Debra Pires is a Senior Advisor to the Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning for Instructional Initiatives. Currently she is working on the Summer Institute on Evidence-Based Teaching and conducting a feasibility study for expansion of campuswide assessment centers.
She has over 20 years experience teaching large introductory courses in the Life Sciences and helping coordinate curricular change to meet UCLA’s educational mission for students. She is part of the Executive Committee for the National Institute on Scientific Teaching (NIST), and a certified trainer and facilitator for their Mobil Summer Institutes. Over the past 12 years, Deb has facilitated over 30 Summer Institutes at 22 different institutions in the U.S. and internationally.
Deb is a true Bruin earning both her Bachelor’s and doctorate at UCLA. In her free time on campus you will often find her in the Mildred Mathias Botanical Garden birding and relaxing near the stream. She has been involved for the past 18 years with a captive breeding program for endangered butterflies, and enjoys spending time outdoors with her family.