Anna Holcomb has been selected to participate in the Governor’s Teaching Fellows Program for the 2020-2021 academic year. This program is coordinated by the University of Georgia’s Institute of Higher Education, which aims to improve the quality of instruction at the University System of Georgia’s (USG) colleges and universities. 

Only two faculty members from each of the 26 USG institutions are accepted to the academic year symposium each year, and Holcomb was one of the faculty members who were chosen to participate from Georgia Tech. She is a lecturer in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and serves as the assistant director of the Undergraduate Professional Communication Program (UPCP). 

As part of the application process, candidates are expected to propose a project as the focus of their fellowship year that will benefit both the individual faculty member and the home institution. Holcomb’s fellowship project is a formative evaluation of the new early-intervention communications course that is now being redeveloped as the new 1000-level ECE Discovery Studio. The Governor’s Teaching Fellows Program affords the opportunity to perform a focused exploration into the content and instruction of this new course, gain student insights, and perform in-time calibration, which will be beneficial to the School of ECE and its students.

The 1000-level ECE Discovery Studio will be a required course for incoming ECE students, including all first-years and transfers. The purpose for the course is to introduce students to the world of ECE and real-world problems that are being addressed in the field. To this end, students will be introduced to the new curriculum threads and learn about possible career paths for electrical engineering and computer engineering majors. Students will begin building the professional communication skillset needed to explore early career opportunities like internships, co-ops, undergraduate research, and extracurriculars. 

Holcomb joined ECE in 2017 and previously worked in the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing. She is also highly involved in the faculty development programs offered at Georgia Tech by both the Center for Teaching and Learning and the Office of Faculty Affairs and by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). She presented at Georgia Tech’s Celebrating Teaching Day in 2018 and will co-present with ECE UPCP Director Christina Bourgeois at a session at ASEE's annual conference in 2021, which will be held in Long Beach, California.