{"id":159611,"date":"2025-02-07T14:38:05","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T18:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/?p=159611"},"modified":"2025-04-08T15:36:01","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T19:36:01","slug":"deans-faculty-leadership-fellows-begin-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/2025\/02\/07\/deans-faculty-leadership-fellows-begin-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Dean\u2019s Faculty Leadership Fellows Begin Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bunch and Farny are first recipients of new fellowship<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By Patrick L. Kennedy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two mechanical engineering faculty members are undertaking curriculum projects with the support of the new Dean\u2019s Faculty Leadership Fellows program. Associate Professor Scott Bunch<\/a> (ME<\/a>, MSE<\/a>) is leading a review of the course sequence for graduate student teachers, while Master Lecturer Caleb Farny<\/a> (ME) is working to tie the engineering curriculum to public infrastructure challenges in the Boston area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goals of the Dean\u2019s Faculty Leadership Fellows program are to initiate and advance projects aligned with our educational and research mission, and to provide additional ways for faculty to develop their leadership skills for future opportunities at the department or college level and beyond,\u201d says ENG Dean ad interim <\/em>Elise Morgan. \u201cI am excited about working with Caleb and Scott on these projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

A clear line from coursework to the Green Line<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Farny is working with fellow engineering faculty and with BU\u2019s Initiative on Cities<\/a> to identify local engineering systems and problems with clear connections to ENG courses, and to incorporate these cases into the curriculum in ways that enhance students\u2019 technical education while advancing the college\u2019s commitment to societally driven engineering.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Caleb Farny (ME)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first system Farny will focus on is one that students rely on every day: transportation. \u201cWe can study it across multiple courses, from many different aspects\u2014mechanical and electrical elements and so on\u2014so that by the time students graduate, they understand the system really well,\u201d says Farny.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Farny would like to connect students with community partners to tackle real-life challenges as their Senior Design projects. \u201cIt could be a way to give back to the city that we live in,\u201d Farny says. \u201cThe more we can make ourselves relevant to the surrounding community, the more helpful it\u2019s going to be for BU as a university.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farny, who is also associate chair for undergraduate programs, has long imagined such a program, and provisions for it exist already in the college\u2019s latest strategic plan<\/a>. Now, launching it as a Dean\u2019s Faculty Leadership Fellow, Farny is receiving more feedback and ideas from fellow faculty than he would otherwise, he says. \u201cJust having the dean\u2019s office amplify this as something that is important to support helps make the connections.\u201d<\/p>\n

A meaningful TA experience<\/strong><\/h4>\n

For Bunch\u2019s fellowship project, he is revamping\u2014in collaboration with students, faculty, and other stakeholders\u2014the 801\/802 course sequence, which is taken by all ENG graduate student teachers (GSTs).<\/p>\n

\"\"
Scott Bunch (ME, MSE)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over seven years of teaching the sequence himself, Bunch has made various tweaks in response to anecdotal and formal feedback from students, but now he is leading a thorough review, conducting interviews and incorporating the perspectives of other instructors and past GSTs as well as the expertise of the BU Center for Teaching & Learning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving the structure of this dean\u2019s fellowship provides me with the opportunity to talk to all these people that otherwise I probably wouldn\u2019t have reached out to,\u201d says Bunch.<\/p>\n

Engineering GSTs supervise lab sessions, hold office hours, lead discussion sections, and grade papers and tests. \u201cYou learn a lot by teaching,\u201d says Bunch. \u201cIf you have to teach the material, you really <\/em>have to understand it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, Bunch\u2019s overarching goal for the overhaul is for the students to understand the enduring value of serving as a GST.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeaching is an important part of their professional development, even if they don\u2019t go into teaching,\u201d says Bunch. \u201cAs engineers at companies, they\u2019ll still need to know how to communicate effectively, how to evaluate and supervise as they become more senior. Being a GST isn\u2019t just a box to check; it should be a more meaningful experience for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bunch and Farny are the first recipients of the new fellowship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2662,"featured_media":128554,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[236,1303,1092,909,908,1302],"tags":[788,1304],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159611"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159611"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":159617,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159611\/revisions\/159617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}