Amy Maupin

Associate Professor of Education; Program Director

Students who study education at Transylvania do not merely study techniques and methods. Rather, as associate professor Amy Maupin puts it, the study of education at Transylvania is a “truly unique experience” in which students develop a “deep theoretical understanding of education and its many issues.”

Those students will also be able to articulate a philosophy of teaching and learning that is “grounded in many of the other disciplines that intersect with ours,” she says — disciplines such as sociology, philosophy, history, anthropology, English and the arts. All of these, Maupin adds, have an important place in the study of education.

Maupin has adopted a teaching philosophy centered on the notion that she must create a “special space that is safe and brimming with curious energy” and anchored in the belief that teaching is an “act of love.”

“To teach from a perspective of love is to teach from the heart, that central location from which those things that matter the most typically comes,” she says, adding that she believes a pedagogy based in love enables her students to learn more about who they are as individuals. 

“I aim to help students understand themselves as much as I want them to understand texts, ideas, theories and experiences in my courses,” Maupin adds. “I want them to make meaningful connections between what they study and learn in class and what they dream of and aspire to in life outside of and beyond Transy.”

To that end, Maupin embraces an ethic of care, rooted in the philosophy of educator Nel Noddings. Through empathy, compassion and caring relationships, Maupin engages with her students in a cycle of learning — helping her students learn and construct meaning while also learning how to be a better teacher and person herself through interactions with her students.

Academic History

  • Ed.D., University of Tennessee, 2000
  • M.A., Eastern Kentucky University, 1996
  • B.A., Eastern Kentucky University, 1991

Courses Taught at Transy

  • Foundations of EducationLearning Theory and Pedagogy
  • Women in Education
  • Content Area Literacy
  • Young Adult Literature
  • Young Adolescents
  • Creating Middle Level Learning Environments
  • Enculturation in Non-Western Societies
  • Senior Seminar
  • First-Year Seminar

Areas of Specialization

  • Young adult literature
  • Secondary English/language arts
  • Middle grade education 
  • Gender issues in education 
  • Contemplative education

Recent Publications

“From the Scroll to the Screen: Why Letters, Then and Now, Matter.” English Journal, Vol. 105, No. 4, March 2016.

Professional Memberships

  • National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
  • Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the NCTE
  • Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education
  • Association for Middle Level Education
  • American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
  • Association of Independent Liberal Arts Colleges for Teacher Education

Awards

  • Bingham Award for Excellence in Teaching
  • 2016 English Journal Edwin M. Hopkins Award, Honorable Mention