Wienhold Named Faculty Fellow for Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Caroline Wienhold was named the first Faculty Fellow for the UT Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM), expanding her role as associate director of biology teaching and learning in the Division of Biology to connect with faculty and students throughout the division.
As the NSM faculty fellow, she will work with departments to develop and implement student success grants and provide support to assessment efforts in the NSM departments, starting with math and chemistry. She will also work with Divisional Dean Kate Jones on curriculum development, proposal of an NSM-wide survey course, and school outreach.
“Within biology, I’m lucky to have a position where I collaborate with faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students to drive and support projects to improve student learning,” said Wienhold. “I’m excited to be moving to a bigger stage to support faculty and students in all of the departments in NSM, and to be thinking about how the division itself could enact programs or run assessment in ways to build collaboration across and better support the departments.”
Projects in her biology role have included promoting graduate student professional development in teaching, coordinating the annual Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) assessment, and working on a grant with the Division of Student Success to enhance community among faculty and increase academic support for students in 100- and 200-level biology courses.
“Caroline brings a lot of experience to this role from her work in general biology, including working with student success on the biology ‘Booster Shot’ as well as program assessment,” said Jones. “I have been impressed with Caroline’s enthusiasm and her can-do attitude. She is already making impacts in programs across the division of natural sciences and mathematics.”
Wienhold brings a strong background in science to her expanded role. She earned her PhD in genetics and genomics from the University of Connecticut, then did a Howard Hughes Medical Institute postdoctoral fellowship with the Wisconsin Institute for Science Education and Community Engagement, in discipline-based education research.
“I’ve been working in the Division of Biology and primarily with the general biology group since late 2016,” said Wienhold. “I have STEM content training, which should help me ‘talk science,’ and training in studying and enacting pedagogy.”
She will apply her first-hand experience to provide a link across NSM departments for teaching, student success, and assessment efforts.
“I’m always looking for opportunities to enhance teaching and learning efforts in STEM,” said Wienhold. “As Faculty Fellow, I want to find ways the division can provide targeted support, work on divisional student success efforts, and work with faculty and graduate students directly to give more power to developing their ideas.”