Two New Faculty Members At JSC

August 15, 2009

The Johnson State College community will welcome two new faculty members during the upcoming year : Dr. David McGough, in the education department, and Elizabeth Powell in the writing and literature department.

David McGough

Dr. David McGough, an educator with 25 years experience in secondary and postsecondary education, begins the fall semester as an associate professor in the department of education, where he will teach Educational Psychology, Education Research, and Adolescent Development.

A resident of Plainfield, N.H., he most recently taught in a large teacher education division of a private college in upstate New York, Nazareth College of Rochester. He was chair of the Department of Social and Psychological Foundations of Education there.

“I’m looking forward to continuing with the work of teacher education in a smaller division with more opportunities for cross-disciplinary instruction,” he says, “and for becoming more directly involved with students.”

Dan Regan, dean of academic affairs at Johnson State, says the faculty search committee was most impressed with McGough’s broad background in secondary education, which is where many of the educational challenges and opportunities are in Vermont.

“David has a long and strong track record of working collaboratively with secondary schools,” Regan says. “He also has a strong record of successful work with teacher candidates.”

McGough says he is particularly excited about an initiative within the Vermont Department of Education, to partner with secondary schools around the region to develop school-based learning opportunities.

“These will be of great benefit for the teacher education students, the school community and the college faculty,” he says.

During the past two decades, McGough has presented widely at conferences and workshops around the United States, focusing on issues around school leadership, education in urban settings, and student retention through college graduation.

Before his work at Nazareth College of Rochester, he was a lecturer and instructor at SUNY Cortland in Courtland, N.Y., Tompkins-Cortland Community College in Dryden, N.Y., Antioch University in Seattle, Wash., and Centralia College in Centralia, Wash. He also taught high school math and computer science at Morris Knolls High School in Denville, N.J.

He holds a doctorate in educational policy and administration from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minn., a master’s degree in teaching from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, N.J., and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Villanova University in Villanova, Pa.

“I am very pleased to be joining JSC,” he says, “with its beautiful campus and collegial ambience.”

Elizabeth Powell

Elizabeth Powell, a widely published poet and the recipient of more than a dozen writing honors, will start the fall semester as an assistant professor in the department of writing and literature, where she will teach Introduction to Literature, Creative Writing, and College Writing

“I am really looking forward to working with everyone at Johnson State: students, faculty and staff,” she says. “It’s such an amazing, wonderful place.”

A resident of Underhill, Vt., Powell has a tremendous amount of experience teaching at the post-secondary level. She has been a lecturer, instructor and visiting writer at the University of Vermont, Saint Michael’s College, Champlain College, Burlington College and Goddard College. She was also on the poetry faculty for many years for the New England Young Writers’ conference at Middlebury College.

Dan Regan, dean of academic affairs at Johnson State, says the faculty search committee was impressed with how engaged Powell is with her students’ learning process.

“The sample class on poetry she gave during her campus interview revealed that clearly,” he says. “It was directed to students’ discovering insights about poetry rather than being handed them.”

She is also devoted to helping students extend their learning beyond the classroom, one of JSC’s priorities.

“She is committed to experiential learning,” Regan says. “For instance, her students take hikes through the woods as material for literature and creative writing classes.”

Outside the classroom, Powell has garnered many honors for her writing and received fellowships and grants from Yaddo, Hall Farm Center for Arts and Education, Vermont Council on the Arts, and the Arts Vermont Endowment. She has published dozens of poems in magazines and anthologies around the United States, and she is the author of “The Republic of Self,” winner of the New Issues First Book Prize for Poetry.

Her earlier work as a journalist, combined with being an established poet, make her uniquely suited to supervise students working for Gihon River Review, Johnson State’s student-run literary journal.

She has a master of fine arts degree from Vermont College and a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Wisconsin. She also has completed graduate studies in poetry from the University of New Hampshire.