
Linda McPheron
Adjunct Professor
Part-Time Faculty
Biography
Linda McPheron has a Master’s in entomology from Kansas State University and a PhD in Entomology from UC Berkeley. She has taught a variety of biology courses at several colleges in the Bay Area including UC Berkeley, SF State, and Berkeley City College. She has a strong interest in science pedagogy and is actively conducting research on student learning. Her 2 favorite things are teaching biology and thinking up new and engaging ways to engage students. She also enjoys coffee, pastries, soccer, insects, spiders, (actually, anything that is creepy or crawly), and her new sport, pickleball.
Expertise
- Science pedagogy
- Undergraduate non-majors education
- Ecology & evolution
- Animal behavior
Research Areas
- Undergraduate education / pedagogy
- Foraging and learning behavior in paper wasps
Education
- UC Berkeley, PhD 1996
Prior Experience
- Biology Scholars Program Research Resident; American Society for Microbiology & National Science Foundation
- SEPAL Alum (The Science Education Partnership & Assessment Lab), San Francisco State University
- PACE (Program for Adult College Education) Coordinator, Berkeley City College
Awards & Distinctions
- Biology Scholar’s Program recipient, 2014 – 2015
- Faculty Enhancement Program Award, ASM Conference for Undergraduate Educators, May 2015
Selected Publications
- Owens, MT et al., 2019. Classroom Sound Can Be Used To Classify Teaching Practices in College Science Courses, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114 (12): 3085–3090.
- Harrison C et al., 2019. Investigating Instructor Talk in Novel Contexts: Widespread Use, Unexpected Categories, and an Emergent Sampling Strategy, Cell Biology Education – Life Sciences, 18 (3): 1-23.
- McPheron, L. J. and Mills, N. J. 2007. Discrimination learning of color-odor compounds in a paper wasp (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Pompilinae: Mischocyttarus flavitarsis). Entomol. Gener., 29 (2/4): 125-134.
- McPheron, L. J. and Mills, N. J. 2007. The influence of visual and olfactory cues on the foraging behavior of the paper wasp (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Pompilinae: Mischocyttarus flavitarsis. Entomol. Gener., 30 (2): 105-118.