Mosaic Center Director Wins Cutting-Edge Curriculum Award

Shenandoah University’s Director of Inclusion and Diversity and Mosaic Center for Diversity Director Maggie McCampbell Lien is one of 10 winners of a new Cutting-Edge Curriculum Award.

The award, created by the United Methodist Church (UMC) General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM), which is the UMC’s leadership development agency, recognizes faculty at United Methodist-affiliated colleges “who have developed unique and engaging courses designed to enhance the experience of students,” according to the GBHEM website. This year’s awards topic focused on curriculum introducing first-year students to supportive instruction.

McCampbell Lien won for her First-Year Seminar (FYS) course, “You Don’t Have to Be Gandhi: Student Activism in a Global Perspective.”

“It is an honor to teach FYS and to spend time in the classroom with students new to Shenandoah,” she said. “I learn something new every year when I challenge students to discover and share the things they care about and why they care. Their journey from finding their ‘why’ to discovering ways they can engage in activism to create meaningful change in the world is inspiring to me. I am grateful to receive this award and so appreciative of the opportunity to teach FYS at Shenandoah.”

McCampbell Lien was one of eight educators to receive a $2,000 award. Two additional educators received $4,000 awards.

All of the applicants for the award, which is in its inaugural year, exhibited “the dedication and passion for finding creative ways to build a foundation on which new students can achieve success in higher education,” the GBHEM website states.

The 2019 awards topic will be announced later this summer.