InCITEful Teaching

What happens when the person guiding students outside the classroom becomes the one leading them inside it? In this episode of InCITEful Teaching , host Dr. Shannon Harmon sits down with Dr. Kali Dunlap, Assistant Teaching Professor in the College of Professional and Continuing Studies at Mississippi State University to tackle that question. Before stepping into the classroom, Kali spent years as...

What if we designed our courses the way engineers design everything else, around how real people actually think, focus, and perform? In this episode of InCITEful Teaching , host Dr. Shannon Harmon sits down with Dr. Lesley Strawderman, Giles Distinguished Professor, International Paper Chair in Industrial and Systems Engineering at Mississippi State, and Associate Director of the Athlete Engineeri...

Even the most thoughtfully designed course comes to life one lesson at a time. In this episode of InCITEful Teaching —part of our First Days of School series—host Dr. Shannon Harmon sits down with Dr. Nicole Miller to explore what happens inside a single class session: how we plan lessons that move students toward our goals, and how we keep them actively engaged along the way. Dr. Miller is an Ass...

Teaching online is more than moving lectures to Canvas — it requires intentional design, meaningful interaction, and a genuine sense of connection. In this episode of InCITEful Teaching , host Dr. Shannon Harmon sits down with Dr. Athena Nagel, Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Geosciences and a CITE Faculty Associate, to talk about what it really takes to teach well online. Whethe...

Great teaching begins long before the first assignment is submitted or the first exam is administered. In this episode of InCITEful Teaching —part of our First Days of School series—host Dr. Shannon Harmon sits down with Dr. Stephanie King, Interim Executive Director for CITE and Interim Associate Dean in the College of Professional and Continuing Studies, for a wide-ranging conversation about the...

We're kicking off our Back-to-School Series on InCITEful Teaching with a conversation that reminds us of one simple truth: before students engage with your syllabus, assignments, or course content, they're asking one important question: Do I belong here? In the first episode of this special series, Dr. Shannon Harmon welcomes Dr. Melody Fisher to discuss how the first days of class shape...

Higher education is changing rapidly—and faculty are at the center of it all. From the rise of artificial intelligence and evolving approaches to assessment, to student engagement, faculty well-being, and preparing graduates for an increasingly complex workforce, today's educators are navigating opportunities and challenges unlike any before. In this special episode of InCITEful Teaching , ho...

Some of the most powerful learning happens when students step outside the classroom and into real-world settings. In this episode, host Dr. Shannon Harmon talks with Amy Fountain—faculty member in the Department of Communication, Media, and Theatre, internship coordinator, and member of the College of Arts and Sciences' TEAMS initiative—about how internships and experiential learning shape st...

Teaching is deeply meaningful work, but it can also be demanding work. In this episode of InCITEful Teaching, host Dr. Shannon Harmon sits down with Dr. Emily Stafford, Director of Mississippi State University's Psychology Clinic, to explore faculty well-being, burnout, work-life balance, and the importance of seeking support. Together, they discuss how burnout manifests in higher education,...

Dr. Andrew Mercer is a meteorologist and climatologist at Mississippi State University, home to one in three of today's on-air broadcast meteorologists. As Graduate Coordinator for the Department of Geosciences and meteorology team lead, his research applies machine learning and AI to large scale atmospheric problems, from severe weather forecasting to hurricane prediction. In this conversati...

Dr. Neil Deochand is completing his first year as an assistant professor at Mississippi State University. He came with a doctorate in behavior analysis, years of online teaching experience, and a lot of ideas about how people learn. This year, he has been putting all of it into practice at Mississippi State. In this conversation with host Dr. Shannon Harmon, Neil reflects on what it looks like to...

Dr. Greg Francom came to teaching through four degrees, four universities, a lifelong faith community, and a conviction that media and technology are most valuable when they help people learn. Today, as a Clinical Professor in the Department of Technology, Leadership, and Design at Mississippi State University, he is the author of the first ever multi-platform interactive textbook for educational...

Dr. Melissa Moore has taught at Mississippi State University for 26 years. Today, her marketing courses enroll up to 450 students at a time. She is a Turner A. Wingo Endowed Professor, a department head, and a Grisham Master Level Teacher. And after all of that, nothing disappoints her more than leaving class feeling like she didn't connect. That standard, and what she does to meet it, is at...

What does it mean to teach relationally? For Karyn Brown, assistant dean of communication and media at Mississippi State University and a Grisham Master Level Teacher, the answer begins with a simple conviction she's carried since her first day in the classroom: you cannot be an effective teacher without first building genuine relationships with your students. In this episode — the very first...

Welcome to InCITEful Teaching, a podcast from Mississippi State University's Center for Innovation and Teaching Excellence. I'm your host, Dr. Shannon Harmon. I've spent my career in higher education as a teacher, researcher, and faculty developer — first as a tenured Associate Professor of Elementary Education at Middle Tennessee State University, and now as an Instructional Suppor...