Professor Wilson-Doenges selected as co-director for Wisconsin Teaching Fellows and Scholars program
The new Co-Director of the Wisconsin Teaching Fellows and Scholars Program
New co-directors of OPID’s signature program – the Wisconsin Teaching Fellows & Scholars – have been selected after a thorough systemwide search & screen process. We are thrilled to welcome our new WTFS leaders: Communication Professor Sarah Riforgiate (UW-Milwaukee) and Psychology Professor Georjeanna Wilson-Doenges (UW-Green Bay). Sarah and Georjeanna will shadow current co-directors Valerie Barske (UW-Stevens Point) and Heather Pelzel (UW-Whitewater) during the 2025-26 year, then co-lead the program beginning in May 2026.
For several years, Georjeanna directed the SoTL Workshop, a three-day workshop and year-long mentoring program for the American Psychological Association (APA) Division 2: Society for the Teaching of Psychology. Among her UWGB leadership roles was chairing the Psychology Department.
Georjeanna Wilson-Doenges (M.A. and Ph.D., University of California-Irvine) is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Dr. Wilson-Doenges’ field is Environmental Psychology, which explores how the built and natural environment impact human behavior. She enjoys applying the many benefits of nature to people’s everyday lives. Her research interests involve the benefits of spending time in nature (including virtual reality nature), an individual’s interpretation of a sense of community, and how neighborhood design can foster or break down that sense of community in residential life. Her other research interests include the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, student engagement in college, experiential learning in different modalities, and best practices for teaching statistics.
She is the author of the textbook SPSS for Research Methods: A Basic Guide, 2e, published by W. W. Norton in 2021. She has taught statistics, research methods, environmental psychology, and conservation psychology for 30 years, both in-person and online. Throughout her career, Dr. Wilson-Doenges has emphasized teaching and writing about data analysis in clear and accessible ways. She is a leader in the Society for the Teaching of Psychology, specifically in the SoTL Workshop, where she served as the director and statistical consultant. Dr. Wilson-Doenges is also a passionate advocate for suicide prevention, including in the K-12 schools and at the college level. Outside of academia, she enjoys traveling (most recently to Australia and New Zealand) and spending time with family (including her dog, Beau), and you can always find her enjoying a cup of coffee at a local coffee shop.
Many may know Sarah, who served as Interim Director of UW-Milwaukee’s CETL for two years and was the local organizer for the 50th annual Improving University Teaching Conference in July-August 2024. Sarah was also a 2020-22 WTFS participant during the Covid pandemic. Currently, she is on sabbatical in Italy.
Sarah Riforgiate (M.A. and Ph.D., Arizona State University, Tempe) is a Professor of Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her teaching and research focus on the intersections of organizational and interpersonal communication, particularly regarding paid work and private life, to increase understanding and develop practical solutions to improve interactions. She teaches and researches across a range of communication topics pertaining to work-life concerns, emotions in organizations, conflict negotiation, and organizational leadership. She is also devoted to enhancing her own teaching and developing others’ teaching practices through Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) research, actively presenting at and facilitating pedagogical workshops, and serving in leadership roles such as directing the Kansas State University Peer Review of Teaching Program and acting as the interim director for the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her research appears in scholarly journals including Communication Monographs, Journal of Communication Pedagogy, Communication Teacher, Communication Education, Journal of Family Communication, Management Communication Quarterly, and others. Her family describes her as a “museum person” and she enjoys art, gardening, and sitting by a lake on warm summer days.
