Meet the Team

Jessi Hill

Director

Social Science & Policy Studies

Before joining WPI, Dr. Hill was a tenured Associate Professor of Psychology in the Behavioral Sciences Department at Utah Valley University. A seasoned grant writer and researcher, Dr. Hill was awarded UVU’s first National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation grant. She has been recognized internationally as a scholar on teaching and learning, and she is an award-winning educator who incorporates culturally relevant, learner-centered teaching, and high-impact practices (HIPs) across delivery modalities. All her work centers on student success and improving student learning outcomes, such as when she served as Director of the UVU Excelerate scholarship program. She also provides HIPs faculty development, such as during her time as Director of Project-Based Learning. As a strong advocate for women leaders, she co-created the Utah Women's Leadership Exchange and served as the Inaugural Academic Director for UVU's Research Institute at UVU’s Women's Success Center. In recognition, Dr. Hill was awarded UVU's Presidential Award of Excellence for leadership for her work developing women leaders at UVU and throughout the state of Utah and the Faculty Service Award from UVU's Women's Success Center. She was appointed as one of three Inaugural Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Faculty Fellows, and has recently focused her work on providing equitable access to education for marginalized groups both on campus, including membership on UVU’s Executive Inclusion Committee, and within the community, as she served on the Roots of Humanity Board, contributing to their mission of fostering esteem and unity through art and education.

As part of WPI, Dr. Hill directs the Morgan Teaching & Learning Center in its mission to support faculty across all career stages as they provide transformational, theory and practice learning experiences as part of WPI’s innovative project-based curriculum. She serves as an Assistant Editor of the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network’s flagship journal, “To Improve the Academy.”

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.

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.

Caitlin Neer

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.

Valerie Smedile Rifkin

Instructional Designer II

Information Technology Management

Valerie coordinates the design, development, and implementation of online, blended, or technology-enhanced courses and faculty training in current pedagogical practices.