Editor Degrees

• Ph.D. in Plant Biology from University of California, Davis
• B.S. in Plant Biology (with distinction in Molecular Biology) from Ohio State University

About Teaching and CourseSource

Valerie Haywood is a faculty member in the Biology Department at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, Ohio.  She earned a Ph.D. in Plant Biology from the University of California, Davis where her graduate work focused on elucidating the mechanisms involved in phloem-mediated translocation of mRNA molecules in angiosperms. To broaden her biology education, Dr. Haywood went on to do postdoctoral work in the Department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University where she studied mechanisms involved in sexual differentiation in Drosophila. 

While Dr. Haywood’s broad interest in plant biology remains, her current focus is undergraduate biology education, particularly assessment of student performance and retention rates in the large introductory biology courses she teaches at CWRU. Dr. Haywood has been invited to present her educational research at several national conferences, including the National Association of Biology Teachers Professional Development Conference, the American Association of Plant Biologists (ASPB) Annual Conference, and the Gordon Research Conference on Undergraduate Biology Education Research. Dr. Haywood’s commitment to undergraduate education was recognized by the National Academies of Science, who named Dr. Haywood an “Education Fellow in Life Sciences.” Dr. Haywood currently serves as President of OH-PKAL, the Ohio regional network for Project Kaleidoscope. Dr. Haywood is also serving her second term on the Education Committee for the ASPB.  Dr. Haywood is excited to be a part of the CourseSource community and looks forward to working with others dedicated to improving science education.