Assignment 1 – Attendee Introductions
Jacob Adler
Brescia University, Owensboro, KY
1) Describe your teaching responsibilities and the type of student you teach.
I teach and advise undergraduate students, both biology and non-science majors in the following
courses: Genetics with lab, Biochemistry with lab, Cell and Molecular Biology with lab, Cancer Biology
with lab, Introductory Biology, Introductory Nutrition, and Senior Seminar.
Typically my class sizes range from 40 students to as few as 5 students. They are frequently firstgeneration college students with little direction when it comes to their long-term goals. A large percentage
of my students are student athletes, which make scheduling difficult. Overall, students are congenial,
enjoyable, and very supportive of new teaching methods (including different types of active learning). I am
excited to share my experiences working in a very, very, very small liberal arts university teaching biology
majors.
2) Describe what you would like to take home as a result of attending the Assessment Institute.
The first goal of this institute is to improve my current assessment strategies especially in
Genetics and Cell and Molecular Biology including their labs.
The secondary goal of this institute is to provide myself with the tools to help improve our Division
goals and assessment strategies. I am not only trying to improve my abilities in the classroom (first goal),
but also help my fellow faculty.
3) Tell us about your interests outside of the classroom and a book that you have read recently.
I love the arts, especially visual and performing. I frequently attend many musicals throughout the
year. Also, I lead an artist retreat in the fall in Indiana. I also am active in my community including: church
projects, on a local committee for an ACS Breast Cancer Walk, and watching sports (primarily basketball).
Recent Book - Loving Our Kids on Purpose: Making a Heart-to-Heart Connection – My wife and I
just had our first child about a month ago.
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Christine Andrews
Lane Community College, Eugene, OR
1) Describe your teaching responsibilities and the type of student you teach.
I teach cell biology for pre-health professionals. This is a 100-level pre-requisite for A&P. I also
teach two 100-level genetics classes for gen ed.
2) Describe what you would like to take home as a result of attending the Assessment Institute.
We will be working on program level assessment in the next couple of years. While I know this
workshop is not focused on program level I hope to get ideas that can help us with increasing active
learning and valid assessment. I am also looking forward to meeting and working with others interested in
assessment.
3) Tell us about your interests outside of the classroom and a book that you have read recently.
Outside of the classroom I like to spend time with my family – skiing, camping, kayaking, or pretty
much anything outside.
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Amy Beadles-Bohling
University of Portland, Portland, OR
1) Describe your teaching responsibilities and the type of student you teach.
I am a full time, non-tenure track lecturer at the University of Portland (Portland OR; UP is a
small, private, Catholic college). I am a member of the Biology department here, and teach exclusively
non-majors at this point. The vast majority of my students are freshman Nursing majors, who are enrolled
in their first college Biology course. My course is analogous to our majors Introductory Cell Biology and
Genetics course, and I teach it with the same rigor as a major’s course given the importance of a good
foundation in Biology for future nurses. (Who surprisingly, don’t always realize the scientific nature of their
future career!) The main difference between my course and the major’s course is that I try to infuse more
medically relevant examples into my lectures than are typically included in the major’s course. Because
these are nursing students, the majority of the population is female, and many of them have taken very
few science courses in high school.
I will begin teaching a non-majors course designed to fulfill a core science requirement for
education majors and engineering majors beginning the fall of 2015. I anticipate that being an interesting
and possibly challenging course to teach. I predict I will encounter two very different types of thinkers
(thus the challenge), but am excited about working with them! UP is seeing an increase in enrollment of
first generation students, which has helped diversify our population somewhat, which historically has
mostly included students who are Caucasian from middle-income to affluent families. Students at UP
also have a wide range of academic abilities, ranging from highly prepared, to minimally prepared; and
these disparities are not exclusively the result of socioeconomic factors.
2) Describe what you would like to take home as a result of attending the Assessment Institute.
Our department is working toward embracing Vision and Change. That departmental evolution,
along with my interest in transitioning to a biology education research (BER) focus, rather than the
neuroscience bench research that I was trained to do in graduate school, has led me to seek some more
formal training in assessment. I see this residency as an opportunity to explore more deeply the ways I
can measure what my students are actually learning vs. what I hope they are learning. I hope this
residency will help me incorporate teaching and assessment techniques that move my classroom away
from a “sage on the stage” approach to a focus on student-centered active learning, while still being able
to measure the impact of these practices on my students’ success. I currently utilize many active
learning strategies, but they are often reserved for the “workshop” period, which is a 1 hour recitation type
meeting that is done with small groups and is led not by me, but by student peers who were successful in
my course. Finding a way to bring some of these educational strategies into my classroom and assess
their effectiveness is another one on my goals. I believe this residency will also help be to identify the
Biology education research questions that most interest me, and provide me with some of the tools I’ll
need to transition to the BER field. A longer term goal is to participate in a research residency in order to
develop my BER skills and begin publishing in the BER field. Finally, I also want to serve as a resident
expert for my colleagues. I plan to share what I’ve learned with them, with the hope that I can assist them
in transitioning their classrooms toward a more student-centered (and thus more V&C-like) model.
3) Tell us about your interests outside of the classroom and a book that you have read recently.
Outside of the classroom I am married (actually married…yeah Oregon for legalizing same-sex
marriage!) to my lovely wife Bonnie, and we have two children: Benjamin age 9, and Grace age 4. They
are definitely the focus of our lives right now. One of our big tasks with our son Ben is helping him
navigate the world as a child with ADHD, and as for our daughter Grace, it’s been very fun watching her
experience her first year in preschool. She is enrolled in a cooperative pre-school, so I’ve also enjoyed
serving as a “parent-teacher” at least once a month, and seeing her flourish and grow alongside her
peers. I love to read, and the book I am currently reading is The Girls of Atomic City: the Untold Story of
the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan. More often I read fiction and am a big fan
of dystopian and science fiction novels. The most recent dystopian novel I’ve read was “The Circle” by
Dave Eggers. Bonnie and I are also very active in our local Lutheran Church (ELCA, for those of you who
might also be Lutheran).
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Dwayne Boucaud
Quinnipiac University, Hamden, CT
1) Describe your teaching responsibilities and the type of student you teach.
I currently teach a 300 level Introduction to Microbiology course and a 400 level Virology course.
On occasion I also teach the laboratory which goes with the Microbiology lecture. The students in the
Microbiology lecture are mainly juniors or senior with a few sophomores included. In the Virology course
it is mainly juniors or seniors. The disciplines of these students are Biology, Biomedical Sciences, Health
Science Studies, some Athletic Training and some Chemistry majors. The vast majority of the students
are planning on applying to medical school or are in our early acceptance physician’s assistance
program. Some of my students are interested in getting into masters or PhD programs in the life sciences.
2) Describe what you would like to take home as a result of attending the Assessment Institute.
I would like to take home various methods for assessing student learning. This is especially
important to me as I plan on making some changes to the way that my classes are structured. These
changes include using a flipped classroom and having more project oriented labs. As I make these
changes I would like to have the tools to assess whether these changes are having an impact on student
learning and engagement. Another area that I would like to assess is critical thinking. One of the main
objectives of all of my classes is to increase student’s critical thinking skills, however, I am not confident in
my methods of assessment in this area.
3) Tell us about your interests outside of the classroom and a book that you have read recently.
My interests outside of the classroom include pottery (using the wheel, I’m terrible at hand
building), rock climbing, hiking and camping. Parenting is also a big one as I have three kids. I am
currently reading the book The Sellout by Paul Beatty. The last book I read before that was Tinker Tailor
Soldier Spy by John le Carre.
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Michele Culumber
Weber State University, Ogden, UT
1) Describe your teaching responsibilities and the type of student you teach.
I am the chair of the Microbiology Department at Weber State University. I teach our general,
majors-level, microbiology course, microbial ecology (upper division), and geomicrobiology (upper
division). I also teach a general education public health course. We have a diverse mix of students at
Weber. We are an "open enrollment, dual-mission" university, so our students range widely in their level
of preparation and their career goals. Many of our students are pre-professional, while and others plan to
be career microbiologists.
2) Describe what you would like to take home as a result of attending the Assessment Institute.
I'll be using my general microbiology course as my focus for this residency. I'd like to develop
assessment techniques that I can use in all of my courses. I have been working with our office of
institutional effectiveness to find ways to measure and communicate assessment and have been
frustrated by the quality of the tools that are available and of the data they collect.
3) Tell us about your interests outside of the classroom and a book that you have read recently.
When I can, I do research of Lactobacilli and microorganisms of the Great Salt Lake. I have three
elementary school-aged kids, so my "free time" is full of homework, soccer, karate, and other extracurricular activities. When we can, we hike and enjoy the beautiful Wasatch Range. I have just started
reading Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed.
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Sara Dick
Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN
1) Describe your teaching responsibilities and the type of student you teach.
I teach at Valparaiso University in northwest Indiana, a primarily undergraduate institution. I teach
Biotechnology, a course that satisfies the natural science requirement for non-biology majors, and
Microbiology, primarily for nursing students, but we also have some physical therapy, pre-dental and
human biology minors taking it. I also teach a seminar course in Immunology, in which the students
present papers about an aspect of Immunology. I teach the lecture for Biotechnology, and the lab and
lecture for Microbiology. My students are a mix of first-generation college, traditional students,
commuters, adult learners, etc.
2) Describe what you would like to take home as a result of attending the Assessment Institute.
I would like to gain some tools for determining how well my students are understanding the
concepts, and I would like for that to be obvious to the students as well - that is, I would like for them to
see how much they have learned, because it is easy to give up when the material gets difficult, especially
if they don't see the progress they've made. I would like for my assessments to be understanding-based,
not memorization-based. It is important for my students to be able to confidently and accurately answer
their patient's questions about Microbiology, and I want to help them do that.
3) Tell us about your interests outside of the classroom and a book that you have read recently.
I have many interests outside the classroom, and the weather this spring is making it difficult to
come into the office! I enjoy gardening, and I have started some tomatoes in the house, and already
planted some beans and peas! My husband and I also have horses, and we go trail riding with a group of
friends at least once a month through the spring, summer and fall. We participated in a sport called
Competitive Mounted Orienteering, in which we try to find 10 objectives in a park in the shortest amount
of time. It is lots of fun, and the group we compete against is a great bunch of people that we enjoy
hanging out with!
I have a full schedule this semester, so I haven't had much time for outside reading, but I read a
book called 'Fashionably Late' by Olivia Goldsmith over Spring break. I am currently reading 'Good
Germs, Bad Germs' by Jessica Snyder Sachs. I also enjoy the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich
- very funny, entertaining reads!
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Donnasue Graesser
Quinnipiac University, Hamden, CT
1) Describe your teaching responsibilities and the type of student you teach.
Over my entire teaching career, I have probably taught or teach most types of students-undergrads/graduate, community college/Ivy League, traditional/non-traditional. I was explaining to my
partner (Dwayne) the other day that I used to drive straight from my classes at Yale University, teaching
"journal-club style" discussions on Nature papers, to a small college where I taught in an AIDS-counseling
certification program for recently rehabilitated prison inmates, some of whom could not read.
Currently, I am at Quinnipiac University, teaching General Microbiology labs for undergraduate
students and also a Microbiology/Pathology course primarily for nursing and health science students. I'm
new to Quinnipiac, coming from the University of Connecticut where most recently I taught large courses
in Human and Animal Physiology, designed online curricula, developed a neuroimmunology course, and
led MCAT/DAT review. My students there ranged from pharmacy, biomedical engineering, allied health,
nursing, pre-med, pre-dental, and Ph.D.-level graduate students. I coordinated the physiology lab
curriculum for anywhere between 1000-1300 students a semester. Although I am not currently teaching
at UCONN, I am still involved in several assessment projects in those courses, particularly in the large
physiology labs.
2) Describe what you would like to take home as a result of attending the Assessment Institute.
I'd like to learn more about how to design formative assessments to align more accurately with
my learning objectives, and to better design those assessments so that students see them as learning
opportunities, rather than just as "means to a grade."
One thing I've had on my mind recently in terms of assessment is how to scale up "small class
assessments" to larger courses. For example, how to run a meaningful discussion board to assess
student learning with 40 students in a class. Or with 400 students in a class.
3) Tell us about your interests outside of the classroom and a book that you have read recently.
Most of the time that I'm not in the classroom, I'm keeping busy on our small farm-- we raise
sheep for wool, chickens and quails for eggs, and have a few horses for trail riding. We are also raising
4 kids (and are a host family for an exchange student from China), ranging in age from 20 months-20
years old.
When we are not cleaning coops or shuttling between schools, we like to Geocache and curl.
(Yes, curling is the sport where you push big stones across the ice, and sweep like crazy with a little
broom.)
One of my sons is deaf, so I spend a lot of time honing my skills in ASL, and have a special
interest in explaining science and health related concepts in ASL. To that end, I'm currently reading
"Seeing Voices- a Journey into the world of the deaf" by Oliver Sacks, which was given to me by a
colleague as a Christmas gift. I've been reading the same book since Christmas break :(
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Michael Hanophy
St. Joseph's College, Brooklyn, NY
1) Describe your teaching responsibilities and the type of student you teach.
I have been on the faculty at St. Joseph's College, NY since 1999. I teach General Biology to our
majors on the Brooklyn campus and Microbiology to junior and senior majors on both our Brooklyn and
Suffolk campuses. In addition those, I occasionally teach a mixed bag of core courses, online courses,
and freshman seminars.
2) Describe what you would like to take home as a result of attending the Assessment Institute.
Because I often teach my Micro class to graduating seniors, I treat the course like a capstone and
would like to see if there is some way to assess whether or not the course is actually doing that. Our
college is also beginning an undergraduate nursing program in the fall and I will be responsible for
designing the nursing micro course. It seems like it would be a good idea to build effective assessment
into that course from the very beginning.
3) Tell us about your interests outside of the classroom and a book that you have read recently.
My wife and I have two children, one graduating from college next month and the other spending
here junior spring semester in Spain. I was a scoutmaster and have been a singer in my church for over
30 years. Currently, I am reading "All Quiet on the Western Front" because of my interest in the First
World War (a really interesting time for microbiology!).
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Angela Hartsock
University of Akron-Wayne College, Orrville, OH
1) Describe your teaching responsibilities and the type of student you teach.
I teach Microbiology lecture and laboratory, Anatomy & Physiology, and a non-majors GenEd
Biology course and laboratory. Most of the students in my Micro and A&P are nursing students or
exercise science students. We are a rural open enrollment college and a regional campus so we have
some traditional college students but we also have lots of first generation students, adult/non-traditional
students, and high school students.
2) Describe what you would like to take home as a result of attending the Assessment Institute.
To be honest when I first started teaching I didn’t even really know what assessment was in a
formal sense. A colleague said “Just do a pre- and post-test for the course and you’re covered.” As I
tested out lots of different activities and learning/teaching strategies I became interested in how to
properly assess the effectiveness of my efforts…and here we are. I hope to come home from the institute
with strategies/techniques (and the confidence for how to implement those strategies/techniques).
3) Tell us about your interests outside of the classroom and a book that you have read recently.
I hate this question! J I don’t really have consistent hobbies/interests, I just live my life hopping
from whatever entertains me at the time to the next thing. I do like to spend a lot of time outdoors and with
my family. The book I am reading right now is “A Mind for Numbers” by Barbara Oakley.
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Karen Huffman
Genesee Community College, Batavia, NY
1) Describe your teaching responsibilities and the type of student you teach.
I teach Fundamentals of Cell Biology (a remedial Biology course), Microbiology (one for Majors
and one for Allied Health), Genetics, and Biotechnology.
I teach at a rural 2 year college with open enrollment. Our college recruits locally, from large
cities, and internationally (we have campus housing) so there are a mix of students from many walks of
life. The majority of students I teach are allied health- primarily pre-nursing, with the rest being vet tech,
biotech, respiratory tech, and food processing. Many are struggling to adjust to college expectations,
especially their first semester on campus.
2) Describe what you would like to take home as a result of attending the Assessment Institute.
I would like to learn more meaningful formative assessments techniques that don’t always involve
technology but include more writing, reading and critical thinking.
3) Tell us about your interests outside of the classroom and a book that you have read recently.
I like to be outdoors- running or walking; I love to read mostly non-fiction and science fiction; I
work out at our local YMCA with my family and friends. I read many books but most recently have read
On Sal Mal Lane by Ru Freeman and All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.
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Adam Kleinschmit
Adams State University, Alamosa, CO
1) Describe your teaching responsibilities and the type of student you teach.
My institution is a small public liberal arts college which is designated a Hispanic serving
institution. Being a small college, my teaching responsibilities range from 100-level courses (non-majors
biology) to 200-400 level majors biology courses. I currently teach general biology, cellular biology,
microbiology, molecular biology, thesis, a MCAT Review course, as well as some assorted laboratory
sessions on an annual basis. Additionally, I teach developmental biology and immunology every other
year. Our students are quite diverse when it comes to college preparedness, with many students
identifying themselves as first-generation. Additionally, a large number of my students are involved in
collegiate sports, which can be challenging when it comes to balancing team responsibilities along with
academic expectations.
2) Describe what you would like to take home as a result of attending the Assessment Institute.
I am excited to reflect on the learning objectives of the sophomore level cellular biology course I
teach to all biology majors. Specifically, I hope to identify effective ways of formatively assessing student
learning that will lead to active participation during class sessions. Additionally, our department is keen
on re-evaluating our program student outcomes and I hope to act as a facilitator that can help my
colleagues craft measurable outcomes and disseminate approaches to assessment that our department
can collectively adopt. Lastly, I am very interested in learning more about SoTL and the best practices
used in designing assessments to address interesting questions with hard data.
3) Tell us about your interests outside of the classroom and a book that you have read recently.
Outside of the classroom I enjoy outdoor activities such as hiking and skiing. I recently read
“What to Expect the First Year” - my wife and I are expecting our first child this August!
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Karla Lightfield
University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
1) Describe your teaching responsibilities and the type of student you teach.
I teach two large lecture microbiology courses, one for biology majors (usually 100-150 students)
and one for allied health students (250-350 students). I also teach the associated microbiology labs and a
seminar course in immunology. I see a wide range of students in my courses from traditional
undergraduates to returning students. A majority of my students are interested in pursuing a career in the
health professions. The major’s level course sees many students interested in medical or dental school,
while the non-majors course is comprised of those interested in nursing, pharmacy or dietetics.
2) Describe what you would like to take home as a result of attending the Assessment Institute.
The majors level microbiology course is new to me, so I hope to use my time in the institute to
develop a good base of assessments to use throughout the course. I am particularly interested in making
sure that my assessments and learning objectives interact in a meaningful way and that they maximize
the students’ potential in the class. I hope to develop both formative and summative assessments to both
explore students learning and determine what teaching strategies are working the best for my particular
class.
3) Tell us about your interests outside of the classroom and a book that you have read recently.
I enjoy being outside, walking, jogging, hiking and riding. I also love hanging out with my Boston
terrier, Maeby. I spend a lot of time cooking and I also combine my love of cooking with my love of
microbiology by brewing beer. I am a big nerd and so I have been rereading the Fire and Ice series in the
hopes that George RR Martin will eventually finish the next book.
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Carl Luciano
Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA
1) Describe your teaching responsibilities and the type of student you teach.
I teach a wide variety of courses with respect to student audience and level. I teach introductory
cell and molecular biology for science majors-both lecture and lab. I teach a non-majors introductory
course entitled “Emerging Diseases” that is the subject of my assessment residency. I also teach a
lecture course in Virology for advanced undergraduates and for students in our MS program. In the past I
have also taught “service” courses for Nursing majors, courses in molecular biology methods, courses in
our Biochemistry program and for many years a junior-level course in Genetics as well.
2) Describe what you would like to take home as a result of attending the Assessment Institute.
I want to take home a better understanding of assessment methodology in general. More
specifically I want to develop a set of assessment tools to use with the Emerging Diseases course. In this
day and age when so many people have an imperfect grasp of the germ theory and even refuse
vaccination I would like to know if the students in my class are actually learning what I want/think citizens
ought to know about diseases and prevention.
3) Tell us about your interests outside of the classroom and a book that you have read recently.
I have far too many outside-the-classroom interests for my own good.
Over the last few years I have really gotten interested in Southern Africa and its wildlife. This
came about as a result of my “inheriting” a study abroad course in South Africa and Swaziland in 2005.
I’ve made a total of five trips to Africa with student groups and classes but I have not yet lost a bit of my
fascination with the incredible variety of animals and landscapes across the subcontinent. The people and
the cultures are pretty interesting too. I am making a sixth trip in May and I hope to have some interesting,
but not scary, stories to share with our group.
I finished two books recently. One was entitled The Cutter Incident by Paul Offit, about the
infamous bad batch of Salk vaccine. The other was The War That Ended Peace by
Margaret MacMillan on the origins of WWI.
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Julia Massimelli
Univesity of California Irvine, Irvine, CA
1) Describe your teaching responsibilities and the type of student you teach.
I started an Assistant Teaching Professor (emphasis on education not so much of research)
position last year at the University of California, Irvine. I am assigned to teach a big Microbiology course
(+400 students) and the Microbiology lab (+160 students). I also teach a small course in Microbial
genetics (20-25 students) and a biochemistry laboratory course (40 students). All of these courses are for
undergraduate students. I have all sorts of students, nursing, pre-health, biology majors, first generation,
commuters etc.
2) Describe what you would like to take home as a result of attending the Assessment Institute.
I chose to address the big General Microbiology, large (~400 students) lecture course for this
residency. This is my first year teaching the course. I was recently hired by UCI to re-structure the
Microbiology curricula in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, being this particular
large course the main one I need to change. They asked me to present re-structuring ideas in a few
months, hoping to implement those changes next year. I am looking to use the ASM curriculum
recommendations and learning outcomes as a start point to discuss with other faculty what we really want
the students to know. But no real change can justified without good assessments to diagnose potential
issues the course currently has, as well as assessments that allow us to monitor student learning over
time. I am really hoping this residency will help me to get a better grasp of assessment tools I could use
for this purpose.
3) Tell us about your interests outside of the classroom and a book that you have read recently.
This is going to sound funny but my biggest interest outside the classroom is: people! I spend so
much time with friends and family, in person or over Skype/phone every week. I like hearing all about
them, their issues, their thoughts, getting and giving advice. Sometimes I have Skype “dates” with friends
or family members that are far away in which we just seat in front of the camera with coffee to chat about
life, husbands, dreams, decisions for like 2 hours on a Sunday. I just love spending time with other people
in one to one or small group gatherings. I think it might be a little cultural, I am from Argentina and the
biggest day of the year…yeah better than Christmas…is “friend’s day” on July 20th. I do quite a bit of
mentoring for this exact reason. I love chatting with students in my office about their struggles, fears, and
dreams.
Books? Do papers count?! ;) I don’t have a whole bunch of time to read. I finished a book about
the life of Robert Koch (by Thomas D. Brock) over Spring break and I am currently reading a bunch of
maternity and baby books. Expecting my first baby on September and freaking out. You guys will see me
with a big belly in June!
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Christopher Parker
Texas Wesleyan University, Fort Worth, TX
1) Describe your teaching responsibilities and the type of student you teach.
I typically teach a couple of sections of biology for non-majors every semester. In addition, I
teach microbiology (biology majors) in the fall and immunology in the spring. Our students are all
undergrads. Many of the biology majors are looking to enter med school or PA school. A handful of them
are destined for research. Most of our students are fresh out of high school and many are first generation
college students.
2) Describe what you would like to take home as a result of attending the Assessment Institute.
I’m always looking for more effective ways to teach content-heavy courses such as microbiology
and as a result am constantly tinkering with my class content and format. Through this institute, I’m
hoping to learn ways to determine if all my tinkering is effective or not. I have lots of ideas I how I might
be able to teach microbiology, but I want to make sure that these ideas are effective and not a waste of
the students’ time and effort.
3) Tell us about your interests outside of the classroom and a book that you have read recently.
I am fascinated by food microbiology (I know, not very original coming from a microbiologist).
Over the past couple of years, I have been trying my hand at fermenting all sorts of veggies (pepper
sauce, sauerkraut, pickles, yogurt, etc.). I’m also trying to get back into home brewing, but it’s been a
while and I need to track down my equipment. As for reading, I recently read Gulp by Mary Roach. It
was the first of her books that I have read, but it won’t be the last; I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think I’m going
to read Stiff next, unless someone has a better suggestion.
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Mia Ray
Trinity Washington University, Washington, DC
1) Describe your teaching responsibilities and the type of student you teach.
I teach anatomy and physiology I and II for pre-nursing, exercise science and occupational
therapy majors as well as comparative vertebrate anatomy and general physiology for biology majors.
Our students are typically commuter students juggling school along with jobs and family. Many of our
students are also first generation college students who require foundational classes before beginning
their core general education or major courses.
2) Describe what you would like to take home as a result of attending the Assessment Institute.
By attending this institute I am looking to identify ways in which to assess the changes that I have
made to my AP courses since my arrival in 2012 in order to find ways to improve comprehension and
information retention. In addition I would like to design an assessment tool to identify whether our current
biology placement test accurately identifies students in need of a foundational Biology 101 course prior to
taking AP I.
3) Tell us about your interests outside of the classroom and a book that you have read recently.
Outside of the classroom I enjoy quilting and crocheting. I am currently working on a hand
stitched hexagon quilt that I started in November of 2012. I also love to listen to audiobooks and the last
one that I “read” was “The Red Tent” by Anita Diamant.
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Nathan Reyna
Ouachita Baptist University, Arkadelphia, AR
1) Describe your teaching responsibilities and the type of student you teach.
Ouachita (pronounce Wash-ih-taw) Baptist is a small private liberal arts university in the
Southwest corner of Arkansas. We have about 1,300 students; however, about 25-30 % of these
students are Biology Majors or Minors. Additionally, we only have 5 Biology faculty. The result is an
average class size of 40 students in our upper division classes (campus average is 7-11students/class).
Our department is struggling with this rapid growth. We have an open admission policy and our students
come from diverse backgrounds. However, just a few years ago 21 of the 40 students in my Genetics
class were accepted into terminal degree programs (Med, Pharm, Dent. Ph.D etc.). We have recently
changed our curriculum to focus on student research experiences and have created multiple classes with
course-based research experiences as replacements for lab. I teach (12hrs/semester) Scientific Inquiry
(non-majors), Cell Biology, Bioinformatics (HHMI-Phage) and Genetics. All of these classes are now
active learning or group activity type classes. However, I really have no idea what I am doing and as our
classes grow things are getting harder. I do not have to publish but I have to keep an active research lab.
The majority of my research requirements are fulfilled during the summer with students.
2) Describe what you would like to take home as a result of attending the Assessment Institute.
As previously mentioned we have tried to change how we teach as a department. However, it is a
struggle to figure out the best way to assess these new changes. I am having a hard time determining
what works and what does not. While we are trying a lot of new ideas, I know I am doing most things
wrong. However, I don’t know enough to figure out what I am doing wrong (or why). Over the last few
years I have developed a research based lab using Synthetic Biology as a replacement for the traditional
genetics lab. We have had a lot of success with this lab but once again I struggle with assessment. My
Genetics class and the SynBio lab specifically is going to be my focus. We have plans to create a
technology enhanced classroom with multiple projectors and other interactive type equipment. It is a cool
idea but I now have to figure out how to effectively use this equipment. And once again I have no idea
what I am doing….this is the common theme: lots of ideas but no idea of what we are doing.
3) Tell us about your interests outside of the classroom and a book that you have read recently.
My background is in Agronomy and I really like watching plants grow. I spend most of my time
working and playing on my small farm with my family. I have a small orchard, garden, fishing pond and a
few animals that take up most of my time outside of work. I use the word farm very loosely and it is more
of a petting zoo and animal health spa. Once an animal gets a name it is guaranteed a long and easy
life. I have to admit I use words like fishing pond a little loosely as well…but it does hold water and I can
catch catfish in it. And once again I have no idea what I am doing and had no prior experience with any
of this.
I have just finished two books. I am almost embarrassed to say that I finally have read A Sand
Count Almanac (Aldo Leopold). Embarrassed because I have been recommended this book multiple
times over the years and have never read it. I was even required to read this book in college and being a
complete knucklehead I did not. What a good book! What a knucklehead! Additionally, I just read a
“Reacher Novel” by Lee Childs. I do not even remember the title but I enjoy the author and the books
with this character.
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Rachna Sadana
University of Houston-Downtown, Houston, TX
1) Describe your teaching responsibilities and the type of student you teach.
I work as an assistant professor of biology at University of Houston-Downtown (UHD), a minority
serving institute, commuter school with approximately 14,000 students. Most of our students work either
part-time or full-time and have family responsibilities. I am required to teach 21 contact hours over the fall
and spring semester and I teach the following courses;
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
General biology 1 for science majors (Biol 1301)
General Biology 1 Lab (Biol 1101)
Cellular Biology (Biol 4320)
Cellular Biology Lab (Biol 4232)
Biochemistry lab (Chem 4140)
2) Describe what you would like to take home as a result of attending the Assessment Institute.
I was trained as a researcher not a teacher. I have been teaching for past 5 years and have
learned a lot on job about assessment but still feel there is a long way to go. I would like to get better at
assessing non-traditional assignments such as oral presentations, and team work, etc. I look forward to
learn how to assess the effectiveness of my teaching strategies.
3) Tell us about your interests outside of the classroom and a book that you have read recently.
I love to cook, play tennis and practice yoga regularly. I recently read “The Emperor of All
Maladies,” by Siddhartha Mukherjee that describes the history of cancer drug development. I am currently
reading “Make it Stick: The Science of Successful learning” by Peter C. Brown that focusses on teaching
and learning strategies.
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Padma Seshadri
Suffolk County Community College, Grant Campus, Brentwood, NY
1) Describe your teaching responsibilities and the type of student you teach.
I teach a general microbiology course, both evening and day sections, which is designed for
Allied Health students. Most of the students who take this course are preparing for attending a nursing
school and some are interested in other health related careers such as physician’s assistants and
respiratory therapists. The evening class mostly has mature students with full time jobs and children while
the majority of the students in the day section are fresh out of high school. I also teach a microbiology
course for biology majors. Most of the students in this course are interested in medical school and in
research. The students are, for the most part, motivated and enthusiastic about learning various aspects
of microbiology including the DNA technology.
2) Describe what you would like to take home as a result of attending the Assessment Institute.
I am very much interested in my students participating actively in the learning process. Therefore,
I give my students projects where they develop their own strategies to find answers. I would like to learn
about the different assessment tools that can be used to determine how the students’ active participation
improves their critical thinking and analytical skills. I believe that the effective assessment will improve my
teaching skills and my students’ learning skills.
3) Tell us about your interests outside of the classroom and a book that you have read recently.
I enjoy working in the garden. I have planted various shrubs and flowers that attract wildlife such
as birds and butterflies. This summer, I am planning on starting a vegetable garden. I am also the founder
and the advisor of a student club. We are working on creating a butterfly garden on our campus to
conserve Monarch butterflies.
One of the books I have read is Her Mother’s Daughter by Marilyn French. The book takes the
reader through the triumphs and struggles of a family spanning through four generations.
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Zakiya Whatley
Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA
1) Describe your teaching responsibilities and the type of student you teach.
I teach introductory biology for majors and non-majors, microbiology lab and lecture, and a
personal genomics seminar. My classes range from 16-40 students, and they are all undergraduates.
Most of the students are freshmen (intro bio & seminar) or seniors.
2) Describe what you would like to take home as a result of attending the Assessment Institute.
I am redesigning the lecture portion of my micro course. I want to know a) the best assessment
tools to use and b) the best way to use them. I build a lot of active learning strategies into my lectures,
and I’m pushing students to see the big picture with broader themes. I want to know if those efforts are
effective. Also, there are no pre-requisites for the micro course so I would like to build in formative
assessments that help me identify knowledge gaps and bring students up to speed before class starts.
3) Tell us about your interests outside of the classroom and a book that you have read recently.
I enjoy music and food. This summer I’m looking forward to all the festivals that unite those two :)!
Right now I’m reading “Missing Microbes” by Martin Blaser.
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