When hiring new faculty, departments often look for synergy. Whether hiring someone exploring an expanding field of research or bringing in a candidate who offers a unique perspective on a topic of interest, these new hires offer departments a chance to gain a better breadth and depth on their respective research or teaching field. A recent move by the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics as well as the Department of Biology Teaching and Learning represents a variation on these themes.
“We recently hired two new assistant teaching professors with split appointments between our department and BTL,” says BMBB Head Aaron Goldstrohm. “I think this is a great opportunity for us to expand upon our teaching capabilities within the department, and help build relationships across the College as we look to expand our knowledge and reach in our research and education more broadly.”
New faculty Andrew Grenfell, who started this fall, and Alexandria Hoffman, who comes to campus this winter, look to offer both departments exactly that. In this model, the two hold a 75 percent appointment in BMBB and the remaining quarter in BTL. Grenfell, who is a CBS alum and previously worked as a postdoc in Jeff Gralnick’s lab at the University of Minnesota, sees the unique and beneficial chance a position like this can have as a faculty member.
“My hope is that having a direct line to BTL and the knowledge generated and discussed there will allow me to implement best practices at multiple levels of the CBS curriculum,” he says. “Having contact with both departments will make sharing knowledge of teaching best practices (especially things that are new) more efficient. Hopefully this means that teaching approaches can adapt quickly to changing education environments and to the broad student population that CBS serves!”
In this role, the two will teach both in-depth biochemistry courses, as well as more generalized courses offered by the College. Hoffman, a former postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Diego, knew a position with a combined appointment like this was a unique opportunity.
“I was drawn to this position because of BTL’s focus on evidence-based teaching and equity in teaching,” she says. “I knew I wanted to develop as an educator and BTL seemed like a place that would foster that development. I’m excited to see how this collaboration model will develop and how we can use it to benefit BMBB, BTL, and CBS students.”
This effort is the second iteration of cross-faculty hiring along these lines within the College of Biological Sciences. BTL hired two teaching faculty with cross-appointments in the Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development last year, as well. For BMBB faculty like Robert Evans who have extended experience in the classroom, they see the impact Grenfell and Hoffman can make in this role longer term.
“The role I think they’re going to play is more than just teaching students well and establishing the reputation in the department in college for being excellent teachers,” says Evans. “I think that they will become the mentors for faculty and graduate faculty on teaching and what teaching excellence really means. I’m looking forward to that.” - Lance Janssen