Lancaster, PA — The POGIL Project has named three veteran POGIL practitioners recipients of the POGIL Impact Award. This year, the team of Andy Bressette (Berry College) and Suzanne Ruder (Virginia Commonwealth University), and Mare Sullivan (Seattle Pacific University) earned the honor.

The award is bestowed on individuals or teams of individuals who have achieved extraordinary outcomes related to The POGIL Project’s strategic plan.  The award celebrates sustained impact and/or innovation achieved by a member or members of the POGIL community, and highlights a strong footprint in both The Project and the POGIL community. 

Bressette earned a B.A. in chemistry from Assumption College and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Virginia. He joined the faculty at Berry College in Mount Berry GA in 1998 and began implementing POGIL in his chemistry classes in 2000. Within The Project, Bressette has facilitated more than 25 workshops nationally on POGIL and implementing active learning pedagogies.  Additionally, he has served on the POGIL Steering Committee, co-developed (along with Ruder) the Facilitator Training Workshop which has resulted in more than 200 trained POGIL facilitators, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the POGIL Project.  At Berry, Bressette has served as chemistry department chair, chair of the college’s Faculty Assembly, as associate provost, interim provost, and currently serves as the vice president for enrollment management.  In his spare time, he loves to cook and perform on the stage at Rome Little Theatre.

“POGIL transformed my classroom and challenged me to be a better teacher,” said Bressette.  “Being a part of The POGIL Project has allowed me to connect with so many like-minded educators that I now call friends.  I’m proud that the work Suzanne and I accomplished with the Facilitator Training Workshop that has fostered the development of the next generation of POGIL leadership.” 

Dr. Ruder is a professor and associate chair of chemistry at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. She has been using POGIL for about 18 years in organic chemistry in classes ranging from 150-250 students. She has been active in The POGIL Project, serving on the POGIL Steering Committee twice, developing and facilitating the facilitator training workshop with Bressette, and facilitating many other POGIL workshops.   Ruder is also the author of a POGIL book of activities for organic chemistry. She has received NSF funding for her research on exploring how to elicit and assess process skills in the classroom, known as the ELIPSS project. 

“The POGIL community has always been welcoming and offered encouragement to me as I started off many years ago, trying to adapt the pedagogy to a large classroom setting,” said Ruder. “I am proud to have given back to this community and am greatly honored to be recognized for my efforts with the POGIL Impact Award”

Sullivan first encountered POGIL in 2005 at a 3-day workshop in McMinnville, OR. She quickly immersed herself in The POGIL Project, joining the Northwest Regional team, participating in the first activity writing workshop in 2006 and presenting at a POGIL symposium at the 2007 American Chemical Society National Meeting in San Francisco. Sullivan has facilitated more than 100 teacher workshops regionally, nationally, and in Canada, Puerto Rico, and Shanghai. She was a contributing author for the High School POGIL Initiative in 2009 – 2011 and has authored three collections of middle school science activities and a collection of Conceptual Physics activities. Stretching beyond her STEM training, Ms. Sullivan has co-authored a collection of POGIL secondary level art activities and is co-authoring a collection of college level microeconomics activities. She has served on The POGIL Project Steering Committee and on many other POGIL committees and projects. Her favorite role in the POGIL community is mentoring and encouraging other practitioners, networking, and building long-term friendships with like-minded peers. 

“There are so many dedicated, creative, talented members of the POGIL community that deserve this award,” said Sullivan. “I am honored to have been nominated and chosen by these peers. I look forward to serving The Project with them for many years to come.

“This year’s recipients epitomize what the POGIL Impact Award represents,” said Marcy Dubroff, associate director of The POGIL Project. “Each of these practitioners has had a remarkable and sustained impact on The Project’s forward trajectory, and we are grateful for their ongoing contributions to our work and our community.”

Sullivan, Bressette, and Ruder will receive their awards at The POGIL Project’s national meeting in St. Louis in June 2023.