The Gus A. Stavros Center for the Advancement of Free Enterprise and Economic Education hosted its annual teaching workshop at the University Center on Florida State University’s main campus on Friday, February 3.
The event – directed toward engaging high school and college teachers outside of FSU – drew high school teachers from nearby counties and college teachers from around the country.
“After a two-year hiatus, it was great to renew relationships with our teachers from around the state and country,” said Director of the Stavros Center Joe Calhoun, Ph.D. “Over 50 participants attended the annual event, the 16th in the series. Our engaging speakers nearly overwhelmed the participants with new teaching ideas and content to bring into their classrooms. It was a tremendous day of professional development.”
The workshop began with a welcome by Dr. Calhoun and was followed by six talks with seven different speakers. The talks ranged from topics including educating about teaching resources from the Federal Reserve Banks and Florida Council for Economic Education to “Using music, movies, TV, and activities to improve your teaching” and “Making personal finance more engaging.”
Session leaders included various accredited current and former teachers or lecturers:
Amanda Geiger, Economic Education Specialist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, was a Florida public high school teacher for over 12 years and was recognized as a Teacher of the Year. She was awarded the Regional Economic Educator and Leadership Award by the Florida Council on Economic Education.
Matthew Rousu, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Economics and Dean of the Sigmund Weis School of Business at Susquehanna University, led two sessions at the workshop about using media to improve teaching. He has published more than 50 scholarly articles and his research has been cited over 1,700 times.
Brian O’Roark, Ph.D., Professor of Economics and Legal Studies and co-director of the Leonard Kokkila Center for Economic Education at Robert Morris University, previously held a faculty position at James Madison University where he was named an outstanding faculty member by the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and was a recent recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Innovation Award. He collaborated with Rousu on his two-part presentation “Using music, movies, TV, and activities to improve your teaching.”
Mark Dunaway enjoyed a 20-year career as a business consultant with Accenture, retiring as a Partner. While retired, he has spent time leading Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace programs and lecturing high school and college students about personal finance. Dunaway spoke on how to make personal finance more engaging and accessible for students.
The event was co-sponsored by the Gus A. Stavros Center at FSU and the University of South Florida.
