DonnaJean Fredeen has emerged as a national leader within the SENCER community.  This leadership recognition is in direct consequence of the support she has given to a remarkable set of colleagues at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) and the significant achievements and contributions to improving STEM education that the SCSU team has made.  Two SCSU courses, one developed by Vincent Breslin and James Tait with support from SENCER and the other the product of ingenuity and prescience of Terrell Ward Bynum, have been selected as SENCER National Models.  DonnaJean has reflected on her experiences as a person responsible for improving general education and has shared the insights she has gained with the SENCER community in presentations and, in the coming months, in a backgrounder paper to be published by SENCER.  While she has always kept her obligations to SCSU firmly in mind, DonnaJean has opened her campus to host regional meetings and has been unstinting in her generosity to other members of the SENCER community.

As a SENCER Leadership Fellow, DonnaJean intends to focus her efforts on the development of innovative courses for first year students that emphasize science learning and civic engagement, completing her backgrounder on administrative strategies for implementing science reform initiatives, and providing consulting and mentoring to other academic leaders who desire to institute SENCER-connected programs on their campuses, including those who want to expand these new pedagogies and connections to civic engagement to courses in fields the social sciences, arts and humanities.

DonnaJean was elected to the inaugural class of Leadership Fellows in July 2008.