Biosketches of invited speakers, Institute facilitators, and ... - SENCER

At SSI 2010, Byron will present the concurrent session “SENCER Backgrounder: Bull in a China Shop or
Deer in the Headlights Learning to Teach Interdisciplinary Courses.” He will also co-present the plenary
symposium on “Students as Partners in Change” and a workshop on “Critical Thinking About Really Big
Questions: Integrating the Disciplines.”
Terry McGuire is a professor and vice chair in the department of genetics at Rutgers University. He
obtained his bachelor’s degree from the Ohio State University and his doctorate from the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has published in many different areas including Mendelian and
mathematical genetics, behavioral and neural genetics, and ecological genetics. He has designed and
taught a wide range of courses within the department of genetics. Terry has been an active participant in
the SENCER project. He has been a SENCER senior associate and core faculty member since 2004, and
serves as a Senior Fellow of the NCSCE. He is the author of a SENCER backgrounder describing his
journey as a professor. With Monica Devanas, he is co-director of the SENCER Center for Innovation-
Midatlantic. In addition to his work with SENCER he is a BEN (BioSciEdNet) Scholar (2006) and a
Rutgers Presidential CASTL Fellow (Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning).
In 2007, he was recognized for his Distinguished Contributions to Undergraduate Education in the School
of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University. He is also a lead editor for the online learning resource
Scitable – Nature Education. This year, his new course Evolutionary Medicine was selected as a SENCER
Model.
At SSI 2010, Terry will present a session on “A 2010 SENCER National Model: Evolutionary Medicine.”
He will also be a panelist on the work sessions “Pedagogy and Assessment” and “Campus-Wide and
Other Implementations” and a workshop on “Survivor: SENCER Islands (Students Get Lost in Paces that
We Didn’t Even Know Existed.”
Debra Meyer is a professor in the biochemistry department at the University of Pretoria in South Africa.
Her research efforts focus on vaccine development and identifying novel compounds with activity against
HIV/AIDS. Since her time as a graduate student at UC Davis, she has been very active in HIV/AIDS
education projects at various forums. In Gauteng Province, South Africa, she has been involved in
HIV/AIDS education projects with numerous individuals and organizations. Debra is involved in science
training of high school teachers and teachers in training, helped to introduce SENCER as a means of
incorporating HIV/AIDS into the formal university curriculum to science educators in Kenya, Tanzania,
Uganda and Ghana and continues her independent work in HIV education and prevention efforts. She
presents annual SENCER symposia at institutions in South Africa and in 2009 presented a paper on the
benefits of SENCER at a conference on curriculum integration in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Debra is
interested in the global applicability of SENCER and the program's potential role in the
internationalization of science education.
At SSI 2010, Debra will co-present session on “HIV/AIDS and Related Phenomena” and “International
SENCER Initiatives.” She will also co-facilitate a work session on “Pedagogy and Assessment.”
Catherine Hurt Middlecamp is the director of the Chemistry Learning Center and the chair of the
Integrated Liberal Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Cathy has been with
SENCER since its inception in 2000, serving currently as a senior associate, a member of the National
Fellowship Board, and a member of the board of advisers for GLISTEN. With Omie Baldwin, she
developed the 2004 SENCER Model course, Chemistry and Ethnicity: Uranium and American Indians.
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