Work in Progress: Improving First-Year Retention Through Support and Engagement

Dr. Petra Bonfert-Taylor is a Professor and an Instructional Designer at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. She received her Ph.D. in Mathematics from Technical University of Berlin (Germany) in 1996 and subsequently spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan before accepting a tenure-track position in the Mathematics Department at Wesleyan University. She left Wesleyan as a tenured full professor in 2015 for her current position at Dartmouth College. Dr. BonfertTaylor has published extensively and lectured widely to national and international audiences. Her work has been recognized by the National Science Foundation with numerous research grants. She is equally passionate about her teaching and has recently designed and created a Massively Open Online Course ”Analysis of a Complex Kind” on Coursera. Her teaching was recognized through the awarding of the Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching at Wesleyan University and the Excellence in Teaching Award at the Thayer School of Engineering. Dr. Bonfert-Taylor has a strong interest in broadening access to high quality higher education and pedagogical innovations that aid in providing equal opportunities to students from all backgrounds.