Kathy M. Takayama, Ph.D.

Director, Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching & Learning
Adjunct Associate Professor, Bio - MCB

Phone: (401) 863-1141
Kathy_Takayama@Brown.edu

Kathy Takayama received her B.S. in Biology from MIT, and Ph.D. in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from UMDNJ–Robert W. Johnson Medical School. She was a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research interests have focused on how RNA processing mechanisms control the regulation of gene expression in a wide range of biological systems. Kathy moved to Australia in 1994, where she became a faculty member at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

Kathy has led an active research program in science education, the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), and visualizations and learning in the sciences. Her publications encompass both her molecular biology research and her SoTL research. Kathy is a Carnegie Scholar and a founding member of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL). She served as the first Regional Vice President (Australasia) of the society (2005-07) and chaired the 4th ISSOTL Conference in Sydney. She is the recipient of several national and international teaching awards, including the Australian Society for Microbiology David White Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Australian College of Educators Teaching Award, and the UNSW Vice Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence. She serves on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (www.georgiasouthern.edu/ijsotl/), and is the Research Editor for the Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education (jmbe.asm.org).

In addition to directing the Center, Kathy teaches in the Certificate I Program and coordinates and facilitates the Certificate IV Program. She is also directing Brown's MOOC project in Coursera and is working with the Economics department to direct Brown's first major blended classroom initiative. Kathy also directs the Departmental Faculty Peer Observations of Teaching Program, as well as the Junior Faculty Teaching Fellows Program, and continues to facilitate workshops for the Center. She develops external grant funding for the Center; currently she directs the Center’s Teagle Grant program and the NSF-funded Visualization Project. Kathy provides grant consultations for faculty and other administrative offices, and in addition, works with faculty and administrators across the university on collaborative projects.