HomeAbout CELCenter Staff More About Executive Director Peter Felten Share: Section NavigationSkip section navigationIn this sectionAbout CEL Center Staff Jessie L. Moore, Director Peter Felten, Executive Director Peter Felten is executive director of the Center for Engaged Learning, professor of history, and assistant provost for teaching and learning at Elon University. He has published seven books about undergraduate education, including Connections are Everything: A College Student’s Guide to Relationship-Rich Education (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023) co-authored by Isis Artze-Vega, Leo Lambert, and Oscar Miranda Tapia – with an open access online version free to all readers. His next book, The SoTL Guide (CEL Open Access Book Series), is co-authored by Katarina Mårtensson and Nancy Chick, and will be published in 2025. He is on the advisory board of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and is a fellow of the Gardner Institute. Contact Peter at pfelten@elon.edu. Peter’s Recent CEL Blog Posts and Podcast Episodes Relationship-Rich Education at Scale, aka the Too Many Bodies Problem Decades of research demonstrates that student learning and well-being in higher education are enhanced by positive relationships with peers and instructors (Felten and Lambert 2020). Yet, one common challenge with relationship-rich education is scale. How is this possible when I’m… Meaningful Learning Experiences and the Value of a College Degree A recent survey by the Center for Engaged Learning and the Elon University Poll explored the types of meaningful learning experiences college graduates had while in school and how college helped them develop skills they’re applying in their professional careers…. Faculty Practices to Support Transfer Student Success Nearly 40% of all US undergraduate students transfer between institutions at least once, and at some colleges and university more than half of all students have transferred (Shapiro et al. 2018). Many students successfully navigate transfer, earning their degrees at… Is College Worth It? Alumni Say High-Impact Experiences Make College Worthwhile What is the value of an undergraduate education? Scholars, politicians, and families have debated that question for decades. Research consistently demonstrates the economic payoff of earning a degree, but is that enough to make college “worth it” for students? In… Can we teach curiosity? by Peter Felten Curiosity might be bad for cats, but it is essential for human learning. As Eleanor Duckworth notes, “What you do about what you don’t know is, in the final analysis, what determines what you will know” (The… Mentors play critical role in quality of college experience, new poll suggests The Elon University Poll, in collaboration with the Center for Engaged Learning, conducted a representative online survey of more than 4,000 Bachelor degree holders in the United States. The purpose of this survey was to study the extent of mentor… 1 2 3 4 > Select Recent Publications Books: Peter Felten, Peter, Leo M. Lambert, Isis Artze-Vega, and Oscar Miranda Tapia. Connections Are Everything: A College Student’s Guide to Relationship-Rich Education. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023. Felten, Peter, and Leo M. Lambert. Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2020. Felten, Peter, John Gardner, Charles C. Schroeder, Leo M. Lambert, and Betsy O. Barefoot. The Undergraduate Experience: Focusing Institutions on What Matters Most. San Francisco: Jossey-Bas, 2016. Barnett, Brooke, and Peter Felten, editors. Intersectionality in Action: A Guide for Faculty and Campus Leaders for Creating Inclusive Classrooms and Institutions. Sterling, VA: Stylus, 2016. Johansson, Charity, and Peter Felten. Transforming Students. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014. Cook-Sather, Alison, Catherine Bovill, and Peter Felten. Engaging Students as Partners in Learning and Teaching: A Guide for Faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2014. Felten, Peter, Dirksen Bauman, Aaron Kheriaty, and Ed Taylor. Transformative Conversations: A Guide to Mentoring Communities in Higher Education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2013. Select Articles/Chapters: Cook-Sather, Alison, Peter Felten, ^Kayo Stewart, and ^Heidi Weston (2023). “Reviving the Construct of ‘Mattering’ in Pursuit of Equity and Justice in Higher Education: Illustrations from Mentoring and Partnership Programs.” In Academic Belonging in Higher Education: Fostering Student Connection, Competence, and Confidence, edited by Eréndira Rueda and Candice Lowe-Swift. Routledge. 198-214. Lim, Lisa-Angelique, Simon Buckingham Shum, Peter Felten, and Jennifer Uno (2023). “Belonging Analytics: A Proposal.” Learning Letters 1, art. 4, 1-12. https://learningletters.org/index.php/learn/libraryFiles/downloadPublic/14 Johnson, Amy M., Jonathan Iuzzini, Peter Felten, and Tazin Daniels (2023). “Institutional and Instructional Humility for Equity-Forward Teaching and Learning.” In Recentering Learning, edited by Maggie Debelius, Joshua Kim, and Eddie Maloney. Johns Hopkins University Press (forthcoming). Felten, Peter, Rachel Forsyth, and Kathrine Sutherland (2023). “Building Trust in the Classroom: A Conceptual Model for Teachers, Scholars, and Academic Developers in Higher Education.” Teaching & Learning Inquiry 11, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.11.20 Bovill, Catherine, Ashton Croft, Caroline Dean Glover, and Peter Felten (2023). “Is Discussing Identity More Important than Shared Identity to Student-Staff Relationship Building?” Teaching & Learning Inquiry 11, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.11.17 Felten, Peter (2022). “From Pandemic to Endemic Teaching: Being CLEAR in Our Teaching.” In International Perspectives on University Teaching and Learning, edited by Andrew Gillespie, James E. Groccia, Jennifer Mason, and Kalani Long. New Directions for Teaching and Learning. Wiley Periodicals. Bheda, Divya, Peter Felten, and Natasha Jankowski (2022). “Equitable Assessment: An Invitation.” In Reframing Assessment to Center Equity: Theories, Models, and Practices, edited by Gavin Henning, Gianina Baker, Natasha Jankowski, Anne Lundquist, and Erick Montenegro. Stylus. Ketcham, Caroline J., Anthony G. Weaver, Jessie L. Moore, and Peter Felten (2022). “Living up to the Capstone Promise: Improving Quality, Equity, and Outcomes in Culminating Experiences” In Delivering on the Promise of High Impact Practices, edited by Jerry Daday, Jillian Kinzie, Ken O’Donnell, Carleen Vande Zande, and John Zilvinskis. Stylus. Hampshire, Claire, Jessie L. Moore, and Peter Felten (2022). “Social Media and Public SoTL.” In SoTL as Public Scholarship, edited by Nancy Chick and Jennifer Friberg. Stylus. McGowan, Susannah, and Peter Felten (2021). “On the Necessity of Hope in Academic Development.” International Journal for Academic Development 26:4, 473-476. DOI: 10.1080/1360144X.2021.1903902 Anderson, Paul and Peter Felten (2021). “Improving Writing, Teaching, and Learning in Higher Education.” In Schreiblehrkonzepte an Hochschulen. Fallstudien und Reflexionen zum Schreibenlehren und –lernen, edited by Swantje Lahm, Frank Meyhöfer und Friederike Neumann. Bielefeld, 21-34. DOI: 10.3278/6004807w Felten, Peter (2020). “Critically Reflecting on Identities, Particularities and Relationships in Student Engagement.” In A Handbook for Student Engagement in Higher Education: Theory into Practice, edited by Tom Lowe and Yassein El Hakim. Routledge, 148-155. Chick, Nancy, and Peter Felten (2020). “Slow: Liberal Learning for and in a Fast-Paced World.” In Redesigning the Liberal Arts, ed. by Rebecca Pope-Ruark, Phillip Motley, and William Moner. Johns Hopkins University Press, 254-265. Felten, Peter (2020). “Critically Reflecting on Identities, Particularities and Relationships inStudent Engagement.” In A Handbook for Student Engagement in Higher Education: Theory into Practice, ed. by Tom Lowe and Yassein El Hakim. Routledge. Cook-Sather, Alison, Sophia Abbot, and Peter Felten (2019). “Legitimating Reflecting Writing in SoTL: ‘Disfunctional Illusions of Rigor’ Revisited.” Teaching & Learning Inquiry, 7:2 (14-27). Felten, Peter, Sophia Abbot, Jordan K. Kirkwood, Aaron Long, Tanya Lubicz-Nawrocka, Lucy Mercer-Mapstone, and Roselynn Verwoord (2019). “Reimagining the Place of Students in Academic Development.” International Journal for Academic Development, 24:2 (192-203). https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2019.1594235. Felten, Peter, Jessie L. Moore, and Tim Peeples (2019). “Multi-Institutional SoTL: A Case Study of Practices and Outcomes.” In Conducting and Applying the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning beyond the Individual Classroom Level, ed. by Jennifer Friberg and Kathleen McKinney. Indiana University Press, 149-161. Matthews, Kelly, Lucy Mercer-Mapstone, Sam Lucie Dvorakova, Anita Acai, Alison Cook-Sather, Peter Felten, Mick Healey, Ruth L. Healey, and Elizabeth Marquis (2019). “Enhancing Outcomes and Reducing Inhibitors to the Engagement of Students and Staff in Learning and Teaching Partnerships: Implications for Academic Development. International Journal for Academic Development, 24:3 (246-259). DOI: 10.1080/1360144X.2018.1545233. Moore, Jessie L., and Peter Felten (2019). “Understanding Writing Transfer as a Threshold Concept across the Disciplines.” In Threshold Concepts on the Edge, ed., by Julie A. Timmermans and Ray Land. Brill, 341-352. Felten, Peter, Kristina Meinking, Shannon Tennant, and Katherine Westover (2019). “Developing Learning Partnerships: Navigating Troublesome and Transformational Relationships.” In Building Teaching and Learning Communities: Creating Shared Meaning and Purpose, ed. by Craig Gibson and Sharon Mader. Association of College and Research Libraries/American Library Association. Little, Deandra, David A. Green, and Peter Felten (2019). “Identity, Intersectionality, and Educational Development.” In Educational Development and Identity: New Directions for Teaching and Learning, ed. By Lindsay Bernhagen and Emily Gravett. Jossey-Bass, 11-23. DOI: 10.1002/tl.20335. Felten, Peter, Margy MacMillan, and Joan Ruelle (2019). “SoTL Difference: The Value of Incorporating SoTL into Librarian Professional Development.” In The Grounded Instructional Librarian: Participating in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, ed. by Melissa Mallon, Lauren Hays, Cara Bradley, Rhonda Huisman, and Jackie Belanger. Association of College and Research Libraries/American Library Association. Felten, Peter (2019). “Student Engagement in the United States: From Customers to Partners?” In Student Engagement and Quality Assurance in Higher Education: International Collaborations for the Enhancement of Learning, ed. by Masahiro Tanaka. Routledge, 46-56. Matthews, Kelly, Alison Cook-Sather, Anita Acia, Sam Dvorakova, Peter Felten, Elizabeth Marquis, and Lucy Mercer-Mapstone (2018). “Theories, Constructs, and Metaphors: Conceptual Frameworks for Students as Partners in Higher Education.” Higher Education Research and Development, 38:2 (280-293). DOI: 10.1080/07294360.2018.1530199. Knight-McKenna, Peter Felten, and Alexa Darby (2018). “Student Engagement with Community.” In Student Engagement: New Directions for Teaching and Learning 154, ed. by James E. Groccia and William Buskitt. Jossey-Bass, 65-74. Felten, Peter, and Nancy Chick. “Is SoTL a Signature Pedagogy of Educational Development?” To Improve the Academy 37:1 (2018), 4-16. Special Issues Edited: Moore, Jessie L., and Peter Felten, editors. “Special Issue: Academic Development in Support of Mentored Undergraduate Research and Inquiry.” International Journal for Academic Development 23:1 (2018). Bovill, Catherine, and Peter Felten, editors. “Special Issue: Engaging Students as Partners in Learning and Teaching: Implications for Academic Development.” International Journal for Academic Development 21:1 (2016). Little, Deanda, Peter Felten, and Chad Berry, editors. Looking and Learning: Visual Literacy Across the Disciplines: New Directions for Teaching and Learning 141 (2015). Felten, Peter, editor. Teaching and Learning Together in Higher Education 9 (2013, Spring). King, Catherine and Peter Felten, editors. Journal of Faculty Development: Special Issue, Threshold Concepts in Educational Development 26:3 (2012, September). Select Presentations Keynote, GeoLearning Forum, University of Tromsø, Norway (online), October. Workshop, Learning and Relationships in (and Beyond) Our Courses, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada (online), September 2020. Keynote, University of Missouri Teaching Scholars Virtual Conference, Columbia, University of Missouri System (online), September 2020. Faculty, AAC&U Institute on Integrative Learning and Signature Work, Washington, American University (online), July 2020. Panelist, The Future of Undergraduate Education, Universities Canada (online), June 2020. Keynote with Paul Anderson, Writing Teaching Concepts at Universities, Bielefeld University, Germany (online), March 2020. Keynote with Michele DiPietro, The Heart of Educational Development, Educational Developers Caucus, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, February 2020. Workshop, Making Relationship-Rich Experiences the Heart of Undergraduate Education, Maple League/Acadia University, Canada, February 2020. Faculty, AAC&U Institute on Integrative Learning and Signature Work, Atlanta, Emory University, July 2019. Keynote, SACSCOC Institute on Quality Enhancement and Accreditation, Dallas, July 2019. Keynote, Conference of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia, University of Auckland, New Zealand, July 2019. Keynote, Latin American Conference of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, University del Norte, Colombia, June 2019. Keynote, European Conference of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: EuroSoTL, University of the Basque Country, Spain, June 2019. Keynote, Learning and Teaching Conference,University of Edinburgh, Scotland, June 2019. Invited speaker, Times Higher Education Teaching Excellence Summit, Western University, London, Ontario, June 2019. Keynote with Sophia Abbot, Opening the Curriculum: Educational Innovation in the Liberal Arts, Brown University, May 2019.