Craig E. Nelson, Ph.D.

Craig E. Nelson is Professor Emeritus of Biology at Indiana University in Bloomington, where he has been since 1966. His biological research (60+ articles and chapters) has been on evolution and ecology, most recently on sex-determination in turtles. His articles on teaching (20+) address critical thinking and mature valuing, diversity, active learning, teaching evolution and the scholarship of teaching and learning. He has presented invited workshops on these and related topics at numerous national meetings and at many individual institutions (in 36 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, England, Australia and South Africa). He has taught several courses in biology as well as intensive freshman seminars, great books and other honors courses, several collaboratively taught interdisciplinary courses (mostly in environmental studies) and regularly taught a graduate course on "Alternative Approaches to Teaching College Biology." He has been instrumental in the development of IU's award winning Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL) program and was founding Director of Environmental Programs in it’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He has received several awards for distinguished teaching from IU and nationally competitive awards from Vanderbilt and Northwestern universities. He has been a Carnegie Scholar since 2000. He was named the “Outstanding Research And Doctoral University Professor Of The Year 2000” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). He received the President's Medal for Excellence, "the highest honor bestowed by Indiana University," in 2001. He was the first President of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, which he helped found in 2004. His workshops and pedagogical publications emphasize the importance of active learning for its own benefits (increased learning, retention and enthusiasm), as a way to more effectively foster critical thinking and as the core to any effective response to diversity. The workshops themselves rely heavily on active learning techniques, thus directly demonstrating the effectiveness of active learning, and provide introductory bibliographies.

Topics By Craig E. Nelson

• Fostering Critical Thinking and Mature Valuing Across The Curriculum
  
  
• Achievement, Equity and Retention: Three Pedagogical Changes that Can Make a Real Difference in ANY College Classroom
  
  
• Diversity, Achievement and Retention--A Conversation with Administrators
  
  
• Dysfunctional Illusions of Rigor--Key Lessons from the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning
  
  
• Stages and Frameworks for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning
  
  
• Effective Strategies for Teaching Evolution and Other Controversial Issues
  

Selected Previous Campus Consultations

Dr. Nelson has presented invited workshops at international conferences in Ireland and Great Britain, at many national meetings [American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Association for Higher Education, Association of American Colleges and Universities, Lilly Conferences on College Teaching (multiple times), National Institutes on Teaching and Learning (multiple times), etc.] and at over 100 colleges and universities in 36 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, Ireland, England and Australia. He also has presented invited Chautauqua Short Courses for College Faculty almost annually since 1989 (3 days each; program sponsored by NSF).