Claflin University has partnered with the Medical University of South Carolina to participate in the NIH- sponsored (National Institutes of Health) program, Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA).

Under the three-year grant, the University provides training to prepare post-doctoral students for teaching by affording them with an opportunity to develop teaching skills through mentored assignments.

According to Dr. Rebecca Bullard-Dillard, Professor of Biology and Director of Research Development, many scientists spend several years at institutions where they hone their research skills prior to independent research and their first junior level faculty positions. 

“During that time, there is no training in teaching at all,” she said. “There’s been a realization by the science community, the federal government and higher education that a lack of teaching experience is a problem when a first year faculty member enters the classroom.”

NIH decided to run a program that would fund training of post-doctoral researchers to teach them while they are in a research program. MUSC has teamed up with Claflin to accomplish that goal.

“Claflin has a good reputation in the state for quality,” Dr. Bullard-Dillard pointed out. “Post-docs who are in biomedicine can come to Claflin to teach undergraduate courses in partnership with an experienced faculty member.”

Three post-docs have completed the program, one in biochemistry, mentored by Dr. Angela Peters, chair of the Chemistry Department; another in microbiology, working under Dr. Randall Harris, assistant professor of biology; and the third in cell biology, mentored by Dr. Mohammed Chowdhury, associate professor of biology. One of the post-docs recently was offered a position at the University of Wisconsin at Stout.

According to Dr. Nicholas Panasik, assistant professor of biology and the primary investigator for the program, having teaching experience in a diverse classroom is quite helpful in securing a position.