PCEA 2023 KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Dr. Kevin McDonough
Assistant Professor of English
Director of the Center for Teaching & Learning at Lackawanna College
Luncheon, May 25, 2023
Kevin McDonough is an Assistant Professor of English and the Chair of the Humanities Division at Lackawanna College, as well as Co-Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, which he founded in 2014. The Center for Teaching and Learning is the college’s in-house professional-development initiative. However, unlike comparable centers, its intention is not reforming “weak” teachers; instead, its goal is advocating instructional growth and meaningful reflection among faculty already deemed effective. The center champions evidence-based best practices and methods that suit Lackawanna College’s unique student body. It aims to guide, advance, and reinforce values that reflect the institution’s educational mission, while deepening and enriching the commitment to pedagogical excellence.
Kevin launched his career in 2006, teaching English at the nationally historical John Handley High School for three years. Convinced his pedagogical approach was more suitable to higher education, Kevin moved back to the Scranton area to join the Lackawanna College team in 2009, and he’s been with the institution full-time ever since. Over fourteen years, he’s taught a range of English and writing courses including College Writing, Introduction to Literature, The Novella, Structure of Linguistics, Professional and Technical Writing, and Seminar in Writing and Revision, while playing a crucial role in the development and implementation of the college’s four-year writing program. Added to this, for nearly a decade, Kevin has worked as an adjunct faculty member in Marywood University’s English Department where he teaches an array of English courses, such as Composition and Rhetoric, Introduction to World Literature, Editing and Style, Methods of Teaching English, and Creative Writing. When he’s not focused on achieving an unconventional and unforgettable learning experience for his students, Kevin spends most of his time generating short fiction, writing and performing music, and obsessively indulging his love of cinema.