Program Staff
Dr. Furuness has been teaching at Butler University since 2007 and was promoted to rank of professor in 2021. During her career at Butler, she has taught in the University Core, Honors program, and College of Education. She has served as a Faculty Senator and has been on many university-level committees, including co-chairing Faculty Affairs and the UCC. She also spent four years living on campus as a Facutly-in-Residence.
She has taught and co-taught face-to-face, hybrid, and online courses for undergraduate and graduate students related to foundational learning theory, curriculum theory, adolescent literature and content literacy, history of American Education, teaching methodology, curriculum design, leadership, and educational research methodology. She has advised 20 master’s theses, more than a dozen undergraduate honors theses, co-authored and co-presented articles, book chapters, and conference presentations with alumni, and designed the Teacher Led Teacher Ed professional development support course with seven Butler alumna. Dr. Furuness has also served on disseration committees for alumni pursuing doctorates.
By academic preparation, Dr. Furuness is a former middle–high school English teacher and curriculum theorist with expertise in curriculum studies and pedagogy approaches associated with different curricular approaches. A curriculum theorist is concerned with the development and implementation of curriculum and seeks to understand what is worth teaching, learning, and assessing and to whom it is of worth. As a scholar in the field of curriculum studies, Dr. Furuness seeks to both create and to question curriculum through the lenses of systems thinking and historical analysis to better understand who benefits and who doesn’t when any curriculum is enacted. While specifically trained in critical theories related to pedagogy and research, Dr. Furuness’s scholarship in teaching and learning has focused primarily on moving beyond critique and deconstructing toward the creation of curricula generated through shared vision building and mission alignment.
In her roles as Director of Academic Operational Excellence and Director of the Center for Faculty Excellence, Shelly seeks to be of service to her faculty and staff colleagues as a thought partner and internal curriculum consultant for individuals, programs, departments, and colleges working on systemic projects and resource alignment related to curriculum planning and development, high impact instructional practices, and meaningful assessing cycles with an eye toward immediate and enduring impact on all current and future students.
Professor Williams is a professional educator whose career started teaching middle school language arts in Ft. Worth, TX. She went on to teach high school English in Oklahoma City, OK before finding her first higher education position as an adjunct instructor at Mountain View College, Dallas, TX. There she worked to help developmental writing students find their voice in academic writing. She has since taught freshman composition, technical writing, and writing within the sciences at the college-level. In addition to a BA in English and African American Studies, as well as a secondary education certification, she holds an MA in Secondary Administration, a graduate certificate in Composition, and an MA in English.
