Featured Faculty Developer: Elisabeth Fredrickson

Hear a bit from Elisabeth Fredrickson, one of our blog contributors, and the Associate Dean for Instruction at Edmonds Community College!

What do you like most about your job?

Talking to faculty about their teaching! I love to hear instructors’ success stories, help them troubleshoot friction points in their teaching, and generally geek out on teaching and learning.

What are three career lessons you’ve learned thus far?

I’ll give you one big one: Don’t wait for someone else to bestow expertise status on you. If there’s something that fascinates you, that you want to learn more about, then just go learn it! Read, go to workshops, listen to podcasts, watch videos, talk to people. People in the field of education, in particular, are eager to share what they know!

What would people never guess you do in your role?

Interior design (I got to design my own office space) and hospitality (I make a lot of tea). Those weren’t listed in the job description, but making people feel welcome is a big part of my role.

What are your hobbies and interests outside of work?

Hiking and backpacking. A friend (a fellow English teacher) and I took last summer off and backpacked in the Olympics and Cascades. We hiked Tuck and Robin Lakes during the Jolly Mountain fire and got evacuated by the ranger (fortunately, we’d already reached the lake and were on our way out, so we didn’t miss anything!).

Are you messy or organized?

Let’s just call it controlled chaos : )

Do you have a favorite newspaper, blog?

Three recommendations:

Cult of Pedagogy – Jennifer Gonzales’ excellent teaching blog with quick tips you can apply right away in the classroom.
Teaching In Higher Ed Podcast – Bonni Stachowiak has such a comforting voice. She’s like a den mother for teachers. She also knows her stuff, has smart guests, and offers loads of advice about becoming a more effective, efficient, and joyful teacher.
Teach Better Podcast – Doug McKee and Edward O’Neil take deep dives into a variety of teaching and learning topics and interview award-winning teachers. This is the podcast that first got me excited about the scholarship of teaching and learning.

If you could witness any historical event, what would you want to see?
I’d go back to Paris in the 1920s and hang out with the Fitzgeralds, Gertrude Stein, and the other expats -- just like in the movie Midnight in Paris. Maybe I’d buy a Picasso.

What’s the one thing you can’t live without?

Oxygen? Also coffee.

Best childhood memory?
   
Camping at Kalaloch, on the Olympic Peninsula, as a kid. We still go every summer with our own kids, who are basically adults now. The tradition continues. . .

If your house was burning down, what’s the one non-living thing you would save?

I can’t think of a single non-living thing that would make me run into a burning house!

Top 3 life highlights?

Marrying my high school sweetheart, bringing our three awesome kids into the world, and climbing Mt. Rainier.