Tara Kishbaugh

Dr. Tara L.S. Kishbaugh obtained her undergraduate degree in chemistry from Wheaton College and her graduate degree in organic chemistry studying the reactivity of electron deficient indoles at Dartmouth College under the mentorship of Gordon W. Gribble. During graduate school, she spent a year teaching organic chemistry at St. Michael’s College, Winooski, Vermont. Afterwards, she was a Dreyfus postdoctoral fellow at the University of Massachusetts, North Dartmouth campus. During this position, she taught as well as studied fluorinated allenes. At EMU, Tara has taught a variety of courses, including organic, general, medicinal, and environmental chemistry as well as seminars on ethics, land use, and food chemistry. Since 2013, she is chair of the biology and chemistry departments. Tara has been involved in a number of trans-disciplinary projects on campus, such as EMU Common Reads, a common reading program. Tara’s chemistry-related hobbies include photography, baking, and tie-dying. Tara’s research interests include chemical education, heterocyclic chemistry, and water quality studies.

Dr. Kishbaugh’s research interests include
- Chemical education projects, such as assessing non-content learning in laboratory research projects, or
- Assessing student familiarity with and understanding of green chemistry, or
- Improving student’s engagement with math coursework by adding contextual relevance to the assignments
- Writing review chapters on heterocyclic chemistry- in particular indoles and pyridines
- Water quality monitoring in the local watershed related to bacterial contamination, run-off or hydrofracking.

• Transforming Teaching: Moving Faculty from "Neutral" to Equity in Teaching.  Kishbaugh, T.L.S.; Leaman, L. Diversity, Equity, & Student Success Conference: Engaged Inclusivity: Perceptions, Realities, & Aspirations, an AACU Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, March 28-30, 2019

• Attending to T&L: Sociocultural faculty development for diversity-responsive SoTL.  Kishbaugh, T.L.S.; Leaman, L. SoTL Commons Conference, Savannah, GA, January 24-25, 2019. 

• Faculty Identity Development for Culturally Responsive Teaching. Kishbaugh, T.; Leaman, L. 10th Annual Understanding Interventions Conference: The Decade Ahead, Baltimore, MD, March 2-4, 2018.
• Improving retention through teaching strategies and peer tutoring. Cessna, S.; Kishbaugh, T. 254th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, August 20-24, 2017.
• Mixed methods study of green chemistry understanding from the organic laboratory. King, Rachel; Kishbaugh, T.L.S. 250th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Boston, MA, August 16-20, 2015.
• Assessing learning gains in green chemistry labs. Kishbaugh, T.L.S. 23nd Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, MI. August 3-7, 2014.
• Early authentic research projects and teaching the nature of science. *Cessna,S.; Kishbaugh, T.L.S. 23nd Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, MI. August 3-7, 2014.
• Organic blueberry sweetness: Percentage Brix and taste tests. Groff, N. Sachs, J.; Kishbaugh, T.L.S.; Miller, R. Virginia Academy of Sciences at VCU, May 15, 2014.
• Service learning to enhance the environmental chemistry curriculum. Kishbaugh, T.L.S.; Graber Neufeld, D. 22nd Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, State College, Pa. July 29-August 2, 2012.
• Implementing a ‘Research Across the Curriculum’ program in the chemistry and biology departments. Kishbaugh, T.L.S.; Cessna, S. 22nd Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, State College, Pa. July 29-August 2, 2012.
• A report on using copper phytoremediation projects for teaching second semester general chemistry concepts and skills. Cessna, S.; Kishbaugh, T.L.S. 22nd Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, State College, Pa. July 29-August 2, 2012.
• Tracking the development of the nature of science understanding over an undergraduate STEM career. Cessna, S.; Kishbaugh, T.L.S. 22nd Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, State College, Pa. July 29-August 2, 2012.
• Promoting Learning through Authentic and Relevant Research Experiences in Environmental Monitoring and Remediation across Ten Chemistry and Biology Courses. S Cessna, T Flanagan, D Graber Neufeld, SJ Horst, T Kishbaugh, L Leaman, M Siderhurst. CCLI- TUES Conference, Washington, D.C. January 26-28, 2011.

Building and Maintaining a Collegial Department, 2018 Workshop for Department and Division Chairs, Minneapolis, MN, May 22-24, 2018.

• Organized a symposium on Increasing Retention of Under-represented Students in
  Chemistry for the ACS national meeting, August, 2017.
• Ad-hoc reviewer for Higher Education Pedagogies, Current Organic Chemistry, Letters in Drug Design and Discovery, Studies in Natural Product Chemistry and American Chemical Society- Petroleum Research Fund Undergraduate Research Proposals
• 2012 Presentation on results of a Baseline Water Monitoring Study related to proposed natural gas drilling, Bergton, Va.
• Led bread baking workshops during Food and Farming week since 2005
• At-large member of the Shenandoah Resource Conservation & Development Council 2011-2013
• STEM summer bridge program, Faculty Mentor 2009, 2010
• A number of workshops sponsored by the American Chemical Society for teaching advanced high school chemistry, 2006, 2007, 2008

• National Science Foundation, S-STEM: STEM Scholars Engaging in Local Problems $649,996 (award ID: 1741937). PI: T.Kishbaugh, Co-PI: S.Cessna, D. King, D. Showalter, E. Tian (1/2018-1/2023).
• 2016-2017 Senior Leadership Seminar of the VA Network for Women in Higher Eduction.
• Faculty-Led Institutional Transformation for Teaching Diverse Learners in STEM — A National Science Foundation IUSE grant , $299,967 (PI: Cessna, Co-PIs: Kishbaugh, Leaman, Showalter) 2016.
• VDACS: “Sustaining Organic Blueberry Production: Analysis of Practices and Assessing Outcomes.” Program director: Roman J Miller. Co-PI: S. Cessna, T.L.S. Kishbaugh. (11/2011-10/2013)
• National Science Foundation, Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement. Promoting learning through authentic and relevant research experiences in environmental monitoring and remediation across ten chemistry and biology laboratory courses Co-PI with S. Cessna, L. H. Leaman, M. Siderhurst, and D. Graber Neufeld. 2009-13.
• Citizen Monitoring Grant from the Va Department of Environmental Quality, 2009.
• National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute: Regional Study and the Liberal Arts: An Appalachian Exemplar, Ferrum College, Ferrum, Va, Summer 2006
• American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Summer Fellowship with Gordon W. Gribble at Dartmouth College, Summer 2005, Topic: Oxidative radical additions to nitroindoles.

• American Chemical Society
• Shenandoah Anabaptist Science Society
• Eastern Mennonite University’s Institutional Representative to Virginia Network, part of the ACE Women’s Network

SoTL Commons Conference, Savannah, GA, January 24-25, 2019. 

CIC Workshop for Department & Division Chairs, Virginia Beach, VA April 11-13, 2019 

10th Annual Understanding Interventions Conference: The Decade Ahead, Baltimore, MD, March 2-4, 2018.
254th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, August 20-24, 2017.

_Relating to the Land_- Interdisciplinary, team-taught senior seminar which examines the variety of ways that people groups have related to and used the land, with an emphasis on regional topics, Appalachian studies. 2006
_Drugs: Discovery, Design, Action_- A writing intensive medicinal chemistry course intended to teach the principles that govern the process of modern drug discovery and development and to introduce students to some modes of drug activity. 2007, offered online in 2013.
_Food: Science, Rituals, Lore_-A honors colloquium about the ways in which we as a society relate to food. As a science, cooking may be the oldest and most widespread application of chemistry and recipes may be the oldest practical result of chemical research. While we can learn much about food by studying the chemistry of cooking it and the nutrition we gain from it, often what we eat and how we eat it are packed with meaning beyond what is scientifically measurable. 2008

Undergraduate Council 2013-2020
Undergraduate Council Executive 2013-2020
Pre-Professional Health Sciences, Chair, 2017-2018
Intellectual Life, 2009- on, chair 2012- 2016
Creation Care Council, 2007-2010, 2012-2013
Honors Committee, 2004- 2014
SASS Steering Committee, Chair, 2005-2013
Campus Pastor Search Committee, spring 2013
Cords of Distinction Committee, spring 2013, 2015