Chrysanthe Demetry

Director
Professor
Mechanical Engineering

As Director of the Morgan Teaching and Learning Center, Chrysanthe (Chrys) Demetry is a key contributor to WPI's faculty development strategy. She provides oversight for several internal grants programs that support innovative teaching, educational development, and curriculum development. As a co-PI of WPI's ADVANCE Adaptation grant, she led development of policy education and sensemaking for the Associate-to-Full promotion along with a mentoring system for Associate Professors, programming that has been integrated into the Morgan Center. Under her leadership and in partnership with other units on campus, the Center has been a key partner in developing professional development programs related to MQP and IQP advising; online and hybrid teaching; teaching that supports diversity, equity, and inclusion and that attends to the mental health and well-being of students and faculty; improving classroom spaces to support active and collaborative learning; and increasing capacity for the scholarship of teaching and learning and leadership in teaching endeavors.

N. Aaron Deskins

Associate Director of New Faculty Programs
Professor
Chemical Engineering

Aaron leads campus-wide efforts to assure high quality orientation and mentorship for new faculty members. A WPI faculty member in the Chemical Engineering Department since 2009, Aaron was promoted to Professor in 2022 and has served on the Committee on Tenure and Academic Freedom, including a year as Chair. Aaron has demonstrated commitments to and achievements in undergraduate and graduate teaching and advising, research, faculty mentorship and faculty governance. In addition, he led his his department’s graduate committee for five years and has contributed to departmental DEI and mental health efforts. Aaron also served as an online faculty champion during the summer of 2020 when faculty were preparing online and hybrid courses for the next academic year. 

 

Kimberly LeChasseur

Senior Research & Evaluation Associate
Morgan Teaching and Learning Center
Center for Project-Based Learning

As Senior Research & Evaluation Associate with the Morgan Teaching and Learning Center, Kimberly LeChasseur assists faculty in clarifying, documenting, communicating, and using what they know about the processes and effects of their teaching and research. Kimberly facilitates professional learning about research and evaluation through faculty learning communities and consults with faculty to facilitate scholarly writing and publishing on teaching and learning, co-design and draft evaluation and assessment plans, inform the selection or creation of assessments, and analyze data about the value and areas in need of improvement for faculty- and staff-led projects. Kimberly has a joint appointment with the Center for Project-Based Learning where she focuses specifically on WPI’s signature pedagogy and assisting colleges and universities in the shift to project-based classes, programs, and institutions. WPI community members who would like to arrange a conversation or consultation with Kimberly should complete this form.

Associate Directors for TA and PLA Development

Graduate Teaching Assistants (TAs) and undergraduate Peer Learning Assistants play a vital role in supporting high quality instruction at WPI. This team of Associate Directors focuses on the training, professional development, and recognition of TAs and PLAs. They work to improve the campus-wide PLA training program and enrich professional development opportunities for our TAs. They work with faculty to incorporate TAs and PLAs into effective teaching teams, and help departments and programs develop evaluation plans for their course assistants.

 

Rudra Kafle

Associate Professor of Teaching
Physics

Rudra has been a key player in transforming introductory physics courses at WPI into a studio format. He has also developed a physics pedagogy course for TAs and PLAs in the department, and as co-PI of a PhysTEC grant is working to prepare future middle school and high school physics teachers.

 

 

Zoe Reidinger

Associate Teaching Professor
Biomedical Engineering

Zoe has contributed to the planning and delivery of TA and PLA training since winning the TA of the Year award as a PhD student. Through several teaching grants and work with colleagues as well as TAs and PLAs, Zoe aims to understand how different students experience academia and work toward a fully inclusive model of teaching.

Affiliates

Caitlin Keller

Senior Instructional Designer 

Academic Technology Center

Caitlin takes a leading role in designing and delivering instructional development programming for faculty, whether for in-person, blended/hybrid, or online learning experiences. They also provide one-on-one consultations with faculty about their teaching and course designs. As a key partner of the Morgan Center, Caitlin helps shape program planning and strategy and often works with faculty learning communities. They also have collaborated with faculty on classroom research projects. Caitlin has special interest and expertise in universal design for learning, inclusive and equitable teaching practices, and using physical and/or virtual spaces to create effective learning communities.