Hogan to deliver winter commencement address at Carolina

Kelly Hogan, Director of Instructional Innovation for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s College of Arts and Sciences and Senior STEM Lecturer in the College’s Biology Department, will be the featured speaker at Carolina’s December Commencement. Chancellor Carol L. Foltwill preside over the ceremony, which takes place at 2 p.m. on Dec. 13 in the Dean E. Smith Center.

Hogan is developing and implementing groundbreaking, interactive teaching methods at UNC-Chapel Hill and was selected by Folt in consultation with the Commencement Speaker Selection Committee, which includes students and faculty. Her selection continues Carolina’s tradition of highlighting outstanding faculty as speakers at the December Commencement.

“Kelly Hogan is one of Carolina’s extraordinary teachers,” said Folt. “Her innovation and spirit are improving student learning and success in remarkable ways. She is also a true collaborator bringing together faculty and students from across campus to change the face of teaching and learning forever. I know her message about active learning will inspire our graduates as they move beyond the walls of our University.”

Since 2004, Hogan has been teaching 400-seat classes on campus using interactive teaching techniques and technologies. Her approach centers on the philosophy that, with the right practice, everyone is capable of learning.

By demonstrating the effectiveness of her methods in large lecture classes, Hogan’s work has received national attention in publications such as The New York Times,The Atlanticand The Washington Post.

Her 2014 study comparing student achievement in classes with “low course structure” to those with “higher course structure” found that when traditional lecture courses were structured to be more interactive – utilizing guided reading questions, preparatory homework and in-class activities to reinforce major concepts, study skills and higher-order thinking – the achievement gap disappeared. Hogan’s study found this to be especially true for first-generation and black students.

Hogan works with many of Carolina’s faculty to help them reinvent their teaching and has shared her techniques with educators from institutions across the state and nation. Her teaching has also impacted a student audience far beyond those in her UNC-Chapel Hill classes. As the co-author of several biology textbooks, she has reached hundreds of thousands of students globally.

Hogan has been recognized by her students through eight different campus, state and national awards for teaching, mentoring and advising, among them: The Pope Foundation for Higher Education Spirit of Inquiry Award (2011), the Carolina Women’s Leadership Council Mentoring Award (2014), NACADA’s 2015 Outstanding Advising Award for Faculty and The Tanner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (2015).

She completed her undergraduate degree in biology at The College of New Jersey in Ewing, New Jersey (B.S. 1996) and earned her doctorate from UNC-Chapel Hill (Ph.D. 2001).