Emily Pitts Donahoe
Associate Director of Instructional Support in the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and Lecturer of Writing and Rhetoric
Research Interests
Inclusive pedagogy, alternative grading, authentic assessment, students as partners in higher education, artificial intelligence in the writing classroom
Biography
As CETL’s Associate Director, Emily coordinates programming for graduate teachers and TAs and supports inclusive teaching initiatives for instructors at all levels. As leader for the university’s Graduate Teaching Orientation and facilitator of the Fundamentals of Teaching Learning Community, she frequently works with new graduate TAs and instructors to help them successfully navigate their first teaching experiences and prepare for the academic job market.
In her work on inclusive teaching, Emily collaborates with instructors across disciplines to develop equitable and evidence-based pedagogies that support all students, especially those who have been historically excluded in higher education. She is currently the co-leader of CETL’s Inclusive Teaching Learning Community and co-facilitator, with the Office of Diversity and Community Engagement, of a regular workshop on Inclusive and Equitable Teaching Practices.
In addition to serving as CETL’s associate director, Emily also serves as a Lecturer in UM’s Department of Writing and Rhetoric and has taught previous courses in literature and screen cultures. Her recent LIBA 102 course, “Examining Higher Ed: Teaching and Learning in the College Classroom,” invited first-year students to draw on research and personal experience in writing about contemporary issues in higher education.
Emily also writes publicly about her teaching experiences for a variety of venues. Her blog Unmaking the Grade, which has been featured in the Chronicle of Higher Education teaching newsletter, documents her explorations of alternative grading and other progressive teaching practices. She also writes for the University of Mississippi AI Institute blog, Not Long; Must Read.
In her previous position as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Teaching Scholar at the University of Notre Dame, Emily launched and co-piloted the Inclusive Pedagogy Partnership, the university’s first student/faculty pedagogical partnership program.
Request a Teaching Consultation with Emily
Publications
Using digital observation tools to support classroom-focused pedagogical partnership. International Journal for Students as Partners, October 2023.
Selected Conference Presentations
“This bootless chat": Humanist Education, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of Writing Instruction.” The Shakespeare Association of America Conference, March 2023.
Reimagining Connections through Student-Faculty Partnership: What are the Possibilities? POD Network Conference, November 2022.
Selected Media
Unmaking the Grade, John Kane and Rebecca Mushtare, Tea for Teaching
ChatGPT Has Changed Teaching. Our Readers Tell Us How, Beth McMurtrie and Beckie Supiano, Chronicle of Higher Education
An instructor reveals the ins and outs of ungrading, Beckie Supiano, Chronicle of Higher Education Teaching Newsletter
ChatGPT is going to change education, not destroy it, Will Douglas Heaven, MIT Technology Review
Courses Taught
- LIBA 102 Examining Higher Ed: Teaching and Learning in the College Classroom
- WRIT 101 First-Year Writing I
Education
B.A. English, Austin Peay State University (2014)
M.A. English, University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa) (2016)
Ph.D. English, University of Notre Dame (2021)