CHS Professor Appointed as UTEP EDGE Fellow
Published October 31, 2023
By Darlene Muguiro
UTEP College of Health Sciences
Dr. Amelia Rau, clinical assistant professor of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, was recently named as one of 13 UTEP EDGE fellows for the 2023-2024 academic year. The fellowship recognizes faculty and staff across UTEP who are committed to student success and to implementation of the UTEP EDGE asset-based framework within their respective academic units. EDGE Fellows receive specialized training and leadership development, with a focus on expanding opportunities such as internships, study abroad, community service, creative experiences, student employment and research. Under her direction, the College of Health Sciences will assess the current state of EDGE high-impact experiences and advantages across each department and program.
Rau’s commitment to student success has been evidenced throughout her time at UTEP. In 2022, she was part of a UTEP-TTUHSCEP partnership to train faculty in Theatre for Healthcare Equity. This unique program uses Theatre of the Oppressed methodology to address healthcare disparities, specifically in the areas of bias, prejudice and stereotyping. Following the training, Rau began implementing many of the strategies in her classrooms, encouraging her students to use play to analyze and address social issues – strategies that students may then bring with them into their professional practice as speech-language pathologists to deliver more compassionate care. Currently, Rau and UTEP Dance Program Director Dr. Melissa Melpignano, another EDGE faculty fellow, are working to expand the Theatre for Healthcare Equity workshops across the region.
Most recently, Rau co-developed a two-week, faculty-led study away course this past summer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, focused on research experience and mentorship for UTEP students. The course was designed to immerse students in research topics and methods distinct from those available at UTEP, and to expose them to opportunities for possible scholastic careers in speech, language and hearing sciences. Additionally, Rau spent part of her summer with UTEP students at a Maymester study abroad in Seville, Spain. In addition to completing coursework, students visited local schools, residential living centers, and hospitals, and met with policy makers for disability rights, while simultaneously enhancing their Spanish language skills and interprofessional collaboration.
Rau says she is honored to have been selected for the fellowship and looks forward to learning more about her role as she begins training this month with her EGDE peers. She says that the initial communication she’s received from EDGE leadership has referred to “discovery,” with references to evaluating how EDGE has been adopted within the respective academic units, as well as identifying ways to recognize faculty for their efforts through documentation and information sharing across existing platforms such as the UTEP Catalogs, Blackboard and Faculty Success.
“We’ve already proved as a campus that EDGE is meeting needs for quality improvement across accrediting standards for asset-based student learning outcomes, and right now, we’re in a new cycle where our job is understanding how to capture EDGE achievements holistically for everyone involved,” she said. “We want to find out if the EDGE has been branded and promoted wisely and how to make data-capture and data-driven decisions regarding EDGE that are user friendly at all levels. And if people are doing things that work really well, we want to promote and share their work contagiously as a potential template for others.”
Rau says that her immediate plans include scheduling listening sessions with departments and faculty. She also plans to ask faculty to reflect on what worked well within their own academic journeys.
“I immediately said ‘yes’ to this opportunity because I had many powerful experiences from my first-year of college on. I was treated to invitations for mentorship and to the arts, to learning communities and small cohorts, that most certainly were important and early precursors to today’s success. In fact, most faculty can easily recall and still treasure milestone moments akin to what we at UTEP call EDGE experiences. Now that I’m working in academia, I love finding ways to pay it forward to my students and our campus culture,” she said. “I hope my work as an EDGE fellow helps inspire and celebrate my colleagues who also pour themselves into multi-dimensional aspects of student success.”
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