Western Libraries hires new Director of Teaching & Learning and the Learning Commons

Western Libraries has hired Sarah McDaniel as the new Director of Teaching & Learning and the Learning Commons. McDaniel comes to Western from University of Wisconsin-Madison, where her recent work focused on transforming libraries’ educational roles through partnerships.

In her new position as the Director of Teaching & Learning and the Learning Commons, McDaniel will develop, implement, and assess an integrated teaching and learning program for Western Libraries that engages students and instructors from across the University. As a member of the Libraries’ senior leadership team, she will work collaboratively with librarians, staff, student employees, Learning Commons partners, and external stakeholders toward shared goals, and she will help advance new teaching and learning initiatives, including the online learning environment, student learning outcomes, and research-writing instruction in support of academic colleges’ curricula.

McDaniel led the University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries’ Teaching & Learning Programs for nine years. In addition to overseeing a twenty-library information literacy program, she expanded the scope of the program to incorporate faculty development and instructional design partnerships, secured campus funding for library e-learning initiatives, and co-chaired an Educational Innovation team focused on development of new service models. She also contributed to the leadership and facilitation of programs for early-career faculty, instructors involved in designing blended and online courses, and faculty visiting from partner universities outside the United States.

McDaniel also worked in UW-Madison Provost’s Office, contributing to institutional efforts around accreditation and learning assessment. As consultant for a curricular redesign project in UW-Madison’s School of Library & Information Studies, she developed a communication plan for an upcoming name change for the school. McDaniel has also been Associate Lecturer for courses on pedagogy and learning assessment in the UW-Madison School of Library & Information Studies, and she partnered with the Chancellor’s Office, faculty, and campus and community organizations to found the “Go Big Read” campus-community reading program, now in its eighth year. As a past Chair of both the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Instruction Section and the ACRL Divisional Committee on Information Literacy, McDaniel developed ACRL’s formal liaison relationship with the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI).

Previously, McDaniel was Humanities Librarian, Assessment & Instructional Design Librarian, and Interim Director of the Teaching Library at University of California–Berkeley. At Berkeley, McDaniel was appointed Assessment Consultant for the Mellon Faculty Fellowship for Undergraduate Research, where she co-facilitated a year-long curriculum for faculty fellows, assessed the impact of the program on student learning, and consulted with faculty redesigning assignments and courses. McDaniel also partnered with Berkeley’s Graduate Student Instructor Teaching & Resource Center to develop programs on research-based learning for future faculty. McDaniel’s academic credentials include a Master of Library and Information Science, a M.A. in Foreign Languages and Literatures (French) from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a B.A. in French from UW-Madison.