About Dr. Swick

 

In my position at Northern Illinois University, I taught educational foundations courses for the College of Education and public health courses for the College of Health and Human Sciences. After earning my doctorate in 2013, I began teaching graduate courses in critical and feminist pedagogy, adult learning theory, higher education in a social context, the nature of adult and higher education, and nontraditional adult and higher education, which have all been comprised of both doctoral and masters’ level students. I have experience teaching in multiple academic departments, and I have taught and developed face-to-face, hybrid and on-line courses. Throughout the past 20 years, I have collaborated with numerous faculty, staff, students and community members to help foster engaging and transformational learning experiences for students in higher education.

 

The title of my dissertation is Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of Hope: An Autoethnography in a Social Justice Classroom. The purpose of this qualitative study was to test concepts derived from Paulo Freire’s writings within the educational context of a contemporary college classroom. Critical theory served as the conceptual framework, as I attempted to shed light on how education can be used to bring about social, political and economic changes in society.

 

My core commitment is excellence in teaching. I consider myself a social justice educator committed to a critical pedagogy in which students and teachers address constraints placed on people based on race, class, gender, sexual orientation, or any other difference. I have been exposed to a variety of learners from different ethnic, cultural, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds. My ability to connect with diverse student populations and to make education meaningful for them is consistently evident in my student and department evaluations, as well as various recognitions by student organizations. In 2012, I was the first white professor nominated NIU Faculty of the Year at the Annual Tribute to Black Women. Later that spring, I was awarded the NIU Student Advocacy Award by the Student Association Senate. In January 2013, the Black Student Union nominated me for their Outstanding Faculty Award. Recently, I received the 2015 NIU President’s Commission on the Status of Women: Sharon Howard Women Who Make a Difference Award and the Outstanding Advocate for Latino Students Award.

I am an academic who enjoys collaborating with others. In 2009, I worked with faculty, staff and students to develop a Themed Learning Community (TLC) titled Teachers as Ambassadors of Social Change for NIU’s Office of Student Engagement and Experiential Learning. I co-taught the TLC for three years and worked closely with faculty in the departments of English and Communications to provide unique opportunities for students to connect material learned to their own lives, individualize instruction to maximize learning, participate in field experiences, and engage in service learning; many students indicated that being a part of the TLC had a positive impact on their overall attitudes about education and motivated them to incorporate the ideas of experiential learning once they had their own classrooms. The teaching methods and activities we incorporated into our Themed Learning Community demonstrate my commitment to providing engaging experiences that encourage critical thinking, cultural sensitivity, and community involvement.

 

The art of public speaking comes naturally to me, and I thoroughly enjoy presenting my work at various university conferences and community organizations. During the fall of 2015, I delivered the keynote address titled Embracing Love, Hope and Humility at the Annual Noche de Gala at NIU. Another exciting keynote address I gave at the 2015 Illinois Residence Hall Association’s Annual Conference was titled Let's Get Crazy! Becoming a Leader by Reaching for the Stars and Traveling Beyond Perceived Limits. My first statewide keynote address was in 2011 when I addressed over 400 future educators at the Illinois Education Association (IEA) Annual Student Conference. The title of the IEA address was Be the Teacher Students Remember. Finally, I was invited to give the keynote addresses to Western Illinois University’s Student Education Association Conferences in 2007 and 2009. My exposure to these public speaking responsibilities has sharpened my ability to communicate my ideas on education to a wider public, and has further instilled in me a desire to participate in the broader community of higher education.

 

I seek to work collaboratively with a community of educators, researchers and students that values education as the practice of liberation and freedom. I am a bold educator who enjoys finding creative ways to shape the future of education by emphasizing innovation, civic engagement and leadership.