Today@Sam Article

Loft Named To Inaugural Fellowship Program

Jan. 24, 2017
SHSU Media Contact: Julia May

Brian Loft is among the first three professors in the Texas State University System who will be participating in the Chancellor's Faculty Fellowship Program this year. —Photo by Brian Blalock

Brian Loft, associate professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Sam Houston State University, has been selected to serve with the Texas State University System Chancellor’s Faculty Fellowship Program in its inaugural year.

The program, established by TSUS Chancellor Brian McCall, is designed to find innovative strategies to improve student success across the system. Loft is one of three chosen from nominations by each of the eight-member component institutions in the system.

Each year, the Faculty Fellowship Program will engage a select number of faculty members from TSUS member institutions to assume leadership roles with the system and promote improvement in a current or emerging academic or student success area.

Loft was nominated by SHSU and selected by the TSUS system. He will focus on improving math pathways and promoting effective teaching methods.

“I have always been a strong advocate of active-learning by students so that they are better able achieve their objectives in math classes,” he said. “As educators, we are facing challenges in preparing today’s students for later success in math.

“As a Faculty Fellow, I plan to exchange ideas with math and statistics faculty from other universities in the system, as well as contribute information on how we have been successful with our program at Sam Houston State,” he said.

The other two faculty who were selected are Jiangjiang Liu, professor in the Department of Computer Science at Lamar University, and Ni Song, associate professor in the Division of Health Sciences and Workforce Technology at Lamar State College—Orange.

Liu will focus on identifying and helping students overcome barriers to success, particularly in the first year of college, and Song will work on enhancing student support programs.

Chancellor’s Fellows will seek out national best practices and work with TSUS leadership to gain input and perspective in their areas of study and to scale out promising strategies across TSUS’s member institutions.

“The Texas State University System’s talent pool runs deep and wide,” McCall said. “The Chancellor’s Faculty Fellowship Program will work to identify leaders within the faculty, give them additional tools to pursue ideas that will improve our system, and provide a new opportunity for them to develop professionally.”

Chancellor’s Fellows receive instructional support, modest stipends and reimbursements for travel expenses to support their work.

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