We appreciate the continued enthusiasm for our Center for Teaching staff spotlight series. This month, we’re excited to better acquaint you with Eva Latterner, one of our assistant directors. 

Eva helps build opportunities for faculty across all tracks to grow as teachers and thrive as professionals at the university, and she works with department leaders to facilitate knowledge sharing and support evidence-based teaching practices across the curriculum. She also collaborates across campus on initiatives related to generative AI in the classroom, alternative assessment, and curriculum and course design. Prior to joining our team at the Center for Teaching, Eva worked as interim assistant director of the writing and rhetoric program at the University of Virginia. 

What are your primary responsibilities at the Center for Teaching?  

I oversee the center’s Early Career Faculty programs. I work with faculty who are new to Iowa to develop their courses, prepare to teach, and navigate the teaching ecosystem. I’m particularly excited about a newly established program for all career stages, the Scholarly Teaching Program, that convenes a learning community of teaching-focused faculty to explore teaching topics and attend a teaching and learning conference together. I also collaborate on the center’s course and curriculum design programming, including the Course Design Institute and curriculum design initiatives across campus.   

What kind of consultations do you do most often?  

I oversee the center’s program for collecting midterm student feedback.  During the middle weeks of each semester, instructors invite me to interview their students about their learning experiences so I can discuss that feedback with instructors to help them plan for the rest of the term. I know that asking students for feedback can be anxiety-inducing, but in my observation, instructors often leave these consultations feeling empowered and more knowledgeable about their students. A lot of creative thinking about courses and assignments happens during these conversations because student feedback can often spark new ideas about how to teach a course. Students also really appreciate hearing that their instructors genuinely care about their experiences. 

What are your scholarly areas of interest?  

I think a lot about how universities function. I’m particularly interested in the history of the American university, the formation of disciplines, and critical university studies. My current scholarly work is about how change happens in higher ed and how centers for teaching and learning can facilitate curriculum revision. I come from an English and writing program background, so I am also interested in writing studies and writing across the curriculum scholarship. 

What is your favorite part about working at the Center for Teaching?  

I love that every day is a little different. My work takes me all over campus and I get to collaborate with many different faculty, staff, and student colleagues. Some days I’m teaching an undergraduate course and other days I’m working with a faculty member to redesign their syllabus. This has allowed me to develop a pretty holistic picture of what it’s like to teach and learn at Iowa. 

What is a unique thing you enjoy doing in Iowa City? 

I try to catch most films shown at Film Scene. When I can stay up late enough, I love to attend the Bijou After Hours screenings. The Bijou Film Board students have fantastically energetic curatorial minds! If you can’t make it to a 10 p.m. screening, I recommend the Bijou blog and podcast. 

What is something on campus that you look forward to participating in?  

I always look forward to the Institute on Teaching with Writing that is organized every summer by the Obermann Center’s working group on teaching with writing. It brings instructors from across campus together to think about important emergent and evergreen questions related to using writing in your teaching practice. I always leave energized and inspired.