Lisa Rezende

Lisa Rezende serves as the Director of Teaching and Learning and Professor of Practice on the Educational Development team at UCATT. She holds a BS in Biochemistry from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. After completing her postdoctoral research, Lisa transitioned into science communication, producing multimedia educational materials aimed at improving public understanding of science.

Lisa joined the University of Arizona in 2006, where she played a key role in developing and teaching online asynchronous courses, mentoring faculty in online course design, and teaching large-enrollment lecture courses. From 2014 to 2017, she served as Vice President for Education at FORCE, a national nonprofit supporting the hereditary cancer community, where she designed and assessed educational programs and resources to help patients understand cancer biology, and media reports about cancer research.

In 2017, Lisa returned to the U of A in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, where she led the Introductory Biology I team, coordinated the development of online courses and labs, and taught classes ranging from small discussion sections to large lectures. Her teaching practice centers on evidence-based, learner-centered approaches across modalities, and she loves to work with colleagues on making changes, small or large, to courses. She actively collaborates on research projects focused on the effective use of learning assistants in online and large lecture environments.

Lisa is passionate about partnering with faculty to enhance teaching effectiveness, foster inclusive learning environments, and support innovation in course design.