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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.

Meeting Cadence

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

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.

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.

Steering Committee

The executive sponsor champions STEM education, ensuring alignment with institutional goals, as part of a steering committee that provides strategic guidance to navigate barriers, support planning, and cultivate broad participation.

  • Karen Smilowitz (Executive Sponsor), Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education
  • Jennifer Keys, Senior Director of the Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching

Advisory Board Co-Chairs

The co-chairs are educational developers at the Searle Center with expertise to drive the strategic initiatives in STEM in partnership with the board.

  • Erika Nadile, Assistant Director of STEM Education
  • Veronica Womack, Associate Director of High-Impact Teaching 

Searle Center Educational Developers

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

Members

Faculty Members

2025–28

  • Ashti Doobay-Persaud, Associate Professor, Medicine
  • 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

2025–27

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

2025–26

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

Campus Partner Members

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