SELF EVALUATION, Karen Goodlad, Assistant Professor, 2012
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“Researching and Revitalizing”
As the fall 2011 semester began I was looking forward to implementing new teaching techniques explored and developed through participating as a Fellow in the Title V: A Living Lab grant, furthering my education in the fields of viticulture, oenology and food and wine pairing. As I look back over the year, there were many invitations that helped me embrace these goals and introduced me to opportunities that helped foster my ability to be an effective leader in various aspects of my teaching, scholarship and service.
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Revitalizing the Student Experience
As a Living Lab Fellow I realize how effective the seminars have been on influencing my teaching. Exploring techniques to enhance my own delivery of information and developing new lesson plans helped to create a vibrant learning environment for my students. This vibrant environment was a result of the use of high impact educational practices such as field trips, small group discussion, collaborative assignments, reflection, learning communities and writing intensive courses.
To highlight a few of the practices, it would be important to start with the formation of a learning community. Through the Gen Ed seminars John Akana, Sean Scanlan and I identified the opportunity to come together as a group to make a significant impact on the student’s first year. In addition, through information gathered from the Brooklyn Waterfront Research Center, I was able to design a field trip on tourism and the Brooklyn Bridge Park. This was the first time that many students were so close to the water in Brooklyn and the first time that many were able to associate tourism with Brooklyn.
This fellowship has led me to places that I wanted to go and introduced me to opportunities to share my learning with others. Due to my proven success as a Fellow, I was asked to become the Co-Director of the General Education component of the Grant, as the Co-Director I have been able to guide over 30 Faculty Fellows as they explore, general education, high impact practices, assessment and the electronic platform, OpenLab.
The Living Lab Grant is designed to improve student retention through faculty development. Results that provide evidence of faculty development and the enhancements to our courses can be found on the OpenLab:
- https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/livinglabfellows/
- https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/groups/living-lab-2nd-year-fellows/
- https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/secondyearfellows/.
Research in Order to Revitalize Wine and Beverage Management
Of great significance to my teaching and my research was being invited to “Cape Wine Europe”, Wines of South Africa’s (WOSA) International Conference in London, England. At this conference I networked with over 150 different producers of wine showing approximately 1200 wines, tasted and evaluated over150 wines and participated in numerous lectures focused on viticulture, oenology and marketing practices. The lectures of greatest impact were:
- “Pinotage: a short overview with a tasting of a selection of 6 wines from 1966 – 2007” Presented by Andre Morgenthal, Wines of South Afric:
- “Empowerment Brands – what does this mean to the world?” Presented by Vivian Kleynhans, African Roots Wines.
- “Fairtrade as a business model”, Presented by Michael Gidney, Fairtrade foundation UK.
Through these lectures I am able to better communicate the attributes of South African wines, both past and present and have a greater ability to forecast trends in the South African wine industry.
In addition to enhancing my lectures, I have paired with Susan Philip to research the impacts of the wine industry and wine tourism in South Africa, begin the research for a paper and present it at two conferences The Economic and Socio-Cultural Benefits of Wine Tourism in South Africa will be presented at the 6th Annual International Conference of the American Association of Wine Economists in Princeton, NJ, June 7-10, 2012 and at the Global Gateways and Local Connections: Cities, Agriculture and the Future of Food Systems Conference at New York University, NY. June 20-24, 2012. This collaboration and research will continue.
Yet another benefit has been realized from my invitation to the WOSA European Conference. My network of wine professionals has been expanded and resulted in a new donation of wines worth approximately $540.00.
Research in the field of wine can also be recognized through student work. Marilyn Joy Macuha, class of 2012, had her research assignment, “A Visit to Torres Winery in Pacs del Penedès 28”, published in the 7th edition of City Tech Writer.
Further work involving wine and wine research has resulted in attaining a certification from the Society of Wine Educators. I currently hold the title of Certified Specialist of Wine, the first step in the prestigious Certified Wine Educator certificate.
Revitalizing the Students’ Experience through Grants
Together with Lynda Dias, a grant proposal was submitted and subsequently awarded for a new project in the Wines of the New World course. This Grant, awarded by the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts, is designed to provide students a chance to engage in every aspect of making and marketing wine. Students, under the direction of City Winery oenologists, will crush grapes and blend the resulting wine to create the final table wine that will be used in the Janet Lefler Dining Room. The Grant is written to touch and inspire more students than in the immediate class because the “student oenologists” will return to City Tech to educate the students in the Dining Room Operations course about the wine that will be served to guests.
Based on Kuh’s High Impact Practices, published in the AAC&U, students making and marketing their own wine in the Wine of the New World class will engage in collaborative assignments and undergraduate research, both proven to enhance a student’s understanding of the subject matter at hand.
Les Dames d’ Escoffier, Revitalizing Scholarship Opportunities for Students and Professionals
After being inducted into Les Dames d’ Escoffier, an organization for female leaders in the field of hospitality, food and fine beverages, I quickly joined the Board of Directors as a Delegate-at-Large.
In this position I have been able to make a difference in helping to secure over $51,000 in scholarships by volunteering as the auction coordinator for Food and Wine Tribute Dinner benefiting Les Dames d’Escoffier, New York Scholarship Fund. During this dinner City Tech students volunteered and were able to network with the leaders in the food and beverage industry such as Jacques Torres, Martha Stewart and Daniel Boulud among others.
It is also a pleasure to have sponsored a graduate, Kubee Kassaye, for the Les Dames International Legacy Award in which she has been awarded. As a Legacy Award winner, Kassaye will spend a week in the fall of 2012 working side-by-side and under the direction of an extremely successful Dame. In Kassaye’s case, that will be Dame Margaret Chisholm, executive chef, Culinary Capers, Vancouver, BC, Canada, winner of the 2011 Chef of the Year Award from the International Caterers Association and co-author of The Girls Who Dish!: Seconds Anyone?
A quote from Kubee:
“I’m excited about this opportunity to learn new culinary and managerial skills, especially when it comes to overseeing a big kitchen, from Chef Chisholm. This experience will help me become a better chef and a better team player.”
Final Thoughts
Though I engaged in many additional activities than are listed in this self evaluation, I feel that most of my teaching, service and scholarly work have been influenced by two books that focus on stimulating change and examining “the big picture”. They are Wiggins and McTighe’s Understanding by Design and Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow.
