Dr. Katie McAllister is the Head of the College of Social Sciences, Accreditation Liaison Officer, and Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, the Science of Teaching and Learning, and Complex Systems at Minerva University. Since joining Minerva in 2016, she combined teaching, curriculum design, and administrative roles that included developing and implementing methods to review and provide feedback on faculty teaching practices. Prior to Minerva, she developed a broad skill-set as a management consultant with the London office of The Boston Consulting Group, including projects for clients in the public and private sector.

Katie’s recent book, Beyond the Lecture: Interacting with Students and Shaping the Classroom Dynamic, is focused on research and strategies for engaging students in active learning, both online and in-person. She is passionate about interdisciplinary approaches to undergraduate education that develop critical thinking, creative problem solving, and effective interaction skills. Her current research interests include collaboration with students and colleagues to explore factors and approaches that foster student engagement, with an emphasis on exploring diversity, equity, and inclusion.

She completed her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology/Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge and an interdisciplinary B.Sc. in Cognitive Systems— a multidisciplinary program spanning computer science, linguistics, philosophy, and psychology— at the University of British Columbia.

Her 2021-22 WSCUC Fellowship project focused on fostering and measuring student engagement to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and learning outcomes.