This real-world engagement with her subject area is part of a larger trend in Koefod’s work—she is not only staying fresh in her field but is also continuing to hone her pedagogical skills. Our committee was impressed with Ms. Koefod’s never-ending search for professional improvement. She received her IBM Data Analyst Professional Certificate in 2024, which, in her own words, she completed “to ensure that my teaching reflects current best practices, emerging technologies, and evolving industry standards.” No doubt this is why, in the same year, she earned the High Impact Practices Certificate offered by CWU. To be blunt, Ms. Koefod is not resting on her laurels but continues to hone her craft, something our committee noted with enthusiasm and highly commends. No doubt this enthusiastic growth is at least part of why she earned the College of Business’s 2022 Excellence in Teaching award. In the classroom—whether online or in-person—Cassie Koefod’s materials point to continued excellence in teaching: her work is student-centered and scaffolded, incorporating a range of high-impact practices that guide students toward mastery and a deep, working knowledge of course topics. Her nomination letter points specifically to her scaffolding of materials, how she helps students gain mastery of difficult subjects and skills through real-world examples and providing the right balance of encouragement and challenge, all of which we saw through her submitted video lectures and class materials. Koefod’s nomination letter also speaks of her clarity as an instructor, something our committee saw in her materials as well as student comments. For instance, one student wrote the following: SO many teachers try to be extra with all these minor assignments and confusing Canvas page layouts. In the end, it creates more work for the student and the professor. She lays her class out in a simple manner. You have your weekly homework, then the lectures during the week to prepare you for mid-terms and the finals…While her class is simply laid out, the actual content is far from easy. It’s difficult content, but she teaches it in a great way… I wish more teachers had her passion and understanding… Hopefully CWU keeps her around for a long time! Koefod’s excellent teaching is further demonstrated in her service to her department, as she teaches a range of courses—from ECON 101 to BUAN 507—and has even created three courses for her department. That doesn’t even take into account the fact that she is her department’s College in the High School Liaison. Such work shows that even though she is an excellent teacher, Koefod is dedicated to student instruction at a deeper level, doing what she can to help her students, her colleagues, her department, and this institution shine. After all, she is not only teaching and creating a wide variety of courses, but she is also teaching others to teach them and, in the process, recruiting students for her program and our university. And when it comes to the students themselves, Cassie Koefod’s current and former pupils continually point to her care for her subject area and for them, making her courses engaging, challenging, and incredibly practical. One online student, writing about the videos and slides from class, wrote in their SEOI: “These resources were incredibly effective in capturing our attention, breaking down complex concepts, and stimulating interaction. They really helped in keeping the class engaged and encouraged active participation throughout the lessons.” Another former student’s letter of support talked about how they created a preventative tracking system for helping battle blood cancers, something they can only do thanks to learning script writing and process improvement workflow they learned in their Business Analytics course.
Finally, another student letter concludes like this:
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