Program Leaders

Leslie Owen Wilson
College of Professional Studies
lwilson@uwsp.edu

Leslie Owen Wilson is a professor in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Her teaching load is split between her undergraduate course in educational psychology, and her graduate courses in a variety of separate courses in curriculum, creativity, brain-based education, newer theories of learning, reflective teaching, and models of teaching. Beyond her university teaching she has had multiple incarnations as a classroom teacher, reading teacher, and teacher and developer of programs for gifted, highly able, and creative learners in Maryland, Georgia and Oklahoma.

In addition to pursuing her professional interests and maintaining active partnerships with classroom teachers and public schools, Leslie also writes and presents on holistic education, multiple intelligences, the importance of the arts in education, and on rites of passage education. Recently, Leslie has been actively involved in a technology grant initiative with the Stevens Point School District training teachers in melding brain-based learning and Multiple Intelligence Theory with technology. In 1994 UWSP recognized her outstanding contributions in the area of instruction with a University Teaching Excellence Award.

She maintains a large comprehensive website on topics related to her coursework that is used all over the world by e-publishers, educators, parents, business, and even the police. Leslie was the 2004 UWSP SoTL Teaching Scholar recipient and she is the lead investigator for the FACETS Project.

Leslie holds a BS in both history and elementary education from Towson University; a M Ed. (Masters in Education) from Phillips University, and an Ed. D (Doctorate in Education) in Curriculum and Instruction with additional emphasis in gifted/talented/creative education from Oklahoma State University.

Susan Hughes Gingrasso
College of Fine Arts and Communication
sgingras@uwsp.edu

Professor Susan Hughes Gingrasso joined the Theatre and Dance faculty in 1974 and served as Dance Program Coordinator from 1984-2003. She holds a Masters in Dance from UCLA, a certificate in Laban Movement Analysis from the Laban-Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in New York and certificates in Stages 1 and 2 of the Language of Dance. She teaches movement theory and analysis, improvisation, dance history, dance pedagogy, and modern technique.

Susan is actively engaged in pursuing different ways of teaching, especially at kinesthetic levels, and has training in Multiple Intelligence Theory, primarily through the Laban Movement Analysis coursework. She also co wrote (with Wilson) and administrated the CELT (Center for the Expansion of Learning and Teaching) grant a UW-System grant to teach K-12 teachers how to integrate brain based learning, multiple intelligences and technology into the classroom. Susan has been the guiding force in achieving national recognition for the UWSP Dance Program. She has received numerous university grants to including the National College Choreography Grant Initiative for Wisconsin. Susan is a well-respected authority throughout the university community in using movement and space as a teaching and learning tool.

Marty Loy
College of Professional Studies
mloy@uwsp.edu

Marty Loy holds a MS degree from UW-Oshkosh and a BS and Ph.D. from UW-Madison, came to UWSP in 1987 in an Academic Staff position. In 1998, Loy began a faculty position, coordinated the CPS Focus on Teaching Program and its lead program-Teaching Partners.

In 2002 Loy became Associate Dean of the School of Health Promotion & Human Development and has since headed the school. Loy has written journal articles and presented papers in the areas of teaching and learning and faculty development. His most recent work was a chapter titled: The Evolution of A Teacher-Professor: Applying Behavior Change Theory to Faculty Development, published in To Improve the Academy. Marty holds membership in several national teaching and learning organizations and is the UW-Stevens Point Representative on the Council of the UW-System, Office of Professional and Instructional Development (OPID). Marty is a former recipient of the UWSP teaching excellence award.

Craig A. Wendorf
College of Letters and Science
cwendorf@uwsp.edu

Craig Wendorf is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He holds a BS from UW-Oshkosh and a MA and PhD from Wayne State University in Detroit. Before joining UWSP in 2001, he held adjunct faculty positions at Wayne State University and the University of Detroit-Mercy. His research specialties are statistical methods and social psychology. One relevant line of this research program emphasizes students' perceptions of instructor fairness and their impact on student evaluations of faculty. Craig is the director of research for FACETS' assessments.