"Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously." G. K. Chesterton
Adam Sheppard is a second-year doctoral student in the Educational Policy and Social Context specialization in the DOE. He completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Physiological Science at UCLA where he also had a three-year sports medicine internship in the athletic department. After graduating from UCLA, he worked for the YMCA of Orange County developing programs to train elementary school teachers how to teach physical education. In addition, he also supervised various after-school physical activity programs throughout Orange County. While working at the YMCA, Adam also completed a Master of Science degree in Kinesiology (emphasis in youth physical activity programming) at California State University, Fullerton.
At UC Irvine, Adam is a Pedagogical Fellow, responsible for facilitating the development of new teaching assistants within the Department of Education (DOE) and the Paul Merage School of Business. Through various workshops and mentoring sessions, Adam will support new TAs as they prepare for the roles they will play in the education of undergraduate students.
In response to a University of California mandate to prepare graduate student instructors, Dr. De Gallow created the Teaching Assistant Professional Development Program (TAPDP) in 1989 and since then, thousands of TAs have participated in the annual event. To facilitate the training and to ensure incoming TAs receive discipline-specific information, the Teaching Learning and Technology Center (TLTC) and the Division of Graduate Studies provide fellows to serve as teaching mentors for incoming TAs.
Supporting his work as a Pedagogical Fellow, Adam also serves as a Teaching Assistant, working with a variety of classes in the DOE. He thoroughly enjoys engaging with undergraduate students and helping them develop a passion for learning.
In addition to his teaching duties, Adam pursues his research interest in youth involvement in out-of-school activities (especially those involving physical activity) as a member of Dr. Joseph L. Mahoney's After-school and Community Education lab. Adam's work concentrates on the positive development of youth in various out-of-school contexts, as well as the professional development of the out-of-school workforce.
