ASU faculty members selected for National Science Foundation SERP Conference (3084 hits)
ASU is one of only 19 universities selected to participate in the Southeast Regional Partnership (SERP) conference nationwide.
A team of Alabama State University faculty members has been invited to participate in the Southeast Regional Partnership for Undergraduate Life Science Education (SERP) Institute June 18 - 21 at the University of Richmond in Virginia.
The Institute is a project of the Partnership for Life Sciences Education (PULSE).
The ASU team includes Dr. Diann Jordan (team leader and professor of biology), Dr. Kartz Bibb (honors biology instructor), Dr. Manoj Mishra (undergraduate coordinator), Dr. Audrey Napier (interim chair of the Department of Biological Sciences) and Dr. Kennedy Wekesa (interim dean of the College of Science, Mathematics and Technology).
ASU is one of only 19 universities selected to participate in the conference nationwide.
“The Institute is designed to improve undergraduate education in the life sciences,” Jordan said. “The unique mission of the Institute is to reform and inspire curriculum changes in entire science departments, especially the life sciences.”
ASU was selected to participate in the SERP Institute, in part, because of a National Science Foundation grant (RCN-UBE, Research Coordination Network-Undergraduate Biology Education) Jordan received in February to establish the first HBCU-Alabama BioSciences Network in the state.
Jordan said the Institute will have a positive impact on student learning.
“This Institute will benefit ASU, along with other small and large universities in the southeast region of the United States, by providing key undergraduate and graduate biology faculty the opportunity to discuss, consider collaborative opportunities, improve pedagogical knowledge and skills of faculty and ultimately improve the skills and outcomes of students in the biological sciences,” Jordan said.
SERP Institute participants were selected from among the more than 800 colleges and universities accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The selection process ensured an equal representation of Research I universities, comprehensive regional universities, liberal arts colleges and two-year colleges. At least 30 percent of the invited schools in each category are minority-serving institutions. From this pool of invited institutions, only 19 teams were selected to attend the Institute.
Funded by the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the SERP Institute will engage institutions throughout the Southeast region in the national PULSE initiative.
