As Director of the Office of Curriculum Development and Instructional Support, Christina collaborates with faculty, staff and students to create inclusive and engaging learning environments where students are challenged to think, grow, and take ownership of their educational journey. She is dedicated to ensuring equitable access to opportunities and resources so that all members of the academic community can fully participate and thrive.
Christina joined Cornell in 2020 to work with the Active Learning Initiative, implementing student-centered pedagogical practices in courses across Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, the School of Integrative Plant Science, and Entomology. Prior to Cornell, she served as an Associate Professor of Biology at a small liberal arts college, where she designed and taught multiple courses and laboratories, mentored undergraduate research projects, and actively engaged in academic service and public outreach to advance student success and inclusive excellence initiatives.
She earned her PhD in Biological Sciences from Auburn University (Alabama, USA), investigating bone metabolism as a driving factor in life history trade-offs in mammals. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pretoria (Gauteng, South Africa), studying oxidative damage as a physiological cost of reproduction in Damaraland mole rats.
