Mark Morvant, an expert in the implementation of teaching strategies that successfully engage students, has been selected to serve as executive director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Oklahoma. The Center for Teaching Excellence is designed to better assist faculty with implementing technology-driven course enhancements and advanced features of the electronic course management system. Morvant’s strategies will free up OU faculty time to work in one-to-one interactions with students.

His appointment to the position is effective Oct. 1, pending approval by the OU Board of Regents at its September meeting.

“Dr. Mark Morvant is truly a master teacher, and his appointment will be of great help in making sure that we take advantage of available technologies to enhance the learning experience,” said OU President David L. Boren.  “I am grateful to him for serving.”

“Dr. Morvant has had a transformative role in OU’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in how organic chemistry is taught,” said Nancy Mergler, senior vice president and provost, Norman campus. “He was an early adopter of new teaching strategies both at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and here at OU, and has improved the pass rates in one of the toughest course sequences offered at OU. His service on the President’s Graduation and Retention Taskforce, on the Norman Campus Faculty Senate, with the Teaching Scholars Initiative, and on the Provost’s Advisory Committee for Classrooms makes him a well-known and respected Norman campus faculty leader.”

Morvant will be charged with increasing the numbers of OU faculty who use new and emerging technologies to help drive student success. He will work in collaboration with Michelle Eodice, associate provost for Academic Engagement, to embed writing strategies within disciplines across the campus and increase the use of other high-impact instructional techniques.

Morvant joined the OU faculty in 2006 as an associate professor of chemistry; in 2011, he was named assistant chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences. In addition to teaching classes and leading labs in organic chemistry, he has taught the First-Year Mentoring Program and developed and leads the conjoined study abroad courses Chemistry in Italy – Organic Chemistry I and Chemistry and Culture of Wine in Italy.

While at OU, he has been recognized with the College of Arts and Sciences’ Longmire Prize for Outstanding Teaching and with the Regents’ Award for Superior Teaching.

Morvant earned his bachelor of science degree in chemistry magna cum laude from Tarleton State University and his doctoral degree in organic chemistry from OU.