Ready, Set, Connect:
About our Speakers

Nahel Awadallah

Nahel Awadallah is an instructor at Nash Community College, where he teaches fully online Anatomy and Physiology courses using innovative methods with the aid of McGraw Hill Connect®, Anatomy and Physiology Revealed® and Virtual Labs. He is one of the first professors to initiate a move toward offering fully online Anatomy and Physiology courses! Awadallah also presents at many major conferences in the United States and Canada where he speaks about online science education and focuses on successful design of learning outcomes and assessment strategies and tools.

He graduated from Long Island University with an undergraduate degree in Molecular Biology and a graduate degree in Microbiology. He went on to work at NYU Langone Medical Center where he served in numerous positions, including a full-time assistant research scientist. While at NYU Langone Medical Center, Awadallah also worked as a Biology and Chemistry instructor at New York City Technical College to pursue his passion for teaching. He then served as Science Coordinator and Director of Global Education at Sampson Community College. Until spring 2017, Awadallah was Director of Programs at Johnston Community College in North Carolina and served as the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) Director until the finalization of the project. The plan was submitted in August 2012 and approved by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) Visiting Team in October 2012.

Bill Hoover

Dr. William Hoover is the Science Coordinator for Allied Health Programs at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston, Massachusetts, and is an author of Digital Learning Assets, Adaptive Learning Technologies, and Digital Lab Simulators.

Dr. Hoover has conducted digital pedagogical research under a nationally funded STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundational grants. His research focuses on how students learn, and faculty most effectively teach, with emerging digital tools. The results of his research have been published in journals, including e-Campus News and e-School News. He has served as a Digital Faculty Consultant for McGraw Hill for more than 10 years, providing curricular and instructional design assistance to colleges, universities, and career programs, focusing on adhering to "Quality Matters" standards. The design provides alignment to accrediting board standards and industry-established learning outcomes and applies to hybrid, face-to-face, and online courses.

As a speaker at national conferences, such as EduCause, Campus Technology and the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society, Dr. Hoover has shared his insight and experience for the success of courses everywhere. Honors he has received include being chosen as one of 50 individuals across the world to speak in Oxford, England at the annual roundtable discussing the impact of technology in higher education as well as receiving the NISOD award for teaching excellence and the Private Industry Council’s P.I.C. Achiever Award.

Tammy Stephenson

Tammy J. Stephenson, PhD, FAND, received her BS in Food Science and Human Nutrition and PhD in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Kentucky. She has taught a wide variety of food, nutrition, and wellness courses, including Introductory Nutrition, to majors and nonmajors in the Department of Dietetics and Human Nutrition at the University of Kentucky for the past 20 years. Dr. Stephenson currently serves as Chair of the Department of Dietetics and Human Nutrition. She is also an active member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, having served as chair of the Nutrition Educators of Health Professionals practice group and being recognized as a Fellow of the Academy (FAND). She has published and presented on service learning, technology in teaching, student-centered learning, and other related topics. Dr. Stephenson has a passion for teaching engaging, interesting, and relevant Nutrition courses and has been recognized through multiple teaching and mentoring awards at the university, state, and national levels. At the University of Kentucky, she has been recognized with both the Alumni Association’s Great Teacher Award (2016) and the Provost Office’s Outstanding Teacher Award (2015). Outside of the classroom, she enjoys running, doing yoga, gardening, cooking, watching her daughters play sports, and spending time with her family.

Michael G. Koot

Dr. Koot joined McGraw Hill Education in August 2014 after spending nine years as a faculty member at Michigan State University in the Division of Human Anatomy. His current role as the director of digital content and pedagogy is to work at the intersection of content, pedagogy, and technology with both internal and external stakeholders to develop digital products that are effective teaching and learning tools. Dr. Koot has played an integral role on the product teams that have designed and developed McGraw Hill Virtual Labs, Anatomy & Physiology Revealed Connect Assignment, Practice Atlas, and the 3D human anatomy models found in APR.

At MSU, Dr. Koot taught Medical Gross Anatomy in both medical schools and was the undergraduate Human Anatomy course director. Before his position at MSU, he taught A&P as an adjunct faculty member at Lansing Community College. He has taught in several different formats, including traditional lectures, blended/hybrid courses, and a "flipped" classroom that emphasized engaged and active learning. Dr. Koot has presented at, and attended, many faculty seminars and workshops in the field of educational technology. He received his PhD in Biological Anthropology from MSU with a dissertation that focused on Ohio Hopewell skeletal populations.

Rob Brooker

Rob Brooker (PhD, Yale University) received his BA in Biology at Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio, in 1978, and studied genetics while a graduate student at Yale. For his postdoctoral work at Harvard, he studied lactose permease, the product of the lacY gene of the lac operon. He continued working on transporters at the University of Minnesota, where he is a professor in the Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development and the Department of Biology Teaching and Learning. At the University of Minnesota, Dr. Brooker teaches undergraduate courses in biology, genetics, and cell biology. In addition to many other publications, he has written two undergraduate Genetics texts published by McGraw Hill: Genetics: Analysis & Principles, 7th edition, copyright 2021, and Concepts of Genetics, 3rd edition, copyright 2019.

Michael Windelspecht

Dr. Michael Windelspecht received his BS from Michigan State University in Zoology and Genetics and his PhD from the University of South Florida in Evolutionary Genetics. He has taught Introductory Biology, Genetics, and Human Genetics in a variety of educational settings. Starting with the challenges of engaging students enrolled at intensive weekend classes at MacDill Air Force Base, to teaching at a rural two-year college, and then to leading a program that enrolled over 4,500 students annually at Appalachian State, Michael has constantly pursued innovative strategies to increase scientific literacy among students for which biology is not their career path.

Since first entering the world of science education, Michael has had a desire to tell the story of biology and the wonders of scientific discovery. As an educator, he is passionate about introducing students to the relevancy of science in their everyday lives. Additionally, as one of the original four Digital Faculty Consutants for McGraw Hill, Michael has been at the forefront of the majority of the initiatives at McGraw Hill to transition to the digital age of information delivery. As an author, Michael has authored over 20 editions of the Mader-Windelspecht series of Non-Majors Biology texts, and in each edition he has explored innovative methods of integrating emerging technologies into the Non-Majors Biology class. He is also the architect of Why Biology?, utilizing a digital-first theme-based approach to teaching Non-Majors Biology. You can learn more about Dr. Windelspecht by visiting his website, www.windelspectrum.com.