Graduate Educational Development Fellows

CAT’s Graduate Educational Development Fellows are experienced graduate student instructors who have extensive expertise in their area of focus. The Educational Development Fellows support the graduate student community campus-wide to enhance their pedagogical development as teaching assistants and instructors. In addition to facilitating CAT’s TA Training workshops and developing pedagogical resources and tools for TAs on a variety of topics related to teaching and learning, the Educational Development Fellows are also available to meet with graduate students 1:1 during their office hours, support you in implementing discipline or course-specific pedagogy in your role as a TA, help troubleshoot any issues you’re having with your TA position, and/or support departmental 495 courses.

Please see below for contact information and bios of our 22-23 Educational Development Fellows and please feel free to reach out to them directly with any questions you may have!

Dyese Elliott-Newton

Dyese Elliott-Newton Headshot

Inclusive Teaching

(she/her)

Ph.D. Student in English; Graduate Certificate in Writing Pedagogy

Email: delliott-newton@teaching.ucla.edu

Office Hours: 10:30am-12pm PT on Mondays and by appointment via Zoom (Passcode: ibelong)

Ask me about:

  • How to curate a familial atmosphere in your classrooms
  • How to design your syllabi to proactively create safe learning environments
  • Specific resources that one can use to practice and model inclusive and equitable teaching
  • Ways to practice care and interrupt bias in class discussions

Favorite way to destress or practice self-care: My ways of practicing self-care vary, but generally I love to go for long walks, get my nails done, cook and host dinner parties for close friends, pray, journal, mediate, and watch crime dramas.

Peter Fisher 

STEM

(he/him)
Ph.D. Candidate in Psychology

Email: phfisher@ucla.edu

Office Hours: 4:30pm – 5:30pm PT on the First and Third Thursdays of the month via Zoom (Passcode: psych135pf)

Ask me about:

  • anything psychology
  • teaching labs, methods courses, or discussion sections
  • using multimedia approaches in the classroom
  • structuring lesson plans
  • anything related to research on social identity and group dynamics

Favorite way to destress or practice self-care: I enjoy playing basketball and going on long bike rides

Elyse (Brusher) Gueidon

Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

(she/her)
Ph.D. Candidate in French & Francophone Studies

Email: ebrusher@teaching.ucla.edu

Office Hours: 3pm – 4pm PT on Mondays and by appointment via Zoom (passcode: 124907)

Ask me about: 

  • inclusive pedagogy and active learning strategies for arts, humanities and social science classrooms
  • accessible course design (making the most of your Bruin Learn site, digital humanities)
  • language pedagogy (hybrid/flipped classrooms, online, in-person, study abroad)
  • teaching resources around campus (trainings, readings, collaborators, etc.)

Favorite way to destress or practice self-care: Drinking tea and doing blogilates!

Emma Ridder 

Writing Pedagogy (Humanities)

(she/her)
Ph.D. Candidate in English; Graduate Certificate in Writing Pedagogy

Email: eridder@teaching.ucla.edu

Office Hours: 12pm – 2pm PT on Thursdays and by appointment via Zoom (Passcode: 878766)

Ask me about:

  • leading active and accessible discussion sections, especially in humanities and writing-centered courses
  • providing actionable feedback on writing assignments
  • constructing engaging and creative writing prompts in order to meet your learning objectives
  • using metacognitive and/or reflective exercises writing to enrich student learning experiences
  • using technology – from polling tools to BruinLearn – effectively in your classrooms (I’m also part of UCLA’s LMS Transformation Team!)

Favorite way to destress or practice self-care: Outside of the classroom, I destress by gardening, hanging out with my senior dog Max, and watching movies.

Elaine Jessica Tamargo 

Graduate Professional Development

(she/her)

Ph.D. Candidate in Higher Education & Organizational Change

Email: etamargo@g.ucla.edu 

Office Hours: 2:00pm – 3:00pm PT on Tuesdays and by appointment via Zoom (Passcode: 564384)

Ask me about:

  • maximizing your teaching experience in your job search
  • updating your CV and LinkedIn profile
  • applying to different types of jobs
  • preparing for interviews, networking and conferences
  • professional development opportunities

Favorite way to destress or practice self-care: tending to the plants in my garden, playing with my puppy, and trying different ice cream shops/flavors!

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