Saundra McGuire, Emerita Professor in Chemistry and Director Emerita of the Center for Academic Success at Louisiana State University (LSU), earned her PhD in chemical education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and was awarded the Chancellor’s Citation for Extraordinary Professional Promise. She now adds UT’s Accomplished Alumni Award to her long list of honors.
McGuire has received numerous awards and honors, but may be best known for her books, Teach Students How to Learn, published in 2015, and Teach Yourself How to Learn, published in 2018. These titles alone demonstrate her passion for helping students embrace what they are taught in the classroom.
McGuire has received numerous awards and honors, but may be best known for her books, Teach Students How to Learn, published in 2015, and Teach Yourself How to Learn, published in 2018. These titles alone demonstrate her passion for helping students embrace what they are taught in the classroom.
“We teach students how to perform on tests, but we’re not teaching them how to learn,” said McGuire. “It’s important that students realize they’re not struggling because they’re not capable. They’re struggling because they don’t have the strategies of successful students.”
During graduate school as a teaching assistant at Cornell University, McGuire’s passion for helping students learn took hold. McGuire knew that if her students didn’t grasp the basic concepts, they were just hearing what was said during a lecture but not learning. She started having weekly review sessions for her students to help them understand the material.
“It was so successful that many of those students became faculty members, health care professionals, or engineers,” McGuire said. “I saw students who thought there was no way they would understand chemistry totally understanding it.”
McGuire came to Knoxville in 1978 when her husband accepted a position at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She accepted a position in the chemistry department at UT and later decided to pursue her PhD.
It was in her first educational psychology class, taught by Professor Luther Kindall, where she studied rote learning versus meaningful learning and the psychological and cognitive science concepts that underpin her work today.
“Before that class, I was explaining chemistry as opposed to teaching students how to learn it,” she said. “If they only come to me so that I can explain chemistry concepts, they’re always dependent on me. If they can understand their part in the learning process, they become independent learners. It was here at UT that I learned the basic principles behind what I do today.”
At the 2022 UT Transforming the World virtual conference, McGuire served as keynote speaker. The conference focused on her expertise of deepening and enhancing student learning by challenging innovative teaching and learning techniques. At the conference, McGuire also received the Accomplished Alumni Award.
“I want to thank UT for honoring me with this award,” said McGuire. “I will do everything in my power to continue to represent the university and help all students learn.”
McGuire’s successes as a UT alum are numerous. She is an elected Fellow of the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Council of Learning Assistance and Developmental Education Associations. She also received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering in a White House Oval Office ceremony.
Her books feature on multiple best-seller lists nationwide, and the strategies she put forward have been credited with countless student and teacher success stories over the years.
You can read the full story at UT’s website for the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences.
During graduate school as a teaching assistant at Cornell University, McGuire’s passion for helping students learn took hold. McGuire knew that if her students didn’t grasp the basic concepts, they were just hearing what was said during a lecture but not learning. She started having weekly review sessions for her students to help them understand the material.
“It was so successful that many of those students became faculty members, health care professionals, or engineers,” McGuire said. “I saw students who thought there was no way they would understand chemistry totally understanding it.”
McGuire came to Knoxville in 1978 when her husband accepted a position at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She accepted a position in the chemistry department at UT and later decided to pursue her PhD.
It was in her first educational psychology class, taught by Professor Luther Kindall, where she studied rote learning versus meaningful learning and the psychological and cognitive science concepts that underpin her work today.
“Before that class, I was explaining chemistry as opposed to teaching students how to learn it,” she said. “If they only come to me so that I can explain chemistry concepts, they’re always dependent on me. If they can understand their part in the learning process, they become independent learners. It was here at UT that I learned the basic principles behind what I do today.”
At the 2022 UT Transforming the World virtual conference, McGuire served as keynote speaker. The conference focused on her expertise of deepening and enhancing student learning by challenging innovative teaching and learning techniques. At the conference, McGuire also received the Accomplished Alumni Award.
“I want to thank UT for honoring me with this award,” said McGuire. “I will do everything in my power to continue to represent the university and help all students learn.”
McGuire’s successes as a UT alum are numerous. She is an elected Fellow of the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Council of Learning Assistance and Developmental Education Associations. She also received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering in a White House Oval Office ceremony.
Her books feature on multiple best-seller lists nationwide, and the strategies she put forward have been credited with countless student and teacher success stories over the years.
You can read the full story at UT’s website for the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences.
