Success in the Classroom Sharing Practices that Work

December 19, 2013 -

Conference & Workshop

February 19 & 20, 2014

Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs in the College of Biological Science
Professor of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development
University of Minnesota

Robin Wright is Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs in the College of Biological Sciences and Professor of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development at the University of Minnesota.  Over the past 21 years, she has mentored more than 100 undergraduate researchers.  She is currently working exclusively on undergraduate education research and initiatives.  Prof. Wright has experience teaching both large and small classes, including freshman seminars, large introductory biology courses, and skill-oriented courses for honors students.  She helped to develop and co-teaches in an orientation/enrichment course required for all 500 incoming freshmen in the college.  She has also been a leader in development of Foundations of Biology, an innovative, team-based introductory biology course for biological sciences majors. Prof. Wright is recognized nationally as a leader in the development of team-based, active-learning pedagogy in large (>100 seat) Active Learning Classrooms.  Among many contributions to life-science education scholarship, she is a member of the Advisory Committee for the HHMI/National Academies of Science-sponsored Summer Institute on Biology Education, and has served as a mentor and presenter at each annual workshop since the first one in 2003.  She is currently the founding editor of a new biology education journal, CourseSource, which will publish biology curriculum materials that are linked to learning outcomes established by biological sciences professional societies.  In 2012, she was named as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.