Timothy Elgren* is the former Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Oberlin College. Tim began his academic and administrative career at Hamilton College where he was a professor of bio-inorganic chemistry and where he served in a number of administrative roles, including associate dean of faculty, affirmative action officer, chair of the Biochemistry/Molecular Biology Program, and coordinator of the Network for Teaching and Learning. He has also been a strong advocate for undergraduate research, having served as president (2004) and member of the Executive Committee of the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) in Washington, D.C. (2003-06). He served three terms as a CUR chemistry councilor (1997-2006). For CUR, he also co-edited Developing and Sustaining a Research-Supportive Curriculum: A Compendium of Successful Practices (2007). Tim mentored three Pioneer students during the summer of 2013. He describes those students as exemplary young scholars, passionate about intellectual inquiry and ready for college work. The work they produced was extraordinary for high school students; in some cases comparable to the best students he taught at Hamilton College, where he taught for 21 years. The students went on to attend some of America’s best schools, including Princeton, Carnegie Mellon and Claremont McKenna. The Pioneer program exemplifies the best of student/faculty collaboration with both parties benefiting greatly from the experience.

*Tim has volunteered his services in this role since Pioneer Academic’s inception.