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Redesign Scholars Program Senior Redesign Scholar
Humanities
Mathematics and Statistics
Science, Engineering and Technology
Social Science
Senior Redesign Scholar: Carolyn G. Jarmon Carolyn G. Jarmon served as Vice President of the National Center for Academic Transformation from 2000 - 2018. Prior to joining NCAT, Carolyn held several academic and administrative positions at SUNY Empire State College. Carolyn has also taught and held administrative positions at several traditional institutions, both public and private. From 1996–1998, she served as the Educom Visiting Fellow, working with member institutions, including California State University System and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, redesigning learning environments to make them more cost-effective. Carolyn has given numerous presentations and been published widely on the topics of effective delivery of student services and distance education and she consults regularly with institutions and corporations about learning in distributed environments. Carolyn has a Ph.D. from Cornell University, a master’s in business administration from East Tennessee State University, and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Delaware. Carolyn offers consulting services to campuses that want to implement large-scale course redesigns. Consulting services can be organized to fit the needs and goals of the institution or organization seeking assistance. Services include but are not limited to:
Mathematics and Statistics Scholar: Steve Acker Scholar: Tristan Denley Tristan Denley is executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University System of Georgia. Prior to that, he was vice chancellor for academic affairs at the Tennessee Board of Regents, provost and vice president of academic and student affairs at Austin Peay State University, and associate professor and chair of mathematics at the University of Mississippi. He earned his Ph.D. in mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge, UK, in 1993 and has held positions at the University of Umeå, Sweden, and the University of Waterloo, Canada. His research is in graph theory and combinatorics in which he has published several papers and a monograph. Tristan led the redesign of College Algebra and Elementary Statistics at Ole Miss. This included constructing the CALM lab, a learning lab space for 80 students, and restructuring the classroom experience for the 1500 students enrolled in these courses. The redesign uses both traditional classroom lectures and computer-aided learning in the lab. Tristan’s work continues in using a data informed approach to implement a wide variety of system scale initiatives surrounding college completion, stretching from education redesign in a variety of disciplines, to the role of predictive analytics and data mining, cognitive psychology and behavioral economics in higher education. In 2016 he was named one of The Sixteen Most Innovative People in Higher Education by the Washington Monthly and one of the Center for Digital Education’s Top 30 Technologists, Transformers and Trailblazers. He was the recipient of the 2016 Newel Perry Award from the National Federation of the Blind for his leadership of a systemic approach to the accessibility of educational content. Scholar: Martin Golson Martin Golson serves as the director of academic support at Austin Peay State University. He is also the president of the National College Learning Association. He was an important member of the team that redesigned two developmental courses, Elementary Algebra and Intermediate Algebra, by integrating them with two college-level math courses, Mathematical Thought and Practice and Statistics. This project was part of the Tennessee Board of Regent’s Developmental Studies Redesign Initiative (2006-2009) which was undertaken in collaboration with NCAT. The redesign produced the Linked Workshop Model, which links individualized, computer-based instruction in workshops to traditional instruction in the classroom to allow students to earn core course credit while removing their mathematics deficiency. Since the initial redesigns, he has worked with departments to redesign 14 additional courses in multiple disciplines. Martin earned a B.S. in mathematics and an M.A. in education from Austin Peay State University. Scholar:Myrta Groeneveld Myrta Groeneveld is the coordinator of developmental mathematics at Manchester Community College (MCC) in Connecticut. Having grown up in the heart of Puerto Rico, Myrta learned English at a local community college in Massachusetts before pursuing her career in mathematics. This beginning has led her to be a fierce supporter of Hispanic students at MCC. Her mentoring and advising work led to her initiating bilingual classes in mathematics. Myrta was instrumental in bringing course redesign to the entire developmental mathematics program at MCC. The college has constructed a dedicated lab to implement the redesign of the developmental math sequence as part of NCAT’s Changing the Equation program. Myrta has taught at different universities and community colleges. She has continually worked to improve the resources available for mathematics education and has designed courses that utilize many types of technology in the classroom. Myrta received an M.S. in mathematics from the University of Connecticut. John Harwood is an emeritus associate vice provost for information technology at Penn State University. He has been a faculty member and IT administrator at Penn State since 1980. He has worked extensively to support the development of both online and hybrid courses, especially high-enrollment undergraduate courses. He is past chair of the Big 10’s Learning Technologies Initiative. He has been PI or co-PI of grants from NCAT’s Program in Course Redesign, which supported the redesign of Introductory Statistics, the Mellon Foundation, the AT&T Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Penn State has also redesigned its introductory biology and Spanish courses. He served on the boards of several national or industry groups: Adobe, Blackboard, the IMS Global Learning Consortium, the National Information Standards Organization and the Redesign Alliance. He has consulted with numerous universities on teaching and learning opportunities. Scholar: LaRonda Lowery LaRonda Lowery serves as the program director for mathematics at Robeson Community College (RCC) in North Carolina where she has taught since 2002. In 2010, she led RCC’s team that redesigned its developmental math sequence as part of NCAT’s Changing the Equation program. LaRonda has taught mathematics courses ranging from developmental mathematics to pre-calculus as well as Introduction to Computers. She received the Presidential Innovation Award at RCC in 2010 and is actively involved in developmental math redesign at both the campus-wide and system-wide levels. LaRonda was a member of the North Carolina Community College System’s (NCCCS) developmental education initiative math redesign task force which redesigned three of NCCCS’s four-credit developmental math courses into eight one-credit modules. LaRonda earned a B.S and M.A. in mathematics education from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from Liberty University. Scholar: Eric Matsuoka Eric Matsuoka is professor and developmental math coordinator at Leeward Community College (LCC) in Hawaii. A full-time LCC faculty member since 1994, Eric does his best to ensure and improve student learning and success by implementing proven best practices in all of the courses he teaches and coordinates. Although Eric was initially skeptical about redesign, as he researched the Emporium Model and compared its strengths with best practices in learning, he became a true believer. Upon assuming the duties of developmental math coordinator, Eric co-authored the proposal for the Changing the Equation grant that was awarded to the college in 2010. He is a lead member of LCC's primary redesign teams for developmental math, College Algebra and Accelerated Pre-Calculus. He holds a B.A. (with distinction) and an M.A. in mathematics from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, is a 2010 recipient of the University of Hawaii Regents' Medal for Excellence in Teaching and is a 2011-2012 faculty recipient of a University of Hawaii Sony Technology Award. Scholar: Phoebe McLaughlin Phoebe McLaughlin is a professor in the School of Computer Science and Mathematics at the University of Central Missouri (UCM). She earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Iowa. Her recent teaching concentrates on actuarial science and statistics, linear algebra and general education math courses. For years, she has been making efforts to incorporate technologies into her classes. Phoebe is the assistant chair of the math programs and coordinator of actuarial science and statistics. She supervises the Intermediate Algebra course, which was redesigned as part of a statewide initiative, a collaborative effort between the state of Missouri and NCAT. UCM's redesign was piloted in spring 2012 and fully implemented in fall 2012. Phoebe is also a Missouri learning commons scholar, responsible for presenting on course redesign throughout the state and mentoring other departments and universities interested in conducting a course redesign project. Scholar: Daniel Miller Dan Miller has taught at Niagara County Community College (NCCC) for over 20 years. He has taught mathematics courses ranging from developmental math to calculus as well as computer science courses. Dan has written over 20 solution manuals for a variety of college and high school mathematics textbooks and has authored content for MyMathLab/MathXL software. He led NCCC's redesign of Introduction to Statistics (~20 sections) as part of the State University of New York (SUNY) Course Redesign Initiative, a collaborative effort between SUNY and NCAT (2007 – 2010). As part of this project, Dan designed a large computer lab that was built in the space formerly occupied by two underutilized classrooms. In 2009, he and his colleagues applied the principles learned to redesigning NCCC's developmental Mathematics Literacy course (~50 sections). Because these two redesigns have now filled the new computer lab to capacity, Dan is working on creative solutions so that other courses can be redesigned in the future. Scholar: Tammy Muhs Tammy Muhs has been a faculty member in mathematics and statistics at the community-college and university level since 1998. She is currently an associate lecturer of mathematics at the University of Central Florida. Tammy led the team that redesigned college algebra in fall 2008 as part of NCAT’s Colleagues Committed to Redesign program. UCF has gone on to redesign intermediate algebra and precalculus. Tammy was previously the director of the Mathematics Assistance and Learning Lab (MALL), which has a capacity of 320 students and serves up to 5,800 students during a single semester. She was also the assistant department chair for the mathematics department which provided her with administrative experience in addition to her teaching and redesign experience. Tammy has given presentations and provided assistance on course redesign, as well as adaptive learning and engaging teaching strategies, to several institutions and organizations nationally as well as internationally. She has received multiple university teaching awards, led multiple math initiatives, and been involved in curriculum reform at the local, state and national levels. Tammy earned an M.S. in mathematical sciences from the University of North Florida and a Ph.D. in modeling and simulation from the University of Central Florida. Scholar: Dennis Pearl Dennis Pearl is a professor of statistics at The Pennsylvania State University whose research interests are in statistical phylogenetics, biomarkers of cancer, and statistics education. Before coming to Penn State, he led the team at Ohio State that developed the statistics buffet course redesign as part of NCAT’s Program in Course Redesign. He has also worked with NCAT's Roadmap to Redesign program to enable new colleges and universities to adopt introductory statistics redesigns. He is the Director of the Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education (CAUSE), a national organization dedicated to providing professional development opportunities and resources to college statistics teachers and to building and enhancing the statistics education research community. At Penn State Dennis also leads an innovative summer research program for undergraduates where students develop apps for teaching that are then field-tested in the fall semester. Through this program, and other work, he has created a large number of activities for use in both online and large class instruction including many that integrate the arts in teaching statistical concepts through cartoons and songs. Scholar: Shahla Peterman Shahla Peterman is a mathematics teaching professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) where she has taught since 1982. She teaches several levels of algebra, structure of mathematical systems, calculus, trigonometry and finite mathematics and has managed the Math Technology Learning Center since it was built in August of 2005. Shahla has received numerous awards for her contributions to mathematics and to teaching. Most recently, these include the College of Arts and Sciences Lecturer of the Year Award in 2006 and the UMSL Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in 2007. In collaboration with Teresa Thiel, she directed the redesign of College Algebra at UMSL as part of NCAT's FIPSE-funded Roadmap to Redesign (R2R) program (2003 to 2006). Shahla earned a B.A. in mathematics from Esfahan University, Iran and an M.A. in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Scholar: Crystal Ingle Reed Crystal Ingle Reed serves as assistant dean of student success at Northwest-Shoals Community College in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. She has taught mathematics since 2005 in both the post-secondary and secondary systems. Crystal also consults as a Pearson Faculty Advisor offering peer-to-peer mentoring for MyLabs/Mastering products. As a part of NCAT’s Changing the Equation redesign team, she has successfully redesigned three developmental mathematics courses using the Emporium Model and is presently collaborating with faculty to redesign the institution’s developmental English and reading courses. Crystal has a B.S. and M.A. from the University of North Alabama in mathematics education and is currently pursuing her Ed.D. in higher education administration from the University of Alabama. Scholar: Shing So Shing So is a professor of mathematics in the department of mathematics and computer science at the University of Central Missouri. He received his Ph. D. in mathematics from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He has been a member of the Missouri section of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) since 1985 and has served as the Missouri director of the American Mathematics Competitions since 1999. Shing was the recipient of the 2008 MAA Missouri Section Distinguished College or University Teaching Award, and he has served as the solutions editor of the Problem-Solution Section of the College Mathematics Journal since 2004. Since 2011, Shing has served as the team leader of the UCM Intermediate Algebra redesign project, which was part of a statewide initiative, a collaborative effort between the state of Missouri and NCAT. Scholar: Rita Sowell Rita Sowell is professor of mathematics at Volunteer State Community College in Gallatin, TN and has taught math courses for over 20 years. She moved from the business world of actuarial science to higher education in 1987. Rita has also been an adjunct faculty member at the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University since 1983. At Owen, she teaches courses for the MBA and EMBA programs to prepare students for their quantitative course work. Her passion has been the development of online mathematics courses. She has developed technology-based courses at the developmental level (Basic Math, Elementary Algebra and Intermediate Algebra) as part of NCAT’s Changing the Equation program and at the college-level (College Algebra and Statistics.) She is an active member of AMATYC and TMATYC and has spoken at many conferences on redesigning mathematics courses using technology. Rita received a B.S in mathematics in 1980, an M.S. in mathematics in 1991 and an Ed.D. in administration and supervision in 2010. Scholar: John Squires John Squires is the program director of College and Career Readiness for the Southern Regional Education Board. In that role, he works with high schools and colleges to better prepare students in both math and literacy. Prior to that, he served as math department head at Chattanooga State Community College (2009 to 2014) and math department chair at Cleveland State Community College (1999 to 2009), where he taught math for 19 years. John was the architect of the redesign of developmental and college-level math at Cleveland State, which won the 2009 Bellwether Award given by the Community College Futures Assembly. At Chattanooga State, he implemented course redesign throughout the entire math curriculum and received the 2014 Bellwether Legacy Award from the American Community College Trustees for that work. John was the 2010 Cross Scholar at the League for Innovation and received the 2014 Faculty Excellence Award from the American Association of Community Colleges. John founded the Tennessee SAILS project, which moves developmental math to the high school senior year. SAILS has been spread throughout the state of Tennessee and received the 2018 Frank Newman Award for State Innovations from the Education Commission of the States. John has a B.S. in economics from Iowa State University, an M.A.T. in mathematics from Drake University, an M.S. in mathematics from the University of Tennessee, and a Ph.D. in leadership from the University of the Cumberlands. Scholar: Candace Thille Candace Thille is the founding director of the Open Learning Initiative (OLI) at Carnegie Mellon University and at Stanford University. She is a senior research fellow in the Office of the Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning and an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. OLI is dedicated to the development of freely available “stand-alone” college-level online courses and web-based learning environments informed by the best current research from the cognitive and learning sciences. She has led teams of faculty content experts, cognitive scientists, human-computer interaction specialists, formative assessment specialists, and programmers to implement and evaluate the redesign of courses in the areas of biology, chemistry, physics, mechanical engineering, statistics, formal logic and modern languages. The redesigned courses include intelligent tutoring systems, virtual laboratories, simulations, and student tracking mechanisms that capture rich information about student performance as feedback for the instructor and for the course designers. OLI courses offer students frequent opportunities to practice acquired concepts and skills within relevant and authentic problem-solving contexts, accompanied by immediate and tailored feedback on their performance. The first version of StatTutor, a web-based intelligent tutoring system in the OLI statistics course, was developed as part of NCAT’s Program in Course Redesign. She has served on numerous national boards and advisory councils. Prior to coming to Carnegie Mellon, she spent 18 years in the private sector at a management-consulting and training firm specializing in collaborative change consulting and workplace-learning solutions. Candace has a bachelor¹s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University, and a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. She was recently named one of The Sixteen Most Innovative People in Higher Education by the Washington Monthly. Scholar: Kirk Trigsted Kirk Trigsted has been a faculty member in the math department at the University of Idaho since 1996 and the Director of the Polya Mathematics Learning Center since 2001. The Polya Mathematics Learning Center was created in 2001 as part of NCAT’s Program in Course Redesign and began with the redesign of two large-enrollment introductory math courses, Intermediate Algebra and College Algebra. Kirk oversees a staff of 50 employees including instructors, graduate students and undergraduate students. Kirk has worked with NCAT's Roadmap to Redesign program to enable new colleges and universities to adopt mathematics redesigns. Kirk received a B.S. in Mathematics and Education from Lewis-Clark State College in 1991 and taught high school in Texas and Idaho for three years. He also received an M.S. in mathematics from the University of Idaho in 1996. Social Science Scholar: Meliksah Demir Meliksah Demir is assistant professor of psychological sciences at Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff, Arizona. He has taught large sections (200 to 400-students) of the redesigned Introduction to Psychology course, which was part of the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) Learner-Centered Education Course Redesign Initiative, a collaborative effort between ABOR and NCAT (2006 – 2009), and was the course coordinator from 2010 to 2013. Meliksah’s teaching experience includes introductory psychology, developmental psychology, child and adolescent development and cross-cultural psychology. His research examines the role of close relationship experience in the happiness of individuals across the life-span and the effectiveness of different types of happiness-enhancing strategies. Meliksah received his Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Wayne State University in 2007. Scholar: Gordon Hodge Gordon Hodge is presidential teaching fellow and associate professor of psychology at the University of New Mexico. He received his Ph.D. from UCLA and has been at UNM since 1976. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and a past president of the Southwestern Psychological Association. He has served as an associate dean for the College of Arts and Sciences and the chairperson of the university’s Teaching Enhancement Committee. Over the last 10 years his research has focused on ways of enhancing teaching and learning for which he has received university, regional, and national recognition. Honors and awards include the National Institute for the Teaching of Psychology's Frank Costin Award, the University of New Mexico's College of Arts and Sciences Gunter Starkey Award for Teaching, and UNM's Teacher of the Year Award. He has developed interactive CD-ROMs and PowerPoint slide sets to accompany introductory psychology texts published by various companies, including Harcourt, Prentice-Hall, and Wadsworth/Thomson. For the last several years he has been implementing a redesign of the Introductory Psychology course, which was funded by NCAT’s Program in Course Redesign, and he has worked with NCAT's Roadmap to Redesign program to enable new colleges and universities to adopt introductory psychology redesigns. Scholar:Danae Hudson Danae Hudson is a professor of psychology at Missouri State University (MSU). She obtained her bachelor’s degree from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia and her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Louisiana State University. Her program of research initially focused on eating disorders and body image, but now, the majority of her work involves the scholarship of teaching and learning. Since 2003, Dr. Hudson has taught large sections of introductory psychology in addition to other clinical psychology undergraduate and graduate courses. From 2010–2013, Dr. Hudson served as the team leader for a large-scale redesign of MSU’s introductory psychology course. Since fall 2012, all introductory psychology courses have been taught in the redesigned, blended format. Danai and her colleagues have published peer-reviewed articles, case studies, and presented at national and international venues on the successful outcomes of the redesigned course. She has been interviewed by various educational consultants, and the redesign results have been documented in Campus Technology and on Michael Feldstein’s blog e-Literate. Danae served two years as a provost fellow for teaching and learning at MSU, is currently actively involved in APA’s Division 2: Society for the Teaching of Psychology as the director of teaching resources in psychology. She is the co-author of a digital-first introductory psychology program, Revel Psychology 1e, published by Pearson Education. Scholar: Michelle Miller Michelle Miller completed a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1997 and completed postdoctoral work at Rice University. Since1999, she has taught at Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff, Arizona, where she currently serves as director of the First Year Learning Initiative, professor of psychological sciences, and President’s Distinguished Teaching Fellow. Scholar: Eileen O’Brien Eileen O’Brien is a developmental psychologist and a nurse with experience in evaluation of programs serving children and families. She is currently undergraduate program director and a senior lecturer in psychology and an affiliate associate professor in gender and women’s studies at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). Prior to that, she was associate professor of nursing at the University of Maryland Baltimore. She has taught introductory psychology for 20 years as well as courses in developmental psychology, child welfare, health psychology, gender and policy. Eileen led the redesign of Introductory Psychology at UMBC as part of the Maryland Course Redesign Initiative, a collaborative effort between the University System of Maryland and NCAT (2006-2009). She subsequently redesigned Developmental Psychology as both a hybrid and an online course. She developed a peer mentor program for her courses and continues to explore innovative strategies for course delivery. Eileen earned her B.S. in nursing from the University of Pittsburgh and her M.A., M.S. and Ph.D. in psychology from the Catholic University of America. Scholar: Donna Seagle Donna Seagle has been a member of the faculty at Chattanooga State Community College (ChSCC) for since 1998, serving as faculty senate president and vice-president, chair of countless committees, chair of the social behavioral science division, and coordinator of the psychology/sociology departments. She primarily teaches general psychology, child growth and development and educational psychology. Donna is also the founding director of the Center for Academic Research and Excellence and director of faculty instruction and professional development at ChSCC. Donna led the team that redesigned ChSCC’s general psychology course, which enrolls ~1600 students, as part of NCAT's FIPSE-funded Roadmap to Redesign (R2R) program (2003 to 2006). Key features of ChSCC’s redesign were mastery learning, removal of drop/add administration and full integration of interactive web resources. The general psychology redesign was the first course redesign in the Tennessee Board of Regents system; course redesign has now become a statewide initiative receiving local, regional and national recognition. Donna earned an A.S. in education from Virginia Highlands Community College, a B.A. in education from Emory and Henry College, an M.A. in psychology from Middle Tennessee State University and a PhD in psychology: cognition and instruction from Grand Canyon University. Scholar: Meredith Toth Meredith Toth has worked at ASU since 2001, first as an instructional designer collaborating with university faculty on technology-enhanced, hybrid and online courses and more recently as assistant dean for digital learning in ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. Meredith has been involved in numerous redesign projects, starting with the redesign of a graduate course on emergent literacy for a master’s program in early childhood education as part of NCAT’s Colleagues Committed to Redesign program (2006-2009). Since then, she has led large-scale program and course redesign projects for undergraduate, master’s and doctoral education across a range of areas. Meredith completed an M.A. in learning, design and technology from Stanford University in 1998 and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction at Arizona State University in 2014. Scholar: Brooke Whisenhunt Science, Engineering and Technology Scholar: Elizabeth Connor Elizabeth Connor is a neurobiologist in the biology department of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst where she is currently the associate dean for undergraduate education and development in the College of Natural Sciences. She initiated the use of an active learning format in large classroom teaching in the biology department. She has been a Lilly Teaching Fellow, was awarded the College Outstanding Teacher Award and has been nominated for the University Distinguished Teaching Award. During her career, Elizabeth has served as coordinator of introductory biology, research experience for undergraduates programs in neuroscience, the Beckman Scholars Program, the Junior Fellows in the Life Sciences Program, Mentoring Teaching Assistants in Life Sciences Program, project leader for the redesign of the Introductory Biology course in NCAT’s Program in Course Redesign, and graduate program director for the Neuroscience and Behavior Graduate Program. She has also served as a mentor in the Lilly Teaching Fellows program and on the NSF review panel for minority postdoctoral research fellowships. Elizabeth is currently program director of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Undergraduate Inclusive Excellence award to the University of Massachusetts. Scholar: Toni Farley Toni Farley was a lecturer of computer science and informatics at Arizona State University (ASU) from 2006 - 2010. During that time she developed numerous courses and led the redesign of a large-enrollment Computer Literacy course as part of the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) Learner-Centered Education Course Redesign Initiative, a collaborative effort between ABOR and NCAT (2006 – 2009). Her course redesign efforts incorporated technology in a learner-centered environment to improve the quality and address the cost constraints of traditional lecture formats. Since 2010, she has held data science and software engineering positions in translational genomics and political domains. Toni received B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from ASU. Scholar: Jennifer Hearne Jennifer Hearne has been an assistant professor of biochemistry at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). She has taught at UMES since September 2006. Jennifer led the redesign of Principles of Chemistry I as part of the Maryland Course Redesign Initiative, a collaborative effort between the University System of Maryland (USM) and NCAT (2006-2009). Jennifer continues to promote course redesign at UMES and within the USM. She has made numerous presentations at conferences on the redesign project. Jennifer is actively engaged in a number of curriculum reform projects. Jennifer earned her B.S. in chemistry from UMES and her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Delaware. Scholar: Norbert Pienta Norb Pienta is currently professor of chemistry and director of general chemistry at the University of Georgia (UGA). Previously Norb was professor and director of undergraduate studies in the department of chemistry at the University of Iowa (UI). He was also involved in laboratory curriculum development and design for 10 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before moving to UI. At UI, he spearheaded curricular changes and a redesign of a two-semester general chemistry sequence as part of NCAT’s Program in Course Redesign (1999-2003). Norb is currently working with faculty at UGA to redesign introductory chemistry using the NCAT redesign principles. At UI, Norb also served as the director of the center for teaching for four years. He has worked with other colleges and universities on chemistry redesign and at the UI converted a one-semester course for health professions majors to a problem-based model. His research and scholarship is in chemistry education, including studies on student problem solving, the use of technology, electronic data collection in laboratories and other issues related to teaching and learning. His interests and activities extend to faculty development, and he has authored several monographs and book chapters intended to promote professional development in science teaching. Norb also serves as the editor of the Journal of Chemical Education, the premier international journal in chemistry. Scholar: Masoud Rais-Rohani Masoud Rais-Rohani is Richard C. Hill professor and chair of mechanical engineering at the University of Maine. His teaching areas include engineering design optimization, structural mechanics, and aircraft structures. He has been a strong advocate for the integration of computer technology and hands-on activities to enhance learning in lecture-based courses. He has successfully developed two online tutorials for statics and analysis of aircraft structures and has received several grants in support of engineering education. While at Mississippi State University in 2008, he led the redesign of an introductory mechanics (Statics) course using NCAT's Emporium Model as part of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) Course Redesign Initiative, a collaborative effort between IHL and NCAT (2007 – 2010). That experience helped with the redesign of an Introduction to Mechanical Engineering course at UMaine in 2017. With all degrees in aerospace engineering, his research interests include design optimization and structural mechanics considering the application of lightweight materials, microstructure-based constitutive models, and uncertainty quantification. His Ph.D. is from Virgina Tech in aerospace engineering. Humanities Scholar: Jim German Jim German is now dean of undergraduate studies at California State University, Sacramento. From 2015 – 2018, he was associate provost at Montclair State University. Prior to that, he was an associate professor of history at SUNY Potsdam and chair of the history department. Before that, he taught and chaired the department at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Jim’s work on curricular redesign strengthens major programs while better serving the particular needs of students who take history courses to meet general education requirements or to prepare for teacher certification. An American historian, Jim teamed with his Europeanist colleague Geoffrey Clark to create a pair of large introductory hybrid courses, American and European history, as part of the State University of New York (SUNY) Course Redesign Initiative, a collaborative effort between SUNY and NCAT (2007 – 2010). The courses are targeted at general education students and employ teams of undergraduate learning assistants and graduate teaching assistants. Encouraged by the improvements in student learning and increased faculty efficiency, Jim and Geoffrey also redesigned another pair of introductory courses, this time designed for elementary education majors, along similar lines. Scholar: Xiaoping Wang Xiaoping Wang is professor of English and dean of the behavioral and social sciences division at Northeast State Community College. For the past 18 years, she has been responsible for two of the four areas in the developmental studies program at the college: developmental reading and learning strategies. Xiaoping led the redesign of developmental reading using the Emporium Model supported by a grant from the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) in 2007 as part of the TBR Developmental Studies Redesign Initiative, a collaborative effort between TBR and NCAT (2007 – 2009). She has made numerous presentations at conferences on the redesign project. She has also conducted and participated in workshops on course redesign among the TBR schools and schools from other states such as Alabama, Florida and Indiana to share the redesign experience. Scholar: Jim Wohlpart Jim Wohlpart is provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of Northern Iowa. He is a founding member of the faculty at Florida Gulf Coast University where he led a team in the 2001 redesign of a humanities course as part of NCAT’s Program in Course Redesign. Jim received his master’s from Colorado State University in 1988 and his doctorate from the University of Tennessee in 1993. He has presented at a wide variety of international, national, and regional conferences as well as at symposiums and workshops on course redesign, including the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association Meeting; the Course Redesign Symposium at Seton Hall (keynote address); the World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education; the Conference on College Composition and Communication; and the Creative Online Course Design and Teaching Conference. In addition, he served as the moderator for the Dallas TeleLearning Professional Development Seminar on Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century. Finally, he has published two articles on the redesign, co-authored with colleagues at FGCU, entitled “Online Education in the Visual and Performing Arts: Strategies for Increasing Learning and Reducing Costs” in the January 2006 Journal of Educators Online and "The Reliability of Computer Software to Score Essays: Innovations in a Humanities Course" in Computers and Composition.
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