Written by Leslie Cook, Head of Professional Learning
Over the last decade, Teton Science Schools has grown and strengthened our relationship with Ohio University. The connections started with students from Ohio University traveling to spend a week at the Kelly Campus. Then the relationship developed to provide faculty professional learning in Athens, OH, led by the TSS Professional Learning Team and extended to student programs in the Tetons led by Ohio University faculty. It has been really exciting to see how faculty and staff from Ohio University – like Dr. Michelle O’Malley, Dr. Jerry Miller, and many others – have been working to integrate place and place-based practices into their teaching and college coursework, and how they have taken on leadership roles to share place-based practices with more faculty and students from across the University.
Over the summer of 2025, the relationship expanded to include a new program. Michelle O’Malley collaborated with the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment at Ohio University to offer a 10-day program for faculty and a place-based teaching certification to its participants. In collaboration with the Professional Learning team, the faculty spent 10 days at the Murie Ranch. During the program, participants experienced place-based education while hiking in Grand Teton National Park and connecting with community partners, such as the Teton Raptor Center. They also discussed their teaching practices, learned new tools and strategies for place-based education, and made plans to integrate place-based practices into their teaching and courses.
On October 24, 2025, the team reconvened at the Engage OHIO: Community and Place-Based Engagement Symposium. They facilitated a workshop session called “GIFTS from the Tetons – Great Ideas for Teaching.” In the presentation, they shared updates on how their plans from the summer are being brought to action. A few of the themes of the impact and integration that they shared included:
- Classroom as Place: Esther Hernandez, a Spanish language Professor, spoke about revising several of her current course to include more place-based practices – including students making observations and collecting data about cultural practices.
- Study Place “Away”: Judd Walker from the College of Business shared that in their summer study abroad and Global Consulting Courses the faculty will use the place triangle as a means of getting connected to the place and have more intentional inquiry and community impact as they get to know the place.
- Community Partnerships: Faculty Joe Crowley, Brittany Peterson, and Adonis Durado all shared about how they deepen connections to community partners in and around Athens to strengthen the courses that they teach – and make learning more relevant to students.
Yogesh Sinha, a Professor of English, shared that “the Tetons taught us to listen – and in that listening our writing found a new ecology.”
The place-based plans that these faculty are bringing to fruition are exciting, and we look forward to continuing all of these collaborative programs with Ohio University into the future. You can read more about the programs from this blog from Ohio University –
