Katie Baker, associate professor of education and associate chair of the Department of Education and Wellness at 51±¬ÁĎÍř’s Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education, has been selected as the 2026–28 . Baker will focus her research on ePortfolios as a high-impact educational practice.

CEL Scholars are faculty members who engage in sustained, multi-year inquiry around engaged learning practices, contributing to the center’s research, publications and national outreach. Baker’s work will draw on her extensive experience supporting ePortfolios in teacher education, particularly through her role as edTPA coordinator for Elon’s teacher preparation programs.

Since joining Elon in 2017, Baker has played a central role in implementing and sustaining the edTPA, a required performance-based ePortfolio assessment for teacher licensure in North Carolina. The edTPA requires teacher candidates to demonstrate their planning, instruction, and assessment through a digital portfolio that includes lesson artifacts, reflective commentary, and video recordings of classroom instruction. In her coordinator role, Baker supports teacher candidates, faculty and community-based clinical teachers across multiple content areas and licensure programs.

Baker’s scholarly work includes national and state-level presentations and publications on teacher education, mathematics education and performance-based assessment. She has served in leadership roles within the mathematics education community and has contributed to externally funded research focused on equitable and high-quality instruction. Her selection as a CEL Scholar enables her to build on this record of engaged scholarship and institutional leadership while exploring ePortfolio research and practices across other disciplinary contexts.

The Center for Engaged Learning supports research and dialogue on evidence-based teaching practices that foster deep student learning. CEL Scholars play a key role in advancing that mission by connecting disciplinary expertise with broader conversations about engaged learning in higher education.
Baker will join an esteemed group of previous CEL Scholars, including David Buck, Caroline Ketcham, Amanda Kleintop, Ketevan Kupatadze, Buffie Longmire-Avital, Phillip Motley, Amanda Sturgill, Aaron Trocki and Cora Wigger. Applications for the 2027-29 CEL Scholar will open in Fall 2026.

The Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL) is pleased to announce that Kevin Bourque, associate professor of English, has been selected to serve as its next associate director, beginning June 2026.

During his four-year term, Bourque will collaborate closely with CATL colleagues and partners across campus to support faculty development, promote evidence-based and innovative teaching practices, and strengthen Elon’s culture of engaged and inclusive learning.

Bourque brings to this role a sustained commitment to inclusive pedagogy, interdisciplinary collaboration and thoughtful course design. In the English department and across the university, Bourque has taught a wide range of courses—from British literature and food studies to LGBTQ literature and culture—many of which extend learning beyond traditional classroom spaces through experiential, sensory, and place-based approaches. He has significant experience in team-teaching and interdisciplinary work, including global education and Honors courses, and is known for cultivating productive partnerships that respect disciplinary differences while advancing shared teaching goals.

A particular focus of Bourque’s recent work has been supporting faculty responses to the rapidly evolving role of large language models (LLMs) in higher education. Through redesigned assessments, alternative writing practices, and innovative evaluation methods such as video-based assessments and critical reading portfolios, he has developed pedagogical strategies that emphasize student ownership, reflection, and disciplinary ways of thinking. Within the English department, he has led workshops on assessment design and critical reading in the context of AI, and he looks forward to expanding this work through CATL by identifying best practices and connecting faculty with resources across the university. 

Bourque’s engagement with CATL spans his entire career at Elon. He was named a CATL Scholar from 2019–2021 for a project that helped rearticulate the relevance of literary studies within a 21st-century curriculum. He has also participated in CATL-supported scholarship of teaching and learning initiatives and faculty learning communities, work that closely aligns with CATL’s mission to foster reflective, research-informed teaching. As associate director, Bourque will support and advance CATL’s mission by strengthening a welcoming, collaborative and dynamic teaching and learning environment—one that equips faculty to respond creatively and thoughtfully to the evolving challenges and opportunities of teaching and learning at Elon.