Beth White to chair STEM Special Interest Group for International Higher Education Group

December 15, 2020

ORISE STEM Workforce Development Education Project Manager Beth White has been selected to chair the STEM Special Interest Group (SIG) of the Professional and Organizational Development in Higher Education Network. Known as the POD Network for short, the organization is devoted to improving teaching and learning in higher education.

White will serve as chair-elect in 2021 and as chair of the STEM SIG in 2022 which connects colleagues within the POD Network who are actively engaged in STEM educational development and instruction. The STEM SIG provides a stable infrastructure for professional networking and peer assistance within and across STEM fields and institutional categories. It also facilitates capacity to organize POD programming such as conference sessions/workshops and related intervening events (online and in-person). In addition, the STEM SIG seeks to aggregate resources for practitioners who support STEM instruction and instructors and to support the dissemination of scholarship related to STEM educational development. An additional goal is to provide a bridge for communication and coordination with organizations involved in STEM education at a national level.

In a letter to White, current Chair Jenn Weaver said, “On behalf of the current STEM SIG Leadership, we would like to welcome you to our team as the incoming STEM SIG chair! We really appreciate the position and the perspectives, experience and ideas that you will bring.”

White is the first elected chair who is not currently employed in an academic setting. There are more than 1,400 members representing every U.S. state and more than 30 countries.