Biography

Sophia Abbot is a faculty development specialist focused on supporting SoTL across URI. She has studied SoTL, inclusive pedagogy, and students’ perspectives on higher education for the last decade, focusing particularly on pedagogical partnerships and co-creation among students and faculty. Sophia began her professional career in faculty development, founding a pedagogical partnership program at Trinity University before returning to graduate study. Her doctoral dissertation examined approaches to whole-class co-creation with students in feminist classrooms. She is the co-editor (with Lucy Mercer-Mapstone) of The Power of Partnerships: Students, Staff, and Faculty Revolutionizing Higher Education (2020).

In 2020, Sophia was a recipient of the POD Network’s Career Development Grant, and in 2023, her work was recognized by the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) with an invitation to the AAC&U Future Leader’s Society. She currently serves on the International Advisory Board for the International Journal for Students as Partners (IJSaP). She also an active member of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (ISSOTL) serving on the Convenings Committee and as co-chair of the Student Engagement and Co-Inquiry Interest Group.

At URI, Sophia is excited to partner with instructors at all levels to support their self-inquiry into teaching and their students’ learning.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Develop and deliver beginner through advanced SoTL workshops and other programming for instructors across the URI community.
• Provide direct consultation and support to individuals and units to promote research endeavors focused on teaching and learning, from research ideation and ethics review through to the dissemination of results.
• Foster community, connection, and collaboration among SoTL and DBER-active instructors. Facilitate opportunities for scholars to share their SoTL/DBER research with the URI community and beyond.