Episode 37: Jessamyn Neuhaus & Kate Marzen

"Nobody’s brain wants to work overtime on something that seems pointless.”

“Transparency full stop… you really you you cannot be too clear and transparent.”

In this 37th episode of The Opposite of Cheating Podcast, David speaks with Syracuse University's Jessamyn Neuhaus (Director of the Center for Teaching & Learning Excellence) and Kate Marzen (Director of Academic Integrity) about using joy, trust, and proactive communication to reshape how academic integrity is approached.

Jessamyn shares her journey from content-focused historian to pedagogy-centered faculty leader, reframing academic integrity as a teachable skill embedded within good teaching. Kate, drawing on her background in K–12 and student conduct, emphasizes developmental approaches to misconduct and shares Syracuse’s standout initiative: a low-tech academic integrity escape room designed for first-year students.

The episode dives into the power of transparency, the importance of giving students voice and agency, and how faculty can create learning environments that reduce misconduct by design—not policing. Listeners will come away with actionable strategies for humanizing integrity conversations, making teaching joyful again, and building campus cultures where students are seen as partners—not problems.

You can follow Jessamyn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessamyn-neuhaus-975b00168/ and Kate at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-bussell/.

You can learn more about Syracuse University's Center for Teaching & Learning Excellence (CTLE) at https://teachingexcellence.syr.edu/

(Disclaimer: episode quotes and summary were created using Youtube's Transcript and ChatGPT and edited by a human. Any errors are the responsibility of the human).reated using Youtube's Transcript and ChatGPT and edited by a human. Any errors are the responsibility of the human).