The Core Members of CEILS represent a community of highly valued instructors and staff members who are dedicated to achieving excellence in undergraduate education at UCLA.

Core Members brainstorm ideas, share best practices and institutional knowledge of existing programs and resources, increase awareness about external instructional materials and education research studies, help with events like online workshops and onsite training seminars, assist with the development of innovative course and curriculum projects, work with CEILS leadership to develop proposals in support of STEM education initiatives, participate as instructional consultants that support current and future faculty using teaching approaches and technology evidenced to improve student learning, promote collaborations between CEILS and other campus units, and facilitate dissemination of CEILS activities by contributing to the national conversation about STEM education.

View summaries of teaching innovations by core members.

View Core Member DBER Publications.

Goals:

  • Promote student learning and academic achievements in STEM majors
  • Improve persistence of all students, including those in underrepresented groups, in STEM majors
  • Make and disseminate scholarly contributions to the broader community of STEM educators

Members

Jaime Balboa

Executive Director
Communications, Academic Planning,
and External Partnerships in the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE)

Utpal Banerjee

Professor and Chair
Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology (MCDB)

Director of the Minor in Biomedical Research

Paul Barber

Professor
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB)

Ellen Carpenter

Professor
Psychiatry and Bio-Behavioral Sciences

Chair
Neuroscience Interdepartmental Program

Ira Clark

Academic Administrator
Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology (MCDB)
Minor in Biomedical Research

Will Conley

Adjunct Assistant Professor
Mathematics

Rachelle Crosbie-Watson

Professor
Integrative Biology and Physiology (IBP)
Neurology

Education Liaison
Center for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Kevin Eagan

Assistant Professor
Graduate School of Education and Information Studies (GSE&IS)

Interim Managing Director
Higher Education Research  Institute (HERI)

Cory Evans

Lecturer
Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology (MCDB)
Minor in Biomedical Research

Anthony Friscia

Assistant Adjunct Professor
Integrative Biology and Physiology (IBP)

Alan Garfinkel

Professor
Integrative Biology and Physiology (IBP)
Medicine 

Jim Gober

Professor
Chemistry and Biochemistry

William Grisham

Academic Coordinator
Behavioral Neuroscience,
Department of Psychology

Paige Greene

Assistant Adjunct Professor
Mathematics

Sylvia Hurtado

Professor
Graduate School of Education and Information Studies (GSE&IS)

Director
Higher Education Research Institute (HERI)

Kumiko Haas

Director
Instructional Improvement Programs,
UCLA Office of Instructional Development (OID)

Tama Hasson

Assistant Vice Provost
Undergraduate Research

Director
Undergraduate Research Center – Sciences (URC-Sciences)

Amy Hawkins

Student & Public Relations Officer
UCLA Grand Challenges

Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research (OVCR)

Matt Hatkoff

Post-Doctoral Fellow
Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics (MIMG)

Ann Hirsch

Professor
Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology (MCDB)

Lianna Johnson

Academic Administrator
Life Sciences Core Education (LS Core)

Tracy Johnson

Associate Professor
Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology (MCDB)

Life Science Deans’s Advisor on
Access, Equity, and Excellence

Tracy Knox

MSO – Supervisor
Life Science Core Education (LS Core)

Frank Laski

Professor
Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology (MCDB)

Chair
Life Sciences Core Education (LS Core)

Beth Lazazzera

Associate Professor
Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics (MIMG)

Christopher Lee

Professor
Chemistry and Biochemistry
Computer Science

Marc Levis-Fitzgerald

Director
Survey Research and Curricular Assessment
Center for Educational Assessment,
UCLA Office of Instructional Development (OID)

Jennifer Lindholm

Assistant Vice Provost for Student Success
College of Letters and Sciences, Office of the Deans

Jeffrey H. Miller

Professor
Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics (MIMG)

Jordan Moberg Parker

Lecturer
Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics (MIMG)

Jay Phelan

Academic Administrator
Life Sciences Core Education (LS Core)

Michelle Popowitz

Assistant Vice Chancellor & Executive Director
UCLA Grand Challenges
Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research (OVCR)

Gaston Pfluegl

Academic Coordinator
Life Sciences Core Education (LS Core)

Debra Pires

Academic Administrator
Life Sciences Core Education (LS Core)

Amy Rowat

Assistant Professor
Integrative Biology and Physiology (IBP)

Arlene Russell

Senior Lecturer SOE
Chemistry and Biochemistry

*Dwayne Simmons

Professor
Integrative Biology and Physiology (IBP)

Director
UCLA Minority Access to Research Careers Program (MARC)

Jenessa Shapiro

Associate Professor
Social Psychology,
Department of Psychology

Jane Shevtsov

LS30AB Instructor
Life Sciences Core Education (LS Core)

Stephen Smale

Professor and Vice Chair of Undergraduate Education
Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics (MIMG)

James Stigler

Professor and Chair
Developmental Psychology,
Department of Psychology

Victoria Sork

Dean of Life Sciences

Professor
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB)

Jill Sweitzer

Research and Development Officer & Co-Director
UCLA Grand Challenges
Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research (OVCR)

Kirsten Turlo

Lecturer
Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology (MCDB)
Minor in Biomedical Research

Patricia Turner

Dean and Vice Provost
UCLA Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE)
College of Letters and Sciences

Blaire Van Valkenburgh

Professor
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB)

Associate Dean
Life Sciences for Academic Programs

Rick Wesel

Professor
Electrical Engineering

Associate Dean
Academic and Student Affairs
Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science (HSSEAS)