Jackie Washington, Ph.D.

Jackie Washington, Ph.D.

Alliance University

Jackie Washington, Ph.D., has served as an educator in higher education for 18 years as a professor and Chair of the Department of Biology and Chemistry at Alliance University, N.Y. (formerly Nyack College). She earned a B.S. in mathematics with a minor in chemistry and a Ph.D. in microbiology and molecular genetics from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of N.J. (now Rutgers University).  
 
Early in Washington’s academic career, she recognized that students learned differently than how she was taught and sought professional development to learn how to teach this new generation. Her participation in the yearlong ASM Biology Scholars Program, an evidence-based faculty development program to promote undergraduate education reform and the scholarship of teaching and learning, was instrumental to her journey as an educator. This was the turning point in her career which led to her institutional and national efforts to transform science education. 
 
Washington guided her department in the adoption of evidence-based strategies for all courses in the biology department curriculum and revamped all the lab courses to include authentic research experiences, including the CURES Tiny Earth and SEA-PHAGES. She is the 2012 past Chair of ASMCUE and is active in several professional societies including SABER, NABT and ASM. Washington is passionate about transforming science education to be more inclusive and equitable and serves as a PULSE fellow and HHMI BioInteractive ambassador.