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STEM Education Advisory Board

Charge

The Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching collaborates with the STEM Education Advisory Board to

  • Elevate Searle’s STEM Teaching Excellence Programs, which infuse learner-centered teaching practices­ that foster resilience, sense of belonging, and holistic student success;
  • Design courses for student success and transform STEM education at scale so all students can thrive;
  • Catalyze pedagogical innovations through communities of practice, customized workshops, and multi-institutional STEM programming; and
  • Guide curricular change projects with a focus on gateway, large-enrollment, lab, and high attrition courses.

Objectives

Specifically, members collaborate to

  • Identify challenges and opportunities from their disciplinary and teaching contexts;
  • Deepen reflective pedagogical practices in alignment with the Northwestern Principles of Inclusive Teaching;
  • Share knowledge in a working group that focuses on an evidence-based STEM education intervention facilitated by an educational developer at the Searle Center; and
  • Be change agents in their department/ program/ discipline.

Additional information about the STEM Education Transformation initiative and the STEM Teaching Excellence Programs can be found on the Searle Center’s website.

Meeting Cadence

The full Board is convened quarterly by the senior director of the Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching.

Steering Committee

The steering committee provides strategic guidance to navigate barriers, support planning, and cultivate broad participation. Members include the Executive Sponsor and Senior Director of the Searle Center, who champion STEM education and ensure alignment with institutional goals; and the Advisory Board Co-chairs, who are educational developers at the Searle Center with expertise to drive the strategic initiatives in STEM in partnership with the board.

  • Karen Smilowitz (Executive Sponsor), Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education
  • Jennifer Keys, (Convener) Senior Director of the Searle Center
  • Erika Nadile (Advisory Board Co-chair), Assistant Director of STEM Education, Searle Center
  • Veronica Womack (Advisory Board Co-chair), Associate Director of High-Impact Teaching, Searle Center

Membership

Members are appointed by the associate provost for undergraduate education and include faculty members serving staggered rotations of three-year terms with Searle Center educational developers and key campus partners.


Searle Center Educational Developers

  • Denise Drane, Senior Associate Director of Research and Innovation
  • Lauri Dietz, Director of Pedagogy and Assessment

Faculty Members

2025–28

  • Ashti Doobay-Persaud, Associate Professor, Medicine and Medical Education
  • Stephanie Knezz, Associate Professor of Instruction, Chemistry
  • Michael Peshkin, Professor, Mechanical Engineering
  • Gayle Ratliff, Assistant Professor of Instruction, Physics and Astronomy
  • Greg Schwartz, Associate Professor, Ophthalmology and Neuroscience

2025–27

  • Wesley Burghardt, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Engineering; Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering
  • Matt Glucksberg, Professor, Biomedical Engineering
  • Julia Kalow, Associate Professor, Chemistry
  • Thomas McDade, Professor, Anthropology

2025–26

  • Nick Cianciotto, Professor, Microbiology-Immunology
  • Robert Linsenmeier, Professor Emeritus, Biomedical Engineering

Campus Partner Members

  • Liz Stein, Director of Graduate and Postdoctoral Training and Development, The Graduate School (TGS)
  • Sabrina Abdulla-Wolphe, Assistant Director for STEM Learning Support, Academic Support and Learning Advancement (ASLA)