University of Virginia Teaching Resource Center

Assistant Director and Associate Professor

Deandra Little joined the Teaching Resource Center faculty in August 2003. A graduate of Samford University (B.A., English) with a Ph.D. in English from Vanderbilt University, Deandra also regularly teaches courses on American literature. Her teaching interests focus on 19th- and 20th-century US literature & culture, specifically representations of science & technology and intersections of science, gender & identity in the 19th-C and autobiographical writings by 20th-century women writers.

As an Assistant Director, Deandra administers the Professors as Writers Program and co-administers the Tomorrow’s Professor Today Program and edits the TRC newsletter, Teaching Concerns. Other responsibilities include presenting and conducting workshops, consulting individually with faculty and graduate students about teaching & learning and a variety of other tasks designed to enhance UVa’s teaching mission.

Her educational development research focuses on effective mentoring & coaching, graduate student professional development, assessing and responding to student writing, and teaching with images & visualizations across the curriculum. She has presented on these topics in a number of venues, including as co-facilitator of NEH/American History Project summer institutes, Learning to Look: Teaching with Images in the Humanities.

Recent Publications

“Foucault and the Practice of Educational Development: Power and Surveillance in Individual Consultations.” (Co-authored with P. Felten and A. Pingree) To Improve the Academy. Vol 22. October 2003
“Future Faculty Preparation Programs” (Co-authored with D. Panvini) Encyclopedia of Education. New York: MacMillan, 2002

TRC Publications

“Encouraging Scholarly Practice for Web-Savvy Students.” Teaching Concerns: a newsletter for faculty and teaching assistants, Spring 2007
“Grading with Rubrics: Developing a Fair and Efficient Assessment Tool.” Teaching Concerns, Fall 2006
Teaching a Diverse Student Body: Practical Strategies for Enhancing Our Students’ Learning. (TRC Handbook, 2nd edition), June 2004

Recent Workshops and Presentations

Teaching with Images

“Looking for Visual Literacy in Liberal Education,” (with P. Felten and C. Berry) American Association of Colleges &University’s (AAC&U) Annual Meeting, upcoming January 2009
“Teaching with Images to Promote Visual Literacy” (with C. Berry) 27th International Lilly Conference on College Teaching, November 2007
“Leadership Roles for Classroom Discussion.” For faculty at the Universitas 21 International Conference, Leadership in a Global Society (An international network of 20 leading research-intensive universities in 11 countries), University of Virginia, June 2007
“Powerful Images and Powerful Learning: Using Images to Promote Student Learning” (with P. Felten and C. Berry) Lily South Conference on College and University Teaching, 2006
Regional co-leader, National Endowment for the Humanities & American Social History Project faculty seminar (with P. Felten and C. Berry) Learning to Look: Teaching Humanities with Visual Images and New Media, 2003 & 2004

Other Topics

Promoting Learning through Classroom Discussion, Castleton State College (VT) & UVa, 2007 - present
Designing Rubrics for Teaching, Grading, and Assessment, departmental & university-wide workshops, 2006 - present
“Grading with Rubrics.” FBI Academy, 2006
Teaching Portfolio and Reflective Teaching Statements (with varying co-presenters), 2005 – present
Effective Course Design (with varying co-presenters) UVa, 2004 - present Recent Presentations on Faculty Development:
“Supporting Mid-career Women and Minority Faculty,” (with D. Bach) POD Network Conference, October 2008
“Tomorrow’s Professor Today: A Flexible Faculty Preparation Program” (with M. Palmer and N. Cvijetic) Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning Forum, University of Wisconsin, poster session, June 2008
“With Mindful Purpose: Coaching as a Strategy for Teaching Consultations.” (Pre-conference half-day workshop, with M. Palmer) POD Network Conference, October 2007
“Developing a Flexible, Scalable Graduate Student Professional Development Program” (Poster session, with M. Palmer) POD Network Conference, 2007
“Theory in Action: Coaching as a Model for Teaching Consultations” (with M. Palmer) POD Network Conference, 2006
“Supporting and Retaining a Diverse Faculty through Professional Development Programs” (with D. Bach) POD Network Conference, 2006

Curriculum Vitae