Ken Hagihara, Michelle Kurland and Dr. Chelsea Reynolds were recipients of the FDC Recognition for Outstanding Teaching at an awards ceremony. Department Chair Dr. Jason Shepard celebrates with them. .
Three faculty members in the Department of Communications were recipients of the Faculty Development Center Faculty Recognition in Teaching awards in Fall 2019.
The faculty members were recognized at a luncheon in the Titan Student Union.
The FDC's theme was "CSUF Teaching Superheros" and each recipient received a printed comic book with information about their teaching excellence.
Ken Hagihara
Ken Hagihara is a full-time lecturer in the Department of Communications and adviser of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) chapter, one of the largest chapters in the nation. He teaches courses in public relations principles and advanced public relations writing, as well as teaching the public relations management capstone class and serving as an adviser for the student-run agency, PRactical ADvantage Communications. Since he began teaching at CSUF in 2015, Ken’s teaching evaluations have consistently fallen in the Department’s “excellent” category and his students regularly praise him for his dedication, professionalism, accessibility, and inspiration. His students call him an “excellent professor” and remark that “he cares about his students and their career goals.” Ken, who was recently elected into the PRSA College of Fellows, has worked closely with the CSUF PRSSA executive board to establish the chapter as a national leader, increasing the visibility and reputation of the chapter, the department and the university at the national level.
Michelle Kurland
Michelle Kurland is a full-time lecturer in the Department of Communications and adviser of the Daily Titan, one of the university’s premiere High Impact Practices. She teaches courses in writing for the advertising industry, advertising media sales, and principles of advertising. Every year, Michelle takes a group of her Daily Titan advertising students to an annual student conference where they can learn from other professionals and students in the field, as well as present best practices from the Daily Titan. Michelle has been teaching at CSUF since 2005 and became a full-time faculty member in 2016. She is a strong believer that the needs of her students come first and supporting their academic and professional growth is one of her top priorities. Students regularly praise her exceptional effectiveness as a teacher, including praising her passion, organization, preparation and feedback.
Dr. Chelsea Reynolds
Chelsea Reynolds is an assistant professor and adviser to Tusk Magazine, one of the university's high-impact practice student media outlets. In 2019, Tusk was named the California College Media Association's top campus magazine. Reynolds teaches undergraduate courses in advanced magazine writing, magazine editing and production, feature reporting, sexual communication, mass media ethics, and digital reporting as well as a graduate seminar in mass media ethics. She regularly garners excellent student evaluations. Reynolds has recently launched a series of workshops on trauma-informed pedagogy, and she has contributed a forthcoming book chapter about mental health to the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Master Teaching Series.
