Louisa Nkrumah is a Learning Experience Designer with the UMD TLTC. She consults with instructors to provide input on effective teaching practices and inclusivity, and she leads many workshops and learning communities for instructors and faculty members at UMD. Outside of work, she enjoys baking, Zumba and Pure Barre classes, reading, watching reality TV, going to Disney Work, and spending time with family and friends. Read about how her family’s Ghanaian culture influences her work below.
Ginny Hutcheson is a Learning Experience Designer with the Teaching & Learning Transformation Center at UMD. She leads pedagogy workshops, learning communities, and consultations for UMD instructors. Read her story below about her lifelong love of teaching and sharing her passion for diversity and inclusion.
Errica Philpott-Barber is the Chair Coordinator for the CBMG department. Her primary role over the last 11 years has been supporting the Chair and managing all faculty-related affairs within the department, including Tenure/Tenure Track and Professional Track Faculty.
Dr. Kevin McIver is a Professor and Chair of the CBMG department. He joined the department in 2006, and was formally named CBMG Chair this past summer after having served as Interim Chair since the spring of 2021. Read his “Pre-Science” story, including growing up near Colonial Williamsburg, below!
Dr. Elisabeth Gantt is a Distinguished Professor Emerita in CBMG who has won numerous awards and was elected into the National Academy of Sciences in 1996. A scientific award has been established in her name at her alma mater, Blackburn College, by her former classmates.
Professor Jeffrey DeStefano and postdoctoral associate Irani Alves Ferreira-Bravo—both from UMD’s Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, were inspired to use their lab’s knowledge of aptamers to expand and improve upon existing therapeutics for COVID-19. Their developments in fluoro-arabino nucleic acid (FANA) aptamers could help prevent initial infection with SARS-CoV-2.
Heven Sze is a Professor Emerita who started with the department in 1982. During her academic journey, she has faced many challenges, like being viewed as a “faculty wife” and trying to find a healthy balance in her personal and professional life. Read about the hurdles she has faced and overcome in the 2005 article published in the American Society of Plant Biologists Newsletter.