The Teaching Center

Regina (Gina) F. Frey, Ph.D. became director of The Teaching Center in 2002. Gina has a joint appointment as a senior lecturer in Chemistry. She teaches General Chemistry, two Women in Science freshman-focus courses, and two peer-leader training courses for the PLTL program.  Before joining the Department of Chemistry as lecturer in 1994, Gina was employed as a scientific-support specialist, first with IBM (1988-1992) and then with Biosym Technologies (1992-1994).

As director of The Teaching Center, Gina works with faculty from all disciplines to help them improve their teaching effectiveness. Since 2002, Gina has developed and presented pedagogical workshops for faculty, customizing the workshops for specific departments when appropriate. Since 2007, Gina has offered a junior-faculty workshop series for assistant professors. In addition, Gina consults with faculty, individually and in groups, to discuss strategies for incorporating new pedagogical methods and tools, such as group work, active-learning exercises, writing exercises, and instructional technology.

Gina has initiated a scholarship area to The Teaching Center mission and has recently expanded her own pedagogical research, which began with projects in chemical education, into other disciplines. Gina collaborates on scholarship projects with departments (e.g. Chemistry, Education, and Psychology) and other Washington University centers (e.g. Cornerstone: Center for Academic Learning, and Science Outreach). The results of this research inform Gina's work with faculty from across the disciplines.

In her capacity as chairperson of the Classroom Monitoring Committee (CMC), Gina works closely with Liz Peterson (associate director of classrooms services) and the other members of the CMC to oversee the planning and management of University-managed classrooms. The committee's responsibilities include working with Facilities Management to design, renovate, and upgrade the classrooms. Gina has also initiated the development of design standards for University-managed classrooms and classroom multimedia. In conjunction with the Office of Student Records, Gina analyzes classroom-usage data and advises the University on the types of classrooms that are needed.

As senior lecturer in Chemistry, Gina is one of the instructors for General Chemistry, which each year enrolls approximately 680 undergraduate students, most of whom are in their first year at the University. In collaboration with Dewey Holten (professor of Chemistry), Gina has introduced computer-based instructional tools, including online tutorials, into undergraduate teaching in chemistry. Gina has also collaborated with Shawn Shields and Bill Spees in Chemistry to develop a program to help under-prepared students be more successful in General Chemistry. This program, which began in 2002, now includes a diagnostic exam, a mentoring component, and extended-length recitation sub-sections.

In 2006, Gina and Barbara Baumgartner (senior lecturer in Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies) developed Women in Science, two freshman-focus courses that enrolled students take concurrently with Introduction to Women and Gender Studies. Gina and Barbara continue to teach these courses, which are offered every two years.

In 2001, Gina collaborated with Susan Hockings in Chemistry to introduce the Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) concept into General Chemistry. PLTL has since been adopted for use in Calculus and General Physics. Gina also developed, and continues to teach, the Peer-Leader training courses. With Keith Sawyer (associate professor of Education) and Pat Brown (assistant director of The Teaching Center), Gina has examined PLTL discourse to determine how different conversational and group dynamics within the groups affect student learning.

Since 2005, Gina has developed, in collaboration with faculty in Chemistry, Biology, History, and the coordinator of University's Geospatial Information Systems, teaching with technology projects that incorporate wireless tablet PCs into the laboratory and classroom.

Gina has received funding for educational curriculum development from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Undergraduate Education (1995-1998, 2005-2008, 2007-2009), the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Undergraduate Biological Sciences Education Program (1995-present), and the Hewlett-Packard Technology for Teaching Grant Initiative (2005 and 2007). She has also received the NSF Workshop Project Associate Grant, in support of the introduction of the PLTL concept into General Chemistry (2002-2003).

Gina received her B.S. degree, summa cum laude, in chemistry and mathematics from Clarion State University in Pennsylvania in 1982 and her Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Utah in 1986. She was a postdoctoral fellow at Indiana University from 1986-1988.