What does it take to rethink a course, break down barriers to learning, or partner with students in new ways? The Kirwan Center鈥檚 Impact Blog Series highlights the experiences of faculty and staff leading innovative projects across the USM. Through honest reflections on OER development, digital accessibility, and SoTL research, these stories celebrate the collective effort to shape more engaging, equitable, and accessible learning environments.
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The Stories Behind Our Impact
September 2026
Jennifer E. Potter, Ph.D., Associate Director, Kirwan Center for Academic Innovatoin, 海角视频
Jennifer Potter served as a faculty member and department chair at Towson university for 15 years before joining the Kirwan Center in 2024. Her work focuses on faculty development initiatives in digital accessibility, generative AI pedagogy, and alternative credentials.
For many years, my colleagues and I have been talking about the challenges facing our public speaking program. We had a clear idea of what changes we wanted to make to the program, but we also recognized that we didn鈥檛 have the time or resources to make the changes. Then we saw the announcement for from the Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation, and suddenly, a project that had felt aspirational seemed possible.
At the time, I was a longtime faculty member and department chair at Towson University (TU). Our department offered more than 50 sections of public speaking each year, many taught by adjunct faculty. The COVID-19 pandemic had made the disconnection within this large, multi-section course especially visible. Our instructors cared deeply about their students, but they did not have a shared set of teaching resources or a strong community through which they could learn from one another. Students鈥 experiences varied considerably from one section to another, including differences in assignments, expectations, and the number and length of speeches. Students were also paying for a commercial textbook and online platform that many did not find particularly useful. During the disruption and financial uncertainty of the pandemic, that student cost became even harder to justify. Melanie Morris, Assistant Teaching Professor & Public Speaking Program Director, and I knew we wanted to do more than replace an expensive textbook with a free one; we wanted to redesign the entire course experience.
A M.O.S.T. institutional grant allowed us to create a comprehensive collection of resources for instructors, including lesson plans, activities, quizzes, rubrics, presentation materials, and a shared course structure. Faculty members retained the flexibility to personalize their courses, but they no longer had to begin entirely from scratch. That was particularly valuable for adjunct instructors teaching the course for the first time. The funding also helped us bring our students into the work and expand the project.
Through TU鈥檚 Public Communication Center (PCC) and our use of undergraduate learning assistants (ULAs), we knew the distinctive power of peer mentorship. We often shared stories about how students often heard guidance differently when it came from another student. As our OER project developed, we worked with PCC mentors to record model speeches, offered students the opportunity to annotate the textbook, and engaged students to contribute their perspectives to the materials we were creating. Adjunct faculty also helped shape and co-author content. Most significantly for me, I worked with my undergraduate student and peer mentor, Olivia Kuehner, to co-author a workbook on public speaking apprehension and to build a class presentation module available to all faculty across the campus.
Working with Olivia required me to step out of 鈥渆xpert mode.鈥 I had to become comfortable sharing unfinished writing, receiving her edits, and treating her not simply as a student but as a genuine partner. Once I learned to let go of some control, the collaboration became one of the most rewarding experiences of my faculty career. Our work eventually became the foundation for an article co-authored with Olivia and my faculty colleague Melanie Morris, 鈥.鈥
The Kirwan Center鈥檚 contribution extended well beyond the grant funding. The project came with a timeline and accountability, but it also came with people who helped us see new possibilities. Conversations with Nancy O鈥橬eill and Annika Many always gave us something new to consider. In fact, the idea of inviting students to annotate the textbook emerged from one of those conversations. The Kirwan Center also connected us with faculty doing related work, helping our individual project become part of a broader community. My experience with the Kirwan Center didn鈥檛 just change the course鈥攊t also was the beginning of a change in my professional trajectory.
I had already begun wondering what might come after many years as a department chair. I loved faculty mentoring and development, but a traditional administrative path did not feel quite right. When the Kirwan Center鈥檚 Associate Director position opened at the tail end of our work on this project, the work felt immediately familiar. OER, digital accessibility, generative AI, alternative credentials, and the scholarship of teaching and learning were all areas that connected to my own faculty experience and interests. Although leaving Towson after spending my entire career there was difficult, the opportunity to support faculty across the 海角视频 felt like the right next chapter.
Today, I see the Kirwan Center鈥檚 impact from a different vantage point. We can count participants, dollars awarded, and satisfaction ratings, and those measures matter. But they cannot fully capture what happens after a faculty member receives support. They do not show the redesigned course, the adjunct instructor who no longer must start alone, the student whose voice becomes part of a textbook, the relationships formed, or the unexpected professional path that opens.
That is why we are beginning this series. In the coming months, faculty and staff will share stories from their projects and programs supported by the Kirwan Center. My story is only one example of how the Kirwan Center鈥檚 work travels outward through people, classrooms, programs, and campuses. Together, these stories will show not simply what the Kirwan Center supports, but what that support makes possible. We hope you鈥檒l come along with us and our participants, as we share our journeys, insights, and continued possibilities in academic innovation.
