“My internship gave me the confidence required to walk into the classroom and be a new professor. Beyond all the literature background I gained, I think I value the confidence boost even more!”
Current Position: Visiting Assistant Professor, Biology Department at Roanoke College
UW–Madison Career: PhD, Nutrition Sciences
Delta Internship Project: Implementing active learning in a metabolism course encourages peer collaboration and identifies divergent thought processes across life science majors
What motivated you to start participating in Delta?
I found out a had a strong interest in teaching during a required TA-ship for my graduate program. This led me to both Delta and WISCIENCE over the course of my graduate school career.
How did Delta prepare you for the job market?
Teaching in the College Classroom for STEM ended up being very helpful when I got on the job market, as I had already prepared a teaching philosophy. Knowing I wasn’t starting my application from scratch was a huge confidence builder.
How did Delta help you become a more effective and evidence-based educator?
My Delta Internship exposed me to education research happening in my field. This was when I really started digging into concept mapping as a way of assessing learning in mixed-major courses.
What did you learn about inclusive teaching practices at Delta?
During my internship I explored different methods of implementing active learning into large lecture-based metabolism courses.
How did Delta programming shape your work as a mentor and advisor?
Collectively, Delta promotes the idea that both student-student and faculty-student interaction is a critical component in providing a meaningful education.
What specific skills from the Delta Program do you use in your current role?
In my current position as a visiting professor I am developing my own courses. I implement active learning into each of my lectures, and I have received tons of positive feedback from students who value the opportunities for interaction and feedback. While lecture slides often get a bad rap for being “passive,” I’ve had a lot of success building discussion questions into my slides.
How did the Delta Internship program impact your career, teaching, or mentoring practices?
The internship program led me to discover discipline-based education research (DBER). I have since dug even deeper into the DBER field, and hope to publish some of the labs I have developed soon! I ended up building material from my internship into my new courses. My internship gave me the confidence required to walk into the classroom and be a new professor. Beyond all the literature background I gained, I think I value the confidence boost even more!
How did the Delta Certificate process impact your career or approach to teaching and learning?
I had already accepted my next job as I was finishing up my certificate. During my last semester of grad school I completed a semester of education research with Biocore, which was sponsored by Delta. This experience in particular has sparked my interest in publishing biology education research.
This alum is open to be contacted for informational interviews. Please email info@delta.wisc.edu if you are interested in connecting.