ETE Champions Recognized for Commitment to Teaching & Professional Development

Utah State University’s Center for Empowering Teaching Excellence has named Shalyn Drake and Sarah O’Neill its ETE champions for the 2026-27 academic year.

Drake, a lecturer in aviation technology and Unmanned Aircraft System program lead at USU Eastern in Price, earned the ETE World Championship after earning the most badges through ETE’s Professional Development Pathways program.

In doing so, Drake took the title from fellow aviation technology faculty member and mentor Baron Wesemann, the first person to receive the ETE World Championship belt.

Drake said winning the belt wasn’t originally her goal. Her focus was on improving her teaching.

“I honestly did not intend initially to steal the belt,” Drake said. “I was focused on learning and that led to realizing I could steal the belt from my mentor. Then I kicked it into another gear.”

Her work through ETE has focused on peer reviews, developing her teaching philosophy, and community-engaged learning. Drake has sought feedback from faculty both inside and outside her department, as well as from students.

“I think [student peer reviews are] a little different, but it gives me a good perspective, plus gives the students a good experience,” Drake said.

Drake said these teaching practices have contributed to an 80% employment placement rate for students in the drone program.

She also encourages other faculty members to recognize that professional development does not necessarily mean adding something completely new to their workload.

“These practices are things we all already do,” Drake said. “Just jump in and document it.”

For Drake, ETE also provided support during what she described as an extremely difficult year. Her advice to other faculty is to find what motivates them and connect professional development to what matters to them as educators.

O’Neill, from the Department of World Languages and Cultures in the College of Arts and Sciences at the Logan campus, received the ETE Intercontinental Championship. O’Neill earned the most badges during the previous academic year and received her championship belt at the ETE conference on Aug. 19.

Although O’Neill had attended ETE events since joining USU six years ago, the 2025-26 academic year was her first year submitting badges through the Professional Development Pathways program.

It was also her first year directing and coordinating the Master of Second Language Teaching program as it transitioned to a fully online, asynchronous format.

“ETE was an essential part of that growth,” O’Neill said.

Before offering her first online asynchronous course, O’Neill worked with CIDI instructional designer Amy Carpenter to develop her Canvas course. She attended an ETE workshop on active learning in online courses led by Chris Babits and worked with Student Collaborator on Teaching Kinsley Sorensen, who reviewed her courses during the fall and spring semesters and helped her identify areas for improvement.

O’Neill said ETE has also become a useful resource for students in the Master of Second Language Teaching program, many of whom are preparing to become teachers themselves.

“Though the experience of earning an online degree can be isolating, ETE helped connect these students not only with professional development but with the community of educators at USU,” O’Neill said.

O’Neill also participated in a spring 2026 Learning Circle on “playful pedagogies” facilitated by Tamryn McDermott. The experience built upon her interest in using collaborative storytelling games in second-language classrooms and gave her ideas she could bring into her graduate courses.

The Learning Circle brought together instructors from several disciplines, including art, accounting, English, nursing, and world languages. O’Neill and other members later shared their approaches to playful pedagogy at the ETE Conference in August.

“One of the most incredible aspects of that Learning Circle was that we were such a diverse group of teachers,” O’Neill said.

ETE has also helped O’Neill connect with colleagues within her own department. Through ETE’s peer evaluation program, she had a class observed by the colleague in the office directly next to hers and served as a peer evaluator for a longtime Spanish faculty member.

“ETE has been a vital tool for connecting me to teachers from other disciplines, but it’s helped me strengthen ties to members of my own department, too,” O’Neill said.

ETE created the championship belts to recognize faculty and instructors who demonstrate an ongoing commitment to professional development. The belts are meant to make those accomplishments more visible while adding some fun and friendly competition to work that can often go unrecognized.

Designed to be displayed and shared, the belts give recipients a way to celebrate their accomplishments with colleagues and students while highlighting the value of continued learning and growth in teaching.

For Drake, the competition may have helped push her toward the championship, but the experience ultimately came back to professional growth.

“Find your reason,” Drake said, “and use your values to keep moving forward.”

To learn more about Empowering Teaching Excellence and its professional development opportunities, visit usu.edu/empowerteaching.