May 20, 2015
In Memoriam: Siobhán Ross remembered for passion for teaching and learning
Siobhán E. Ross, coordinator of the Instructional Technology Development Program, died on Nov. 26, 2014, in an accident while driving her car on icy roads in Foster, R.I.
Ms. Ross came to PC in 2007. Her job was to help faculty learn how to incorporate technology in their classrooms, a position for which she was well suited because of her relaxed and open manner, enthusiasm, and willingness to listen, colleagues said.
Dr. Laurie L. Grupp, associate professor of education, became director of PC’s Center for Teaching Excellence around the time Ms. Ross was hired. Their offices were side by side in the Feinstein Academic Center, they shared an administrative assistant, and they worked together each year to plan New Faculty Orientation. Ms. Ross was a pioneer in her approach, Grupp said. She not only taught workshops and classes for faculty but quickly became known for one-on-ones — her willingness to travel around campus to meet individually with faculty or to join them in their classrooms to see firsthand what they were trying to accomplish.
“She was passionate about teaching and learning with an enthusiasm you couldn’t even measure,” said Grupp. “She did whatever it took to get people excited about technology and how it could work for them. She understood how to talk to people, to figure out what they were trying to accomplish, and to help them choose the right technology to do it.”
Assistance that built faculty confidence
Grupp said Ms. Ross was called upon to explain “the whole gamut” of technology, from such fundamentals as the Sakai educational software platform and Google documents to Apple TVs, iPads, and the “clickers in the classroom” student response system.
“She nourished our confidence — sometimes seeming to have more confidence in us than we had in ourselves,” said Dr. Marian Mattison, associate professor of social work. “Her genuine encouragement and support had many of us venturing into new pedagogic techniques before we could even doubt our abilities to take these next steps.
“She enthusiastically assisted those with the highest level of technology savvy and was equally eager to provide help to those who needed guidance with beginning steps,” Mattison said. “No one who was at the receiving end of her guidance ever felt belittled for asking the most basic of questions.”
Ms. Ross made technology education available on a personal level, translating the most complicated concepts into videos and tutorials, and reliably “was the kind of person at the other end of the phone who could solve a problem,” said James S. Janecek, associate professor of art.
Ms. Ross worked with Janecek on a project, funded by a Davis Educational Foundation grant, to adapt the Nintendo DS hand-held game console into a mobile digital sketchbook for students. They later presented the students’ digital images at an Educause conference in Providence.
“Working with Siobhán to make the Nintendo course a reality was an example of Providence College working at its very best,” said Janecek.
Loving technology, but focusing on people
But Ms. Ross often said that while she was a user of technology, she was not a slave to it. She would tell people, “If it doesn’t work for you, don’t use it,” said Grupp.
“Many of us feel she was brilliant — and she never made anyone feel like they weren’t,” said Grupp. “She would be able to say, ‘You’re pushing the wrong button, that’s why it’s not working,’ and she never got flustered by that.”
Adam J. Hauerwas, academic support and integration specialist for the Department of Information Technology, said Ms. Ross was warm, funny, and loyal.
She was a petite woman who drove motorcycles and loved adventure cycling. Her accent — she would speak about a cup of “cawfee” — did not even hint at her love of English soccer and rugby, he said. And she insisted on riding her scooter, a Buddy International Saint Tropez 150, to work, whatever the weather.
“She would always look for new things to try out to help the faculty be better teachers, to help the staff use the tools we have, and to foster student creativity,” said Hauerwas. “But she always kept the focus on the people who were using that technology — supporting them, and making them feel capable and better about themselves whenever they had a problem with something. That was magic.”
Helped with Ruane Center technology
Ms. Ross had the opportunity to help select the classroom technology featured in the new Ruane Center for the Humanities, which opened in 2013. During its construction, she was so enthusiastic she would tour the building in a hard hat whenever she was given the opportunity, Grupp said.
“She was a bridge in a great way. She worked incredibly well with everyone,” said her supervisor, Charles J. Haberle, assistant vice president for academic affairs, academic facilities, and technology planning. “She wasn’t afraid to fail. She was a risk-taker. She would get the faculty to work with her on experimental technology, and they appreciated that she was right there with them.”
Ms. Ross was a Motorcycle Safety Foundation instructor for the R.I. Rider Education Program at the Community College of Rhode Island. Two weeks before her tragic death, she participated in the Pine Barrens 500, a 500-mile, GPS-guided off-road ride in southern New Jersey.
Ms. Ross was born in Chester, Pa. She earned a bachelor’s degree in German and linguistics from Hunter College of the City University of New York and a master’s degree in liberal studies in educational technology from Stony Brook University, part of the State University of New York system.
Before coming to PC, she was an IT consultant for NELINET, a consortium of more than 600 libraries throughout New England, and an instructional technologist at Brown University. Before moving to Rhode Island, she worked at Stony Brook as the main support for its Blackboard course management system.
Ms. Ross is survived by her parents, William L. Ross and Mary M. (Mason) Forte; a brother, Sean R. Ross; and her companion of 15 years, Erik A. Robinson. She was the sister of the late Scott F. Ross.
A memorial Mass was celebrated in St. Dominic Chapel on campus on Dec. 5.
Faculty members, friends, and family of Ms. Ross have established The Siobhán Ross Memorial Fund to honor her memory by providing financial resources to undergraduate students who are Providence residents. Donations can be made online at www.givetopc.org. (Specify the fund in “other” when asked for your allocation and, when prompted, indicate that the gift is in memory of Ms. Ross.)
— Vicki-Ann Downing
