TEACH STUDENTS HOW TO LEARN:
METACOGNITION IS THE KEY
21st century students come to college with widely varying academic skills, approaches to learning and motivation levels. Faculty often lament that students are focused on achieving high grades but are not willing to invest much time or effort in learning. This session will focus on the importance of helping students acquire simple, but effective, learning strategies based on cognitive science principles. We will engage in interactive reflection activities that will allow attendees to experience strategies that can significantly improve student success by transforming students’ attitudes about the meaning of learning.
Dr. Saundra Yancy McGuire
Emerita Professor, Retired Assistant Vice Chancellor
Louisiana State University
9:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025
SSA Auditorium (13.330)
Live Steam Link
Dr. Saundra Yancy McGuire, a retired professor, director and assistant vice chancellor at Louisiana State University, is now an internationally recognized chemical educator, author and lecturer who has traveled the globe promoting sure-fire strategies to help students to be successful in their coursework and careers. She has delivered keynote addresses or presented workshops to audiences at over 500 institutions in 48 states, 14 countries and on six continents.
McGuire is currently professor emerita of chemistry and director emerita of the Center for Academic Success at Louisiana State University. Prior to joining LSU, she spent eleven years at Cornell University where she received the coveted Clark Distinguished Teaching Award. Her best-selling books include Teach Students How to Learn; Teach Yourself How to Learn; and The Parents’ Guide to Studying and Learning, which was released in January 2022.
McGuire’s most recent accolades include being listed in 2023 as one of the Top 100 Learning Influencers in history by Eduflow, being named a 2022 Louisiana Legend by Louisiana Public Broadcasting, being listed in the 2020 edition of Marquis Who’s Who in America and induction into the LSU College of Science Hall of Distinction. She is an elected fellow of the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Council of Learning Assistance and Developmental Education Associations. She received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring in a White House Oval Office Ceremony.
Dr. McGuire received her bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, LA, her master’s degree from Cornell University and her doctoral degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she received the Chancellor’s Citation for Extraordinary Professional Promise. She is a 2025 inductee into the University of Tennessee College of Education’s Educators Hall of Honor.