Trey Conatser, PhD
Assistant Provost for Teaching & Learning | Director
Dr. Trey Conatser is assistant provost for teaching and learning and director of CELT. In this role he represents UK’s educational mission within and beyond the University, and he oversees CELT operations in pursuit of innovative, effective, and engaging teaching and learning at UK. In his leadership roles Trey has led on a range of critical issues for higher education with current initiatives addressing artificial intelligence, transdisciplinary education, durable career skills, scholarship of teaching and learning, and learners' changing needs. Over the past few years, he has overseen a significant growth of CELT's reach and impact as well as a diversification of strategy for supporting instructors and students. Now serving UK's education mission for fifteen years, CELT actively collaborates with all 19 colleges and a wide range of academic and administrative support units.
Trey holds a PhD in English from The Ohio State University with a specialization in rhetoric and writing, digital humanities, and teaching and learning. At Ohio State he began working in educational development as part of the storied Digital Media and Composition (DMAC) Institute. Broadly, his research has examined technology-enhanced learning, methods of teaching writing and communication skills, and the role of humanities education. Trey's work can be found in venues such as the Palgrave Handbook of Digital and Public Humanities, College Teaching, the Journal of Digital Humanities, and Computers and Composition Online, with work forthcoming in edited collections on the the unessay and generative AI, student motivation during the pandemic, the past and future of computer labs in writing instruction, and asynchronous training programs for faculty development. Trey has presented and given keynotes and workshops at regional and national venues on a range of issues in educational development, teaching and learning, and the future of higher education.
At the University of Kentucky, Trey teaches courses for the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies, where he is a formal affiliate; the Lewis Honors College; and the Graduate Certificate for College Teaching and Learning. He is a 2025-2026 Gaines Center for the Humanities Teaching Fellow.
- PhD English, The Ohio State University
- CELTic since 2016