General Information
Biography
I currently serve as the Director for the Center for Faculty Excellence, supporting the teaching, research, service, and all things related to supporting faculty.
Teaching Interests
I hold my faculty position in the Teacher Education Department where I taught undergraduate and graduate courses.
Research Interests
My recent research focuses on urban education. I just finished co-authoring a book, William Frantz Public School (Peter Lang). I also co-authored a book, Questioning Assumptions and Challenging Perceptions (Rowman & Littlefield) outlining five steps of cognitive dissonance teachers experience related to teaching in urban settings.
Service Summary
I serve the faculty of all UNO's colleges. I was awarded the Chancellor's Medal in 2024 in recognition of past and current service to UNO and its surrounding communities.
Scholarship/Research/Creative Activity
Selected Publications
Bell, Julie, Schaffer, Connie, Gangwish, Kimberly. 2024. Teacher Decision Making in Teaching about the Holocaust Through Art, Holocaust Studies, 30, 1, 22-46.
Schaffer, Connie, Viator, Martha. 2021. Exploring difficult truths and the possibility of healing and transformation through the art of Norman Rockwell and Samuel Bak, International Journal of the Image, 12, 2, 65-78.
Schaffer, Connie, White, Meg , Viator, Martha. 2020. William Frantz Public School: A Story of Race, Resistance, Resiliency, and Recovery in New Orleans, Peter Lang.
Schaffer, Connie, White, Meg, Viator, Martha. 2020. Once a symbol of desegregation, Ruby Bridges’ school now reflects another battle engulfing public education., The Conversation.
Schaffer, Connie. 2018. William Frantz Public School: One school, one century, many stories. , Journal of Contemporary Issues in Education, 13, 2, 21-36.