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Rebecca Woodland, professor of educational policy, leadership and evaluation in the College of Education and a UMass Amherst alumna, has been named the vice president of the International Network for the Science of Team Science (INSciTS).

INSciTS is a global, membership-based, nonprofit organization and community of scholars, researchers and policymakers working towards providing evidentiary support of team science and the positive role of cross-disciplinary collaboration in developing solutions to the world’s complex problems. As an officer of the board of directors, Woodland will collaborate with members on projects including the INSciTS annual conference and flagship event, which will take place July 28-30 in Silver Spring, Md.

“Those who know me know that I love collaboration; relationships are the unseen forces that power all of life,” says Woodland, who began her new role this month. “A big part of my professional life has been devoted to the study and support of meaningful connections between people within and across education-based organizations. As INSciTS vice president, I am excited to champion team-based science as a vital approach to addressing society's most complex and pressing challenges.”

Woodland – who is the ​​director of Program Evaluation at the Center for Educational Assessment, program director for the Program Evaluation Graduate Certificate and associate director to the Center for Education Policy – has been a part of the education faculty since 2021. Her past research has centered on evaluating team collaboration in professional learning communities, particularly within PK-12 schools. Her team collaboration assessment rubric and collaboration evaluation improvement framework are used widely in the measurement and formative assessment of team-based collaboration.

More information about INSciTS can be found at www.inscits.org.