Team Academy

Full–Time Staff

Tara Gray became the Director of the Teaching Academy when it opened in January 2003. She is also an associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice, where she served full time for ten years. Tara has won seven awards for teaching or service both on campus and nationally. She studies ways that faculty can improve their teaching and research by working collaboratively. To this end, she teaches four short courses at the Teaching Academy: Teaching Scholars, Publish and Flourish, Peer Coaching (a classrom observation program for teachers) and Team Mentoring for New Faculty. Tara's faculty development philosophy focuses on building community. You can reach Tara at 575.646.1013 or tgray @nmsu.edu.

Jean Conway is an Associate Director, joining the staff in 1990. Her specialty is distance education and visualization for learning. She contributed to the book, Teaching at a Distance with the Merging Technologies: An Instructional Systems Approach. She has also traveled extensively as co-presenter of the workshop, THE Distance Learning Workshop. Jean served at the Center for Educational Development for twelve years, including seven years as director of faculty development. She is responsible for coordinating events and activities to help faculty expand their teaching resources. The teaching seminars and teleconferences are Jean's responsibility. Got an idea for a workshop? Let Jean know about it. You can reach Jean at 575.646.2496 or at econway@nmsu.edu.

Pam Hunt joined the Teaching Academy in 2007 as an associate director to help institutionalize the NSF-ADVANCE Program at NMSU. She is responsible for continuing the work of ADVANCE at the Teaching Academy by furthering the academic careers of all NMSU educators, especially women and other underrepresented faculty in the sciences and engineering. Her employment background includes nine years at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), where she staffed committees of the Board of Governors and, during her last few years, managed regional operations. Contact Pam at 575.646.2583 or by e-mail at pamhunt@nmsu.edu.

Ray Leseth is responsible for the development and maintenance of the Teaching Academy registration database and database server including the online registration process. He also develops and maintains the Teaching Academy web site and web site server. Since joining our staff in 2000, Ray has developed a Teaching Academy library search feature from the web site. Contact Ray at 575.646.2204 or by e-mail at rleseth@nmsu.edu.

Sandra Lujan facilitates our programming by managing the contracts for each invited speaker, booking their hotels and handling their reimbursements. She keeps us all on the straight and narrow by tending the Teaching Academy's accounts, making sure billing is accurate and timely, and handling the Teaching Academy's personnel paperwork. Sandra has worked with us since 1995. She can be reached at 575.646.1591 or by e-mail at salujan@nmsu.edu.

Part–Time Staff

Gloria Sotelo and Candace Moses share the job as departmental secretary. They staff the front desk, greet visitors to the Teaching Academy and check out books and videos from the Teaching Academy library. They also set up and tear down for each event. Gloria and Candace perform the many unseen tasks that make events run smoothly and seem effortless. Gloria is majoring in social work; Candace is majoring in early childhood education. Call them at 575.646.2204 or write teaching@nmsu.edu.

Mark Hohnstreiter is the Development Officer for the Teaching Academy (and NSF ADVANCE). In this role, created in 2004, he assists the Academy in seeking philanthropic funds from individuals, corporations, foundations, and other funding sources. Mark has some 20 years professional fund raising experience, including major roles at the University of Chicago, Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Chicago), Saint Louis University, and the University of New Mexico, where he served as Director of Planned Giving. He has recently relocated to Las Cruces, where he also enjoys a part time career as a landscape painter in oils. Contact Mark at 575.646.2004 or by email at mhohnstr@nmsu.edu.