Thanks to the Davis Educational Foundation’s fast-thinking approach to supporting higher education through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Thomas College received a $25,000 Presidential Grant Award this month to provide additional faculty development and training for online and hybrid-model classes.

The grant will provide faculty development and training opportunities beginning this summer and lasting through December. With the assistance of project manager Dr. Katie Rybakova, a professor in the College’s Peter and Paula Lunder School of Education, Thomas faculty members will be able to participate in specially-designed webinars on topics such as online vs. face-to-face pedagogy, digital assessment practices, and equity and technology integration.

“The courses are designed to help faculty walk away with practical tools they can immediately put to use in their classrooms,” says Dr. Rybakova. “We have begun building the trainings and instructors are already excited to participate.”

Adds Provost Dr. Thomas Edwards, “The flexibility of this grant design allows us to help great teachers get even better. Faculty will be able to pick and choose the specific topics that make sense for their courses, and their teaching styles. Technology is, and will continue to be, an integral part of all we do at Thomas. This grant from the Davis Foundation is a great fit for our teaching and learning focus.”

The Davis Educational Foundation was established by Stanton and Elisabeth Davis after Mr. Davis’s retirement as chairman of Shaw’s Supermarkets, Inc.