Celebration of Educational Innovations at America's Leading Research Universities

To celebrate the past decade of educational innovations, AAU is hosted five Virtual Panel Conversations in spring 2025. 

The objective of the series was to engage AAU member campuses who participated in the AAU Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative and the Evaluating Effective and Equitable Teaching at Research Universities Learning Community. The five panels included interactive discussions and centered cross-cutting strategies AAU campuses have used to advance evidence-informed innovations to undergraduate education. The titles and panelists for each can be seen below:

Tuesday, January 28: Reflecting and Looking Forward: Catalyzing Educational Innovations at Research Universities

• Toby Smith, Senior Vice President for Government Relations and Public Policy, AAU

• Susan Rundell Singer, President, St. Olaf’s College

• Melanie Cooper, Professor of Chemistry and Lappan-Phillips Professor of Science Education, Michigan State University

Wednesday, February 19: Building a Culture of Shared Responsibility for Undergraduate STEM Education in Academic Departments

• Robin Forman, Senior Vice President and Provost, Tulane University

• Kelly Hogan, Professor of the Practice of Biology and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Duke University

• Jody Greene, Associate Campus Provost, University of California, Santa Cruz

Thursday, March 13: Helping Departments Succeed: The Critical Role of Institutional Infrastructure

• Erin Sanders O’Leary, Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning, University of California, Los Angeles

• Jennifer Heemstra, Chair and Professor of Chemistry, Washington University in St. Louis

Wednesday, April 2: Data Informed Decision Making

• Michael Dennin, Professor of Physics & Astronomy and Dean of the Division of Undergraduate Education, University of California, Irvine

• Marco Molinaro, Executive Director for Educational Effectiveness and Analytics, University of Maryland

Thursday, April 17: Centering Educational Contributions in the Faculty Rewards Structures

• Dea Follmer Greenhoot, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, University of Kansas

• Adrienne Lavine, Special Assistant to the Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning for the Holistic Evaluation of Teaching Initiative, University of California, Los Angeles

View Event Recordings

Reflecting and Looking Forward: Catalyzing Educational Innovations at Research Universities

Tuesday, January 28, 2025, from 2:00-3:30 pm ET

The purpose of this virtual panel conversation was to explore the future of higher education in conjunction with the past decade of work in undergraduate STEM education across AAU institutions.