About Us

Dr. Chelsea Chandler, Ph.D. serves as the Director of the Center for Faculty Excellence (CFE). Chelsea is an experienced educator who is passionate about justice, equity, and inclusion at the intersections of teaching, learning, and curriculum design. Chelsea has taught in a variety of settings including K-12, higher education, and informal education programs. 

Prior to joining the CFE, Chelsea held multiple positions in higher education. Her higher education teaching experience began with her appointment as an Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at Concordia University Chicago. She co-led the Curriculum and Instruction program and taught graduate teacher education courses on topics such as curriculum theory and design, culturally sustaining and responsive pedagogy, foundations of education, and teacher action research. Her experiences designing courses for different modalities at Concordia University led her to pursue career opportunities in the field of Learning Experience Design (LXD).

As a Learning Experience Designer, Chelsea focused on assisting University of Michigan faculty in the design of open, online courses and led her team in faculty development focused on inclusive course design and pedagogy. During her time at U-M, Chelsea also team taught a year-long Learning Experience Design lab course and mentored students during their residency with the Center for Academic Innovation.

Chelsea’s research interests include inclusive pedagogy and course design, curriculum development, and teaching and learning in online, hybrid, and face-to-face environments. She regularly presents her research at national conferences, publishes in academic journals, and is a member of the National Center for Institutional Diversity's Diversity Scholars Network at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Chandler holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Toledo, as well as a Master of Education in Teaching and Learning from BGSU. 

Holly Barber is an Instructional Designer with over 18 years of experience in higher education, with a video production background. At BGSU, Holly focuses on helping faculty design their courses in alignment with their learning outcomes as well as offering a variety of professional development workshops. Prior to working in higher education, she was a video editor for a Cleveland Indians weekly TV show called “Indian’s 411” and has worked for NBC 24 and WOUB. She has produced educational videos and specialized in educational technology at Owens Community College. While at OCC, an Instructional Designer, she became Apple Certified and created educational resources for their iTunes University program. Her passion is in emerging technology within higher education as well incorporating videos for Active Learning and the Flipped Classroom model.