Matt Downen joined Centre College in 2023 as the Assistant Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning and as an Assistant Professor in Environmental Studies.
In the Center for Teaching and Learning, Downen helps implement faculty development programs to enhance teaching effectiveness and support assessment processes across various academic areas. Downen’s teaching interests include introductory geology and environmental geology.
Their research is at the intersection of fear and fascination—fossil spiders. While he still likes spiders and rocks, Downen pursues other directions including academic support, pedagogy, and making classrooms and fieldwork more inclusive. Their recent scholarship includes both fossil preservation and pedagogy topics, including particularly promising pedagogy practices to support making visible/inclusivity of the identities and groups of people.
Downen participated in the Kentucky Governor’s Scholar Program at Centre College and later was the Recycling Coordinator at Southcentral Kentucky Community & Technical College. In 2022, Matt was the Assistant Director of the Center for Undergraduate Research at the University of Kansas (KU). At KU, Matt focused on supporting faculty and staff in their roles as research mentors as well as helping instructors incorporate research into their courses and develop First-Year Seminars.