The August SoTL Spotlight highlights a collaborative research project in progress. Russ Schwarz and Brian Hardy completed THINK! in June 2019. Interestingly, it wasn’t until January 2021 when the two were approached by CIRT that the perfect SoTL project was identified that blended their background in marketing with their interest in understanding faculty motivations to engage in SoTL research. The two are now in the midst of data analysis. The topic of their manuscript is: “Examining Faculty Motivations for Engaging in SoTL Programming”.

Russell E. Schwarz, Online Full-Time Faculty, Colangelo College of Business

Russell E. Schwarz is an Online Full-Time Faculty in the Colangelo College of Business at Grand Canyon University. He serves as Online Course Lead for MKT 325 Introduction to Marketing class.  

Russ holds an MBA - with an emphasis in Strategic Management - from Davenport University. He has over 20 years of experience in classroom instruction, curriculum development, classroom management, and course assessment. Russ been the owner of a communications and career search training company. His responsibilities included client training, sales, marketing, account management, staff training and development, and providing Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) awareness resources. 

Russ has several presentations and publications including: a feature article “Computer skills sharp, but system bogs down” which appeared in The Beacon-News, Aurora, IL. He also served as the co-producer and writer of “The Skills Search,” a training video distributed by Jist Works, Inc., Indianapolis, IN. He presented “Strategies to Increase Participation in SoTL Faculty Development Initiatives” in the Fall of 2022 at SoTL Summit Kennesaw. In addition, he presented “Engaging Faculty in CIRT Programming” in Spring of 2023. His ongoing research interests include Artificial Intelligence (AI), AI Applied for Online Education, and TBI Medical Advancements. 

Brian K. Hardy, Online Full-Time Faculty, Colangelo College of Business

 Brian K. Hardy is an Online Full-Time Faculty in the Colangelo College of Business at Grand Canyon University. Brian holds an MBA from Regis University with a focus in Marketing. Brian is a professional photographer and specializes in small weddings. Prior to higher education, he worked in the computer industry with a focus on web-based education / e-books and publishing.

Brian serves the University on the Academic Affairs Committee (AAC) and Faculty Advisory Board (FAB). In addition, he has represented the Colangelo College of Business as OFTF for the past three years at Destination GCU (DGCU).

Brian presented “Strategies to Increase Participation in SoTL Faculty Development Initiatives” in the Fall of 2022 at SoTL Summit Kennesaw. In addition, he presented “Engaging Faculty in CIRT Programming” in Spring of 2023. He is currently looking for ways to expand his research in the areas of business, globalization, logistics, and education.