About the Editors
Kate White is the Assistant Director for Language Learning Services in the Student Success Center at Temple University. She served as the ASCN Research Director from 2018 to 2020, and as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Center for Research on Instructional Change in Postsecondary Education at Western Michigan University. Her research interests include institutional change, team-based change, evidence-based teaching and learning, environmental effects on learning, bilingualism, interactional competence, and second language teaching and learning. She earned her Ph.D. from the Ohio State University (2015) in Slavic linguistics and second language studies.
Andrea L. Beach is Associate Dean for Academic Services in the College of Education and Human Development, Professor of Higher Education Leadership, and Co-Director of the Center for Research on Instructional Change in Postsecondary Education (CRICPE) at Western Michigan University. Her research centers on organizational change in higher education, support of innovation in teaching and learning, faculty learning communities, and faculty development as a change lever. Her research has been supported by over $6M in federal and foundation funds. She is Co-PI of the Accelerating Systemic Change Network (ASCN), a national network of higher education change researchers and change agents, sits on the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine roundtable on the future of undergraduate STEM, and was an American Council on Education Fellow in 2018-19.
Noah Finkelstein is a Professor of Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder and conducts research is in physics education, specifically studying the conditions that support students’ interests and abilities in physics – developing models of context. In parallel, he conducts research on how educational transformations get taken up, spread, and sustained. He is a PI in the Physics Education Research (PER) group and a co-director of CU’s Center for STEM Learning. He co-directs the national Network of STEM Education Centers, is building the STEM DBER-Alliance, and coalitions advancing undergraduate education transformation. He is involved in education policy serving on many national boards, sits on a National Academies’ roundtable, is a Trustee of the Higher Learning Commission, is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and a Presidential Teaching Scholar for the University of Colorado system.
Charles Henderson is a Professor at Western Michigan University (WMU), with a joint appointment between the Physics Department and the WMU Mallinson Institute for Science Education. He is the Director of the Mallinson Institute and co-Founder and co-Director of the WMU Center for Research on Instructional Change in Postsecondary Education (CRICPE). His research program focuses on understanding and promoting instructional change in higher education, with an emphasis on improving undergraduate STEM instruction. Dr. Henderson’s work has been supported by over $9.5M in external grants and has resulted in many publications (see https://sites.google.com/view/chenderson). He is a Fulbright Scholar and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Dr. Henderson is the senior editor for the journal Physical Review Physics Education Research and has served on two National Academy of Sciences Committees: Undergraduate Physics Education Research and Implementation, and Developing Indicators for Undergraduate STEM Education.
Scott Simkins is associate professor and chair of the Department of Economics at North Carolina A&T State University. Previously, he served for twelve years as director of the university’s teaching and learning center. From 2016-2019, he co-led the Accelerating Systemic Change Network (ASCN) Costs and Benefits of Change in Higher Education working group and joined the ASCN Leadership Team in 2017. His research focuses on the implementation and diffusion of evidence-based pedagogical practices in economics, drawing on discipline-based education research from a variety of STEM disciplines. He has led multiple National Science Foundation-supported economic education research projects promoting and assessing the use of evidence-based teaching practices, including the development of an online Starting Point: Teaching and Learning in Economics pedagogy hub for economists, created in collaboration with the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) at Carleton College. From 2009-2019, he served as co-executive editor of College Teaching.
Linda Slakey served at the University of Massachusetts Amherst from 1973 – 2006, first in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, then as Dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and then as Dean of Commonwealth Honors College. She supported teaching and learning initiatives throughout the University, with particular attention to faculty development, engaging undergraduate students in research, and the support of research on how students learn. From 2006 through 2011 she was Director of the Division of Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation. At present she has a consulting practice focused on bringing about a shift in the culture of undergraduate teaching from one in which lecture is an accepted dominant form toward one characterized by personal and institutional expectations of more student-centered teaching practices.
Marilyne Stains is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Virginia. Her research focuses on characterizing the extent, nature, and factors involved in the gap between instructional practices in science college classrooms and discipline-based education research. She is specifically interested in 1) developing new methods to characterize instructional practices in STEM college classrooms, 2) exploring how faculty and teaching assistants think about their teaching, 3) identifying individual, departmental, and institutional factors that influence instructors’ instructional decisions, and 4) characterizing the impact of different types of pedagogical professional development programs. She has received funding from the National Science Foundation, including a CAREER award (2016). In 2019, she was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) and the American Chemical Society Women Chemists Committee Rising Star Award.
Gabriela Weaver serves as Professor of Chemistry at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Previously, her role was Vice Provost for Faculty Development and director of the Institute for Teaching Excellence and Faculty Development (TEFD). Prior to coming to UMass, Gabriela served as professor of chemistry and science education and the Jerry and Rosie Semler Director of the Discovery Learning Research Center at Purdue University. In 2019-2020 she held a Fellowship with the American Council of Education, carried out at Boston University. In 2012, she was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for distinguished contributions to transforming Science education at the undergraduate level. She has been an author on two chemistry textbooks, and the 2015 book Transforming Institutions: Undergraduate STEM Education for the 21st Century, as well as numerous scholarly articles and book chapters. She earned a B.S. degree in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in chemical physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Lorne Whitehead is the University of British Columbia’s Special Advisor on Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Research and a Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. He has held several administrative positions including Associate Dean, Dean pro tem, VP Academic & Provost and Leader of Education Innovation. He holds 143 US patents that find application in computer screens, televisions and lighting products and has launched seven spin-off companies. He received a Ph.D. in Physics from UBC and has considerable experience in technological, business and administrative innovation. From 1983 to 1993 he served as CEO of TIR Systems, a UBC spin-off company that grew to 200 employees before being acquired by a multinational corporation.
