Our Team
ASCN Hub
Western Michigan University
Dr. Charles Henderson is a Professor at Western Michigan University (WMU), with a joint appointment between the Physics Department and the WMU Mallinson Institute for Science Education. He is the co-founder and co-director of the WMU Center for Research on Instructional Change in Postsecondary Education (CRICPE). His research program focuses on understanding and promoting instructional change in higher education, with an emphasis on improving undergraduate STEM instruction. Dr. Henderson's work has been supported by over $7M in external grants and has resulted in a many publications. He has been a Fulbright Scholar with the Finnish Institute for Educational Research at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Dr. Henderson is the senior editor for the journal Physical Review - Physics Education Research and has served on two National Academy of Sciences Committees: Undergraduate Physics Education Research and Implementation, and Developing Indicators for Undergraduate STEM Education.
Dr. Andrea L. Beach is a Professor of Higher Education Leadership and Co-Director of the Center for Research on Instructional Change in Postsecondary Education (CRICPE) at Western Michigan University. She founded and was Director of the Office of Faculty Development at WMU from 2008-2015. She received her Master's degree in Adult and Continuing Education and her PhD in Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education (HALE) from Michigan State University in 1998 and 2003, respectively. Her research centers on organizational change in higher education, support of innovation in teaching and learning, faculty learning communities, and faculty development as a change lever. She is a co-author of Creating the Future of Faculty Development: Learning from the Past, Understanding the Present (Sorcinelli, Austin, Eddy & Beach, 2006), and is the lead author on a 10-year follow-up to that work, Faculty Development in the Age of Evidence: Current Practices, Future Imperatives(Beach, Sorcinelli, Austin & Rivard, 2016). She has been PI and co-PI on several NSF-funded grants focused on instructional change strategies that have produced articles and book chapters on instructional change strategies, as well as instruments to self-report instruction and academic department climate for instructional improvement. She is most recently director of a $3.2 million project funded by the US Department of Education's First in the World program to undertake, document, and measure outcomes of institutional transformation aimed at improving the persistence and academic success of students from low-income backgrounds.
Kennesaw State University
Dr. Kadian M. Callahan is Assistant Dean for Faculty and Student Success in the College of Science and Mathematics at Kennesaw State University and Professor of Mathematics Education. She works with administrators, faculty, staff, and student leaders to promote student success through inclusive policies and practices, and has served as an external evaluator for STEM education projects. As a change agent and change researcher, she examines students' experiences in undergraduate STEM courses and programs and how student voice facilitates change in undergraduate STEM education.
Staff
Western Michigan University
Center for Research on Instructional Change in Postsecondary Education (CRICPE)
ASCN Research Director
Dr. Casey Wright became the ASCN Research Director in October 2022. Casey earned her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from Western Michigan University. She then pursued research in Chemical Education at Purdue University where she earned her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. In her dissertation research, she examined how the STEM higher education institution organizes the experiences of parenting women in STEM doctoral programs. Broadly, she is interested in how postsecondary educational systems shape the experiences and learning of each member of the educational community to reimagine those systems to be accessible and socially just. Casey is passionate about supporting researchers and change agents from varying disciplinary perspectives and institutional contexts in efforts to better support students. When not engaged in supporting the network, you can find her pursuing her other passions including ballet, sewing, baking, reading, and spending time with her partner Ryan and cat, Mittens.
Carleton College
Science Education Resource Center (SERC)
Content Specialist
Steering Committee
The role of the steering committee is to provide strategic guidance and support for the intellectual work of the community. The steering committee consists of the ASCN Hub and sixteen additional experts who represent the diversity of the targeted research community. The steering committee is responsible for both internal activities of the network (e.g., guiding vision and strategy, aligning activities) as well as promoting interactions between the network and external entities (e.g., publicizing network activities, advocating for policy changes, securing funding).
