This Brave Conversation explores the dialogical and relational nature of leadership in the context of the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (SoTL) through five interconnected lenses: 1) how we facilitate each other’s growth in SoTL as individual teachers and colleagues; 2) how we grow together as SoTL, collectively developing a field that values authentic relationships, dialogue, reciprocity, and trust; 3) how we continue growing with SoTL itself as a field that embraces “its constant state of emergence, which yearns to be fed forward by diverse perspectives” (Santucci Leoni & Nasrollahian Mojarad 2024, p.i); 4) how we all lead for SoTL, growing the field’s possibilities and future evolutions; 5) how we lead through SoTL, enacting change whose reverberations impact our institutions and transform higher education ecosystems.

References: 

Santucci Leoni, A. & Nasrollahian Mojarad, S. (2024). Dialogically Relational Complexity: Exploring SoTL’s Transdisciplinary Potential. Transformative Dialogues, 17(1), i-x. https://doi.org/10.26209/td2024vol17iss11871

Facilitators: Michelle Yeo (Mokakiiks Centre for SoTL, MRU)
                   and Erika Smith (Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning, University of Calgary)

Speaker: Anna Santucci, University College Cork, Ireland 

Dr. Anna Santucci is Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in the Centre for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL) at University College Cork (UCC, Ireland), where she directs CIRTL’s MA program in Teaching and Learning for Higher Education and co-leads UCC’s contributions to Teaching & Learning efforts for the UNIC European University alliance. She was previously a faculty developer at the University of Rhode Island (USA), where she supported teaching enhancement with a focus on equitable learning efforts and Inclusive Excellence initiatives. Her story includes a BA in Modern Languages (Padova, Italy), MA in English (Nottingham, UK), and PhD combining Italian and Theatre & Performance (Brown University, USA – where she also served as Head Graduate Teaching Consultant at the Sheridan Center). Anna’s international and transdisciplinary work critically promotes interculturality, equity and justice in higher education via co-creation, reflection, agency, and authentic partnerships.