Faculty Coordinators

Jon Anderson

Instructor | School of Physics & Astronomy

Coordinates: Introductory College Physics I

Jon Anderson has taught physics for 35 years at both the high school and college levels. Currently, he is a physics instructor at the University of Minnesota, as well as a clinical supervisor of science student teachers. He also works as a consultant for the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) as the PhysTEC Teacher-in-Residence (TIR) Coordinator and as the PhysicsBowl Academic Coordinator.  Additionally, Jon has been leading QuarkNet workshops at the University of Minnesota since 2003, and physics modeling workshops since 2010 at Florida International University, the University of Central Florida, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, and Northern Arizona University.

Jehanne Beaton Zirps

Education Specialist | Department of Curriculum and Instruction

Coordinates: Exploring the Teaching Profession I; Exploring the Teaching Profession II

Jehanne Beaton Zirps is the Coordinator for the DirecTrack to Teaching Program in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Minnesota. She earned a PhD in Social Studies Education and Teacher Education from the U of M and an MFA in creative writing from Hamline University. She has won the University-wide John Tate Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising and has been a public school educator for over 25 years, working mostly in highly diverse urban schools as a social studies teacher, instructional coach, and teacher leader.

Marcy Bock Eastley

Lecturer | Department of Writing Studies

Coordinates: Writing Studio

Marcy Bock Eastley is a Lecturer in the Department of Writing Studies at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. She earned a PhD in rhetoric and composition from Northern Illinois University and holds an MBA from DePaul University. She has been teaching writing to college students for more than a decade and currently teaches University Writing (WRIT 1301). Building on a successful business career designing digital learning environments, her research and pedagogical interests include rhetoric of digital communities and collaborative practices in the writing classroom.

Rose Brewer

Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor | Department of African American and African Studies

Coordinates: Introduction to African American Studies

Rose Brewer, a Morse-Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor, has received the African American Learning Resources Center Award for Teaching Excellence, the American Sociological Association Distinguished Career Award for the Practice of Sociology, and numerous other awards. In 1999 she was inducted into the National Academy of Distinguished Teachers, University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Professor Brewer has written extensively on black families, race, class and gender, and public policy, publishing over 60 refereed journal articles, book chapters, and scholarly essays in these areas. She has spent over a decade working on curriculum transformation and progressive pedagogy, and consults nationally on issues of race, class, and gender in the curriculum.

Julie Bunn

Executive Director, Minnesota Council on Economic Education | Department of Applied Economics

Coordinates: Principles of Macroeconomics, Principles of Microeconomics

Julie Bunn is a policy analyst and educator whose work and influence have spanned three sectors: academia, government, and nonprofits. Julie began her career as a research economist at the US Department of Labor. After earning a PhD in economics from Stanford University, she taught on the economics faculty of Macalester College. Julie was a Policy Fellow of the Humphrey Institute Policy Forum, and she received a Pew Faculty Fellowship to the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Projects for both focused on active-student learning pedagogy and curriculum for the teaching of topics in applied economics. Julie served in the Minnesota State Legislature (2007–2010) and has served as a policy, strategic, and fundraising advisor to political candidates and nonprofit organizations. Julie joined the Minnesota Council on Economic Education (MCEE) as executive director in September 2018.

Margaret Delehanty Kelly

Senior Teaching Specialist and Director of Undergraduate Studies | Department of Family Social Science

Coordinates: An Interdisciplinary Look at the Family in Multicultural America

Margaret Delehanty Kelly has taught at the University of Minnesota for 15 years. Interested in communication between native and nonnative speakers of English, Kelly holds an MA in applied linguistics—Teaching English as a Second Language—and teaches FSOS 1211 An Interdisciplinary Look at the Family in Multicultural America. She is also interested in and values the community within each classroom.

Jan DeNoble

Teaching Specialist (Retired) | Department of Writing Studies

Coordinates: Writing Studio

Jan DeNoble recently retired as a senior teaching specialist in the Department of Writing Studies. She earned her BA in speech/theatre from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and MA in English from the University of Minnesota. She taught writing and literature in the University's General College, including a number of courses through Neighborhood Programs. She taught WRIT 1201 and WRIT 1301 for writing studies, primarily sections targeting students of color, those who are part of the "1.5 generation," and those who are in the first generation of their family to attend college.

Randy Fletcher

Associate Professor | Department of Psychology

Coordinates: Introduction to Psychology

Randy Fletcher is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology. He holds a PhD in psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He conducts research on the psychological processes involved in understanding and remembering stories and other types of texts. He teaches The Psychology of Language, The Psychology of Paranormal Phenomena, and the Psychology Department's Honors Research Practicum. He also lectures on human memory and cognition in Introduction to Psychology.

Katharine Gerbner

Associate Professor | Department of History

Coordinates: Authority and Rebellion: America History to 1865, Global America: US History Since 1865

Katharine Gerbner is Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Minnesota. Her research and teaching focus on Atlantic History, Early American History, Caribbean History, and the History of Religion & Race. She has served on the Social Studies Standards Review Committee (2020–21) for the state of Minnesota and works with educators in both higher education and K–12 settings to integrate new research into US and World History courses.

Brad Hokanson

Professor | Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel

Coordinates: Creative Problem Solving [Pilot Phase]

Brad Hokanson is a professor of Design at the University of Minnesota. He has a diverse academic record, including degrees in art (Carleton), architecture (Minnesota), urban design (Harvard), and received his PhD in Instructional Technology from the University of Minnesota.

He teaches in the area of creative problem solving and has published research in the fields of creativity and educational technology. He won his college's awards for outstanding teaching in 2002 and 2008, and served as the Mertie Buckman Professor of Design Education from 2016–2021. His most recent book on the development of creativity is Developing Creative Thinking in Learners. He is currently the Director of Graduate Studies.

He served as President of the Association of Educational Communication and Technology in 2017 and as Interim President in 2020. Visits to Buenos Aires, when possible, support his Argentine tango habit.

He has recently completed research on the relationship between creativity and achievement in school children, comparing measured creativity with standardized achievement scores. He is now running his fourth massive online course on creativity for the University of Minnesota with an enrollment of over 212,000. Two previous courses each enrolled over 52,000 learners.

Murray Jensen

Associate Professor | Department of Biology Teaching and Learning

Coordinates: Physiology, Technology, and Medical Devices

Murray Jensen is a member of the University's Academy of Distinguished Teachers, and has received both University of Minnesota Alumni Association's Horace T. Morse Award for outstanding contributions to undergraduate education, and the Society for College Science Teachers' Outstanding Undergraduate Science Teacher Award.

Timothy Johnson

Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor | Department of Political Science

CoordinatesAmerican Democracy in a Changing World

Timothy Johnson is Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching professor of political science and law. He has won The Red Motley Award of Teaching Excellence in the College of Liberal Arts and the University-wide John Tate Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising. In addition he has been a part of the President’s Distinguished Faculty Mentorship Program for two years. He received his PhD from Washington University in Saint Louis in 1998. Johnson is particularly interested in the study of American judicial politics. He teaches classes on constitutional law, civil liberties, criminal rights, judicial process, and American politics.

Elizabeth "Liz" Lake

Senior Teaching Specialist

Coordinates: Intermediate Spanish I, Intermediate Spanish II

Liz Lake has been teaching Spanish at the University of Minnesota since 2002. She has taught and been involved in curricular enhancements in both SPAN 1003 and 1004 for the past 10 years. Liz has also taught English as a Second Language (ESL) at the U of M, Minneapolis Community & Technical College, and Normandale Community College. She has also lived and taught English in Argentina and Chile. Her academic interests include language teaching and technology, educational podcasting, integrated performance assessments (IPAs), and inclusive teaching practices. She co-produced the Spanish- and Portuguese-language podcast Voc/zes with Stephanie Anderson, for which they received the CLA Outstanding Service Award in 2018.

Corinth Matera

Teaching Specialist | Department of Writing Studies

Co-coordinates: University Writing (WRIT 1301)

Corinth Matera is a Teaching Specialist in the Department of Writing Studies at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She has been teaching writing to college and high school students for almost 30 years. Her pedagogical interests include equitable assessment practices, anti-racist teaching in the writing classroom, and equipping students to write across the curriculum.

Fumiko Matsumoto

Senior Teaching Specialist | Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

CoordinatesBeginning Japanese IBeginning Japanese II

Fumiko Matsumoto is a senior teaching specialist in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. A native speaker of Japanese, Matsumoto is teaching beginning Japanese at the University of Minnesota. She has taught Japanese in schools in Japan.

Charles McNamara

Lecturer | Department of Classical and Near Eastern Religions and Cultures

Coordinator: Beginning Classical Greek I, Beginning Classical Greek II, Intermediate Latin Prose, Intermediate Latin Poetry: Vergil

Charles McNamara is a Lecturer in the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Religions and Cultures. His research centers on Greek and Roman concepts of persuasion and proof as well as the early modern reception of classical rhetorical theory. During the 2016-2017 academic year, he was the National Endowment for the Humanities/Society for Classical Studies Postdoctoral Fellow at the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, where he trained as a Latin lexicographer. Before coming to the University of Minnesota, he was the Robert Belknap Core Faculty Fellow in the Department of Classics at Columbia, where he was awarded the Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching.

Diane Odash

Senior Teaching Specialist | Department of Communication Studies

Coordinates: Introduction to Public Speaking

Diane Odash is a senior teaching specialist in the Department of Communication Studies, College of Liberal Arts. She has her MA degree in rhetoric from the University of Minnesota. Odash is an alum of the CIS program, and has been teaching at the University since 2004. Her teaching interests focus on performance-based classes in the communications field, in particular public speaking and interviewing.

David Orser

Morse-Alumni Distinguished Associate Teaching Professor | Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Coordinates: Introduction to Computing Systems [Pilot Phase]

David Orser is a Morse-Alumnia Distinguished associate professor in the College of Science and Engineering (CSE) in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). David builds lab curriculum for undergraduate courses, teaches courses, trains teaching assistants, and runs various STEM education outreach activities. He has over a decade of industry experience working in mixed-signal integrated circuit design. He has contributed to research in the areas of power electronics and engineering education. David is also active in FIRST robotics and is currently the programming Mentor for Team 2987 – Rogue Robotics.

William Robbins

Professor | Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Coordinates: Climate Crisis: Implementing Solutions

William Robbins earned his PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Washington and has been at the University of Minnesota since 1969. He was Associate Department Head from 2007–17. He has taught most of the required undergraduate core courses (second- and third-year courses) in electrical engineering. His recent research has been in the area of energy harvesting using flexible piezoelectric materials. He is a coauthor of a widely used textbook in power electronics, which is currently being revised into a fourth edition.

Jonathan Rogness

Assistant Professor | School of Mathematics

CoordinatesCSE Calculus I

Jonathan Rogness is an assistant professor in the School of Mathematics and director of the Mathematics Center for Educational Programs, which runs the University of Minnesota Talented Youth in Mathematics Program (UMTYMP). Rogness coordinates a number of enrichment programs for students and professional development programs for teachers. His original area of research is algebraic topology, but he has been very active in the visualization of mathematics and its use in the classroom. Among the general public he is best known for a video about Moebius Transformations which has been viewed nearly 2 million times on YouTube and has been featured in Science Magazine, MPR, and a nationwide Math Film Festival in Germany.

Kyle Rozeboom

Lecturer | Department of Animal Science

Co-coordinatesIntroduction to Animal Science

Kyle Rozeboom is a lecturer and the livestock judging team coach at the U of M. Courses he currently teaches include Livestock and Carcass Evaluation, Food Animal Products for Consumers, and Sheep Production. He received his bachelor’s degree in animal science at the University at Minnesota and his master’s in animal science at the University of Missouri. Kyle has worked as an Instructor and livestock judging team coach at both the University of Georgia and University of Tennessee-Martin.

Katherine Scheil

Distinguished University Teaching Professor | Department of English

Coordinates: Introduction to Literature: Poetry, Drama, Narrative

Katherine Scheil has been teaching at the college level for over 25 years, and at the University of Minnesota since 2005. She earned her BA in English and Music from Florida State University, and her MA and PhD in English at the University of Toronto. Her research and teaching interests are related to Shakespeare and his afterlife, especially among women writers and readers. Her books include Imagining Shakespeare's Wife: The Afterlife of Anne Hathaway (Cambridge, 2018), She Hath Been Reading: Women and Shakespeare Clubs in America (2012), and The Taste of the Town: Shakespearean Comedy and the Early Eighteenth-Century Theatre (2003). She served as Director of Graduate Study in English for five years and was awarded the University of Minnesota's Outstanding Contributions to Graduate and Professional Teaching award.

Sarah Selz

Senior Lecturer | Department of Writing Studies

Co-coordinates: University Writing (WRIT 1301)

Sarah Selz is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Writing Studies at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She began working in the department in 2014 and currently teaches in the First-Year Writing program, works as a multilingual learner specialist in the Center for Writing, and co-coordinates the WRIT 1301 cohort of College in the Schools. Sarah’s background is in both writing and language instruction, and she has previously taught in the Minnesota English Language Program at the University of Minnesota as well as at institutions in South Korea, China, and Turkey. Her research and pedagogical interests include valuing linguistic diversity, developing more equitable assessment practices, and exploring the relationship between writing and learning.

Tony Seykora

Distinguished Teaching Professor | Department of Animal Science

Co-coordinatesIntroduction to Animal Science

Tony Seykora received his PhD in animal science from North Carolina State University in 1982. Among Dr. Seykora’s many awards are Minnesota FFA Hall of Fame Inductee, Honorary American FFA Degree, and University of Minnesota Alumni Association Outstanding Faculty Volunteer Award. He has published research in the field of dairy cattle genetics and works with statewide 4-H dairy projects. Courses that he currently teaches include Introductory Animal Science, Animal and Society, and Animal Breeding. In 2009, Seykora received the CFANS Alumni Society Distinguished Faculty Award.

Ginny Steinhagen

Senior Lecturer | Department of German, Scandinavian, and Dutch

CoordinatesIntermediate German IIntermediate German II

Ginny Steinhagen is a senior lecturer in the Department of German, Scandinavian, and Dutch and has her PhD in German from the University of Minnesota. She is past president of the Minnesota Association of Teachers of German and a former CIS German instructor. Steinhagen has been teaching at the University of Minnesota since 1998. She is coordinator of the fourth-semester German program and an editor of the Sprünge second-year German course materials.

Yao Tu

Associate Director of the Chinese Flagship Program | Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

Coordinator: Beginning Modern Chinese I, Beginning Modern Chinese II, Intermediate Modern Chinese I, Intermediate Modern Chinese II

Yao Tu is the Associate Director of the Chinese Flagship Program at the University of Minnesota. She received her PhD in Curriculum and Teaching from the University of Kansas, and her research interest is in language teaching and learning in a blended context. Yao has extensive experience in language testing: she is a certified ACTFL and government Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) tester, Writing Proficiency Test (WPT) rater, and ACTFL Assessment of Performance toward Proficiency in Languages (AAPPL) rater and has been involved in many language testing projects with ACTFL since 2012. Yao is also interested in K–16 articulation. She has worked as an online curriculum designer for the federally funded StarTalk program and has also served as an AP Reader for the Chinese Language and Culture Exam.

Bhaskar Upadhyay

Associate Professor | Department of Curriculum and Instruction

CoordinatesPhysics by Inquiry

Dr. Bhaskar Upadhyay is an associate professor of science education in the STEM Program, Department of Curriculum and Instruction. He has taught physics both at the K-12 level and also at the university level for more than 12 years. He taught Physics by Inquiry for three years at the University of Texas at Austin as an assistant instructor. Currently, he teaches graduate-level courses in elementary and secondary science teacher licensure and doctoral programs. His research focuses on how science, including physics, could be taught in a more engaging way so students better understand science and make it part of their everyday activities. He is also working with middle and high school teachers, through a National Science Foundation grant, to understand the physics of air particle monitors and use them to monitor classroom air quality to predict the health effects of air pollutants. He believes that learning physics is fun and valuable to all youths and adults.

Andrew Zieffler

Senior Lecturer | Department of Educational Psychology

Coordinates: Basic and Applied Statistics

Andrew Zieffler is a Senior Lecturer and researcher in the Quantitative Methods in Education program within the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota. He currently teaches undergraduate and graduate-level courses in statistics and trains and supervises graduate students in statistics education. In a previous life he taught mathematics and A.P. Statistics at ROCORI High School in Cold Spring, MN.

He has authored several papers and book chapters related to statistics education and has been a co-PI on many NSF-funded statistics education research projects. Additionally, Andrew has coauthored two textbooks that serve as an introduction to modern statistical and computational methods for students in the educational and behavioral sciences. He currently serves as coeditor of the journal Technology Innovations in Statistics Education and as a member of the Research Advisory Board for the Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education (CAUSE).

Advisory Board

Jessica Bomstad-Young, CIS Instructor, English, AVID Coordinator; Blaine High School

Donald (Don) Bosch, Principal; White Bear Lake High School

Adam Dittberner, Assistant Principal; Shakopee High School

Heather Dodds, CIS Instructor, Political Science and Psychology; Brooklyn Center Middle and High School STEAM

Erin Heilman, K-12 High Potential and Innovative Programs Coordinator; Shakopee High School

Bob Hennen, High School Principal, former CIS Instructor; Watertown-Mayer High School

Kelli Hillestad, Counselor; Brooklyn Center Middle and High School STEAM

Michael Huberty, Mathematics Assessment Specialist, Minnesota Department of Education, former CIS Instructor; Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

Bruce Kiehn, Principal; Eden Valley-Watkins High School

Susan (Sue) Staats, U of M Professor, Curriculum and Instruction, Math, CEHD and CIS Faculty Coordinator; University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus

Chelsie Thielen, CIS Instructor, English; North Lakes Academy

Michael Tiffany, Academic Dean and Assistant Principal, CIS Instructor, Latin and Greek; Providence Academy

Jeff Vizenor, Principal; Jordan High School

Andrew Zieffler, U of M Professor of Teaching, Educational Psychology, CEHD and CIS Faculty Coordinator; University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus