Associate Director of Curriculum Development & Assessment
Affiliate Faculty, Department of Biology
659 Z. Reynolds Smith Library
mccaulak@wfu.edu | 336-758-3909
Anita McCauley has been part of the Wake Forest community since 1997. She obtained her Ph.D. in Neurobiology from Wake Forest University in 2002. She then spent 15 years as a member of the Wake Forest Biology department, serving as the Director of Microscopy from 2002-2012, and teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in microscopy, physiology, and neuroscience. In 2017, Anita began in her current role as an Assistant Director in the Center for the Advancement of Teaching, with a focus on Curriculum Design and STEM Programming.
Trained as a neuroanatomist, Anita’s disciplinary research interests focus on using microscopy and digital imaging methods to understand patterns of cellular and subcellular organization in the developing and mature brain. As the Director of Microscopy, she collaborated with researchers across the institution to leverage the power of microscopy and imaging tools to study cellular structure and function, including asking questions about spatial and temporal patterns of protein expression, binding, and movement in nervous tissue, cancer models, and cell culture. She also successfully led multiple collaborative, interdepartmental efforts to enhance the microscopy capabilities at Wake Forest University, including being awarded three highly competitive National Science Foundation instrumentation grants, organizing regional microscopy conferences, and designing a new microscopy laboratory. She has presented and published this work at national conferences and in peer-reviewed journals.
Following her passion for teaching, Anita has continually pursued opportunities to teach courses, continually improve as a teacher, and grow her knowledge about pedagogy. She began as a teaching assistant, both as an undergraduate and as a graduate student, in laboratory courses. She has built and taught graduate level courses in microscopy and neuroanatomy and undergraduate courses in functional neuroanatomy and comparative physiology. She also participates in the Neuroscience minor, teaching sessions on sleep anatomy and physiology.
CAT Responsibilities: Anita has primary responsibility for department-level programming, including Curriculum Design, Assessment of Student Learning, and Learning Spaces. She also contributes to many CAT events and services, including consultations, reading discussions and learning communities, workshops, and institutes.