The Paul Peck Humanities Institute

We thank the wonderful Mimi Mann for her many years of skillful and enthusiastic leadership.  Mimi is enjoying a well-earned retirement.

Professor Decker is an Associate Professor of English at the Takoma Park/Silver Spring campus, having served the MC community for over a decade.  He brings much to this new position, with wide ranging experience in professional development for faculty, building programs, professional publications and presentations, and a lauded teaching career. Professor Decker is a 2020 Outstanding Faculty Awardee,  a 2023 Scholarship of Excellence in Teaching Fellow, and  a 2019  Smithsonian Faculty Fellow. SFF fellows will benefit from his passion for utilizing the Smithsonian Learning Lab (the Smithsonian’s digital education space) as well as his experience leveraging physical and virtual Smithsonian exhibit spaces and artifacts in classroom learning.  He also brings extensive expertise in designing and digitizing content.

Throughout his career, Decker has served as a leader.  Most recently, he co-founded, launched, and fostered the Digital Storytelling Internship, which received two Innovation Grants and has supported more than 50 interns.  During this time, Professor Decker has also become an internationally respected scholar in Digital Storytelling producing content published in various professional and public-facing places.   He also served as an ENGL 101+ Course Coordinator, ENGL 102 Course Coordinator, and ELITE Faculty Associate.

Professor Decker earned a BA from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, an MA from American University, and a graduate certificate in Learning and Performance Technology from UMBC. To familiarize yourself more with Professor Decker’s impressive work, below are selected pieces related to his new position.

Please join me in warmly welcoming Professor Matthew Decker to the Smithsonian Faculty Fellowship leadership team!

• EdX Smithsonian Learning Lab Collection: Matthew Decker, From Identity Exploration to Impactful Issue Discovery: Using the Smithsonian’s Resources to Reinvigorate Writingnew window
• Cultivating Learning Smithsonian Learning Lab Collection: Cultivating Learning: Digital Storytelling to Foster Student Engagementnew window 
• Identify Artifacts with Prompt Smithsonian Learning Lab Collection: Identity Artifacts Gallerynew window
• Digital Storytelling as Career Growth Smithsonian Learning Lab Collection: Digital Storytelling as Career Growth: How Montgomery College Designed an Internship Centered on Professional Development and Opportunitiesnew window
• Discovering Pathways for Digital Storytelling in Your Instruction Smithsonian Learning Lab Collection: Discovering Pathways for Digital Storytelling in Your Instructionnew window 
• ELITE Academy for Teaching Transformation Workshop Series in DS: Academy for Teaching Transformationnew window