Provost Fellow for Teaching and Learning
Professor
Department of Religious Studies

Jim Moyer loves teaching, learning, and assisting students in their learning.  He earned his Ph. D. at Brandeis University in Mediterranean Studies, an interdisciplinary degree in ancient studies, and joined Missouri State's History Department in 1970.  In 1978 he moved to the Religious Studies Department.  In 1972 he pioneered the Study Away program taking 17 students to Israel for a six-week excavation.  He also taught Akkadian in the Modern and Classical Languages Department in 1978.  His expertise is in the religion, history, and archaeology of ancient Israel, and most recently he taught the Biblical books of Genesis, Jeremiah, and Psalms as well as the History of Israel.

Jim has always concentrated on being an effective teacher and increasing the learning of his students.  He has coauthored with Victor Matthews a textbook for beginning students entitled Old Testament Text and Context that will appear in a third edition in 2010.  He has won teaching, advising, and scholarship awards, directed a Teaching Fellowship Program for graduate students emphasizing mediated learning, and taught and mentored GA’s/TA’s in teaching pedagogy.  He taught IDS 110 in the first year it was offered and pioneered the use of a peer leader.  This fall he will link his IDS 110 section with the General Education course, Rel 101, emphasizing the Public Affairs aspects of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible.  Currently he chairs the First-Year Programs Advisory Committee.  From 1985-2007 he headed the Religious Studies Department building a faculty of excellent teachers and productive scholars.

Jim has freely shared his teaching pedagogy, and often presents at the Showcase on Teaching and Learning and the Advisor Forum. As a Provost Fellow for Teaching and Learning he will be conducting learning communities for new faculty, leading discussions on the monthly newsletter, The Teaching Professor, and assisting in learning communities for GA’s/TA’s. He will be visible leading discussions and dialoguing on teaching pedagogy as he assists in presenting the work of the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning.

Provost Fellow for Teaching and Learning
Assistant Professor
Department of History

Eric Nelson completed his B.A. in Early Modern European Studies at The George Washington University, Washington DC, in 1993 and his Doctorate of Philosophy in History at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

 Eric’s research is in the field of early modern European history.  His monograph, The Jesuits and the Monarchy: Catholic Reform and Political Authority in France, appeared in 2005.  He has also edited several volumes of essays and published articles in scholarly journals including The English Historical Review and Archivum Historicum Societatis Iesu.  His current research focuses on the evolution of the sacred landscape of France after the Reformation, with an article from this project entitled, The Parish in its Landscapes: Parish Pilgrimage Processions in the Archdeaconry of Blois 1500-1700 appearing, in the journal French History in 2010.

Eric has taught in both the British and American University systems and has published resources for world history instructors.  He created and implemented a learning community program at his previous university, and plans to use his time as a Provost Fellow for Teaching and Learning to participate in and promote pilot student learning communities on campus.  He also plans to start a new mentoring program for graduate assistants based in the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning and continue his work on the use of pragmatic teaching tools that promote reflective learning outcomes.