Empowering Students: TEK Faculty Fellows Highlight High-Impact Study Abroad Experiences at International Conference

Faculty Fellows from Transdisciplinary Educational approaches to advance Kentucky (TEK) recently participated in The Forum on Education Abroad’s annual conference.  The Forum on Education Abroad provides training and resources to education abroad professionals as a way of cultivating educators who champion high quality education abroad experiences. This year’s conference was held in Toronto, Canada from March 19-21, 2025.

TEK Faculty Fellows, Christy Brady, associate professor in the Department of Health and Clinical Sciences, and Elizabeth Combs, assistant professor in the Department of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, presented at the conference, focusing on assessing student growth outcomes related to education abroad. Brady and Combs connected through the TEK Faculty Fellows program, where they discovered they had a shared interest in Education Abroad. The TEK Faculty Fellows program is designed to support faculty in developing new transdisciplinary courses and teaching existing courses with a more explicit focus on essential employability skills.

“We saw an opportunity to highlight both the good work of TEK and Education Abroad in providing high-impact educational opportunities for our students,” said Brady. Faculty who are accepted to the TEK Faculty Fellows program participate in faculty learning communities, hosted by TEK and facilitated by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CELT).  Brady and Combs credit the support of TEK and CELT in helping them to develop survey questions they have used to assess the extent to which Education Abroad supports the outcomes of TEK. TEK has modeled their Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) after the 10 Essential Skills framework from The Kentucky Council for Post-Secondary Education (CPE). TEK endeavors to improve student learning around these essential employability skills, as reflected by four specific learning outcomes:

1.    Identify multiple viewpoints

2.    Reflect on process and growth

3.    Communicate ideas

4.     Collaborate in teams

These skills will prepare our graduates to successfully navigate their future careers and contribute to the advancement of Kentucky and beyond.