university initiatives around curriculum, student learning and writing, and has served as teaching mentor to her colleagues.
An enduring commitment to program & curriculum development, excellence and innovation in a wide range of pedagogies and technology, tireless engagement with students, and devotion to their success (all in the context of an active career as a scholar-teacher and colleague in the wider profession): all these have led the committee to recommend Dr. Sheridan Moss for the SCS Award in Excellence in Teaching at the College Level.
Peter Anderson