Stephen Williams earned his B.A. in Biology from Rutgers University and M.S. and Ph.D. in Biology from the University of New Mexico. He was Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico for one year, and Assistant Professor at the Pennsylvania State University for four years before coming to Glendale Community College in 1981. Dr. Williams has served as Chairman of the Department of Biology at GCC since 1986 and has served as Editor for the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, State Director of the Science Olympiad for high school students, and Program Coordinator for the Baccalaureate to Bridges Program which is a National Institute of Health funded program to increase the number of minorities in the research fields of biomedical sciences. Dr. Williams was elected a Fellow of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science in 1994, awarded the Innovator of the Year award with other members of his department in 1995, and awarded the Outstanding Service award from the academy in 1998.
Dr. Williams has been involved with the Multiple Intelligences/Learning for Understanding Program for the past four years teaching Human Anatomy and Physiology, BIO 201 and 202. He believes that this has allowed his students to research and understand parts of human anatomy and physiology in a way that they would never have done without the MI/LfU option. "What I like most about MI/LfU is that it makes students more active learners. The students are more motivated, take charge of their own learning, research topics in depth beyond the level of the textbook, and become mini experts in an area of human anatomy and physiology. I have had many memorable experiences using MI/LfU, especially with students who are researching a family health problem and begin advising their family members on how to take charge of their own health by understanding the problem and asking the right questions of their health providers."
"The most memorable experience was with a middle-aged woman who was
exceptionally bright but had to drop out of a number of programs, including
medical school, because of health problems. She completed a Learning
Option, "How the Endocrine System Has Influenced My Life." She researched
the various hormones and compared her symptoms to overactive and underactive
endocrine glands. She found and Endocrinologist who would listen
to her, and both of them together determined the hormone imbalance and
started a program to correct it. The student is now in the Physician
Assistant Program at Midwestern University."
Steve will be presenting the session, "Memorizing Facts Versus Learning
for Understanding in the Biologicial Sciences."
Visit Dr. Williams' GCC Web Page (Use your browser's "back" arrow to return here)