TLC Staff

Venus is the Associate Director for the Teaching and Learning Center. She is an administrative professional with a proven track record of managing the day-to-day operations of a large instructional facility. 
 
Her expertise is in administration, business, budgets, and logistics, and she is a proponent of cultivating relationships, collaborations, and partnerships.  Venus utilizes existing resources across the UT System to enhance services and to maximize savings.

Venus is a member of the Interprofessional Association of Administrative Professionals and the Grant Professionals Association.  She is also a member of UTHSC's Employee Relations Council, which meets regularly to discuss University issues and policies.  Venus received mediator training and hopes to become a certified mediator in the future.

• MPA, University of Memphis
• BA, University of Memphis

Email: vclaxton@uthsc.edu

Susan has worked in a healthcare related field since she was 19 years old. First in the clinical environment and now on the educational side.

Susan has been with UT since 2017 working as a Sr. Laboratory Technologist setting up student labs. As a Clinical Laboratory Scientist, she worked at LeBonheur and Baptist Tipton. As a Licensed Practical Nurse, she worked at St. Francis Hospital. 

• BS in Clinical Laboratory Science from UTHSC
• Diploma in Practical Nursing from Tennessee College of Applied Technology

Email: scoope26@uthsc.edu

Phone: 901.448.1218

Ronald has spent 40 years in the GEB Instructional Labs. His title, manager, is the same as when he started but his duties have changed somewhat over the years. He views laboratory exercises as the best interactive learning in our galaxy.

• EMBA, University of Memphis
• MS in Marine Botany, University of Washington
• BS in Marine Biology, Florida Institute of Technology

Email: rdavis@uthsc.edu

Federico is an Instructional Consultant for the Teaching and Learning Center. 

Federico’s areas of expertise include course design, curriculum development, learning objectives alignment, and assessment strategies. He has experience designing and redeveloping hybrid, online, and in-person courses.

• B.S. + M.S. in Psychology from the Universidad de Granada (Spain) 
• M.A. in Spanish & Spanish-American Literature from the University of Memphis 
• Graduate Certificate in Instructional Design & Technology from the University of Memphis 

Email: fgomezur@uthsc.edu 

Email: cmason@uthsc.edu

Lela was born and raised in Memphis. Her personal and professional jorurney has been centered around contributing to the medical world of this city. She has 20+ years of experience as a Medical Lab Technician in a clinical lab setting and recently worked in clinical lab research with clinical lab trials.

• BPS, Organizational Leadership from the University of Memphis

• AAS in Medical Technology from Shelby State Community College

Veronica Reliford-Thomas serves as the Administrative Specialist for the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC).

Veronica is the first point of contact for patrons and visitors and provides general administrative support to the Director and TLC staff. In addition, she manages incoming space reservation requests. 

Veronica is a highly skilled, motivated, and enthusiastic member of the TLC staff. She became a Tennessee state employee in 2006 when she started work for a local community college. There, she served in several capacities including office coordinator for a grant office and as an executive secretary to the office of the provost, executive vice president. As an executive secretary, Veronica also worked with the vice president of financial and administrative services and the office of the president at the college. Veronica’s experiences and background in administrative services along with her people skills have enabled her to communicate easily and amicably with faculty, staff, and students.

Email: vrelifor@uthsc.edu

Phone 901.448.1218

Jessica Ross is a Senior Laboratory Technologist.  She assists with many of the operations of the General Education Building, including the staging and de-staging of the instructional labs.

• MBA from University of Memphis
• BS from Bethel University
• AAS from Jackson State Community College

Email: jross52@uthsc.edu

Devin is an Instructional Consultant for the Teaching and Learning Center.

Devin’s areas of expertise include curriculum development, course design, implementing sound teaching strategies, and assessment. He has experience teaching and designing in-person, online, and hybrid courses. Additionally, at the University of Maryland, he worked to implement professional development programs and assessment practices that improved student outcomes and instructor satisfaction.

• PhD in Communication from the University of Maryland, College Park
• MA in Communication from the University of Maryland, College Park
• BA in Communication from Truman State University

Britt, T. & Scott, D. (2022, January) Digital Badging Professional Development Opportunity: Simulation Medallion. Virtual session presented at the International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare, Los Angeles, California. 

Scott, D.S., Fulkerson Dikuua, K., & Hall, A.E. (2022, November). From scholarly teacher to SoTL researcher: An inclusive professional development model for health science faculty. Poster session presented at the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Annual Meeting, Kelowna, BC Canada. 

Frederick, K. D., Havrda, D. E., Scott, D., Gatwood, J., Hall, E. A., Desselle, S. P., & Hohmeier, K. C. (2022). Assessing Student Perceptions of Blended and Online Learning Courses in  Pharmacoeconomics, Management, and Leadership. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 9001. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.5688/ajpe9001 

Springer, S. P., Cernasev, A., Barenie, R. E., Axon, D. R., & Scott, D. (2022). “I Think Deprescribing as a Whole Is a Gap!”: A Qualitative Study of Student Pharmacist Perceptions about Deprescribing. Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland), 7(3), 60. https://doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics7030060 

Scott, D., Cernasev, A., & Kiles, T. M. (2021). Reimagining Pharmacy Education through the Lens of a Choose Your Own Adventure Activity—A Qualitative Evaluation. Pharmacy, 9(3), 151. MDPI AG. Retrieved from dx.doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy9030151

Scott, D., Cernasev, A., & Kiles, T. M. Choose Your Own Adventure Case Studies: Pharmacy Student Experiences. International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry. May 2021.

Email: dscott50@uthsc.edu

• BS in Environmental Science from San Jose State University
• EdM in teaching from Washington State University
• EdM in Higher Education Leadership from the University of Tennessee