Weaver Leaves Faculty Development Posts to Focus on Research

Gabriela Weaver is stepping down as vice provost for faculty development and director of the Institute for Teaching Excellence and Faculty Development (TEFD) to focus more time on research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.

The change was announced June 7 by interim Provost John McCarthy, who said he has appointed Weaver special assistant to the provost for educational initiatives in recognition of her ongoing research.

Weaver is the lead investigator at UMass Amherst on a $2.8 million National Science Foundation grant to four universities to develop a new framework for evaluating faculty teaching with the long-term goal of improving undergraduate education. She is also the co-principal investigator on another NSF-funded project, “Creating and Studying a National Network of Centers of STEM Education,” which was awarded $1.5 million in 2015. The four-year project also involves the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and the University of Colorado Boulder.

Since coming to UMass, Weaver has served as a member of the National Academies’ Committee on Developing Indicators for Undergraduate STEM Education, and she is co-author of a National Academies report on “Integrating Discovery-Based Research into the Undergraduate Curriculum.” She has presented keynote or plenary addresses at conferences in China, Norway, and the United States.

Plans for continuing support of teaching and faculty development on campus will be announced soon, said McCarthy.