Michael Theall

Associate Professor, Education, & Director, CATALYST
(Center for the Advancement of Teaching And Learning at Youngstown STate)

Education: St Anselm College;
MS, 1976, Syracuse University, Instructional Technology;
Ph.D. 1980, Syracuse University, Instructional Design, Development, & Evaluation

Teaching: Taught six years in public schools; seventeen years in higher education.

Administration: Twenty nine years in academic support positions at four higher education institutions; twenty-one years directing teaching-learning support and evaluation-assessment units.

Awards: Relating Research to Practice: Integrative Scholarship Award, from Amer. Ed. research Assoc., 2005;
     W. J. McKeachie Career Achievement Award from the AERA SIG in Faculty Teaching, Evaluation & Development, 2002.
     Distinguished Academic Achievement Award, St. Anselm College, 2003;
     “Who’s Who among America’s Teachers”, 2004 & 2005.

Funded Projects: $65,000.00 Massachusetts grant to reformat print curriculum into computer-assisted instruction to train MA Department of Employment Security staff in use of computerized job search & placement system. $250,000.00 National Science Foundation grant to develop computer-assisted materials to supplement calculus and pre-calculus classroom instruction. $230,000.00 Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) grant to develop a comprehensive system for evaluation and improvement of college teaching. $100,000 Illinois grants to develop an on-line writing improvement service for students from sixth grade through college. $10,000 total in other funded projects.

Service: Member of fifteen professional organizations during career; held elective offices in two national and two regional professional organizations; led institutional, college, and departmental committees.

College teaching and learning; faculty development; faculty evaluation; faculty work, roles, & rewards; the professoriate; the scholarship of teaching and learning; student ratings of teaching/courses; motivational issues; course design & development; instructional technology issues.

Workshop specifics about format, content, and process are determined by prior agreement with clients and tailored, as much as possible, to current client needs and interests. Examples and outlines from past workshops available on request.

Consulted to over thirty institutions and provided testimony to state and federal agencies. Made over 100 presentations; published over 60 items including four edited books, numerous chapters & articles, & book reviews; served as reviewer and/or editorial board member for several journals; produced monographs, handbooks, videotaped materials, theatrical productions, and public radio programs on teaching-learning topics; developed and distributed instruments and systems for evaluation of teaching and courses.