Meet the Associate Vice Provost for Educational Effectiveness
Vidya Chandrasekaran, Ph.D.
Associate Vice Provost for Educational Effectiveness (AVPEE) works closely with senior leadership, faculty, and staff across the College to facilitate mission-driven, institution-wide approach to assessment, academic program review, and administrative program review in support of continuous improvement and institutional effectiveness. AVPEE oversees the Center for Equity and Excellence in Teaching, Office of Assessment and Educational Effectiveness, and leads the Program Review Committee and Administrative Department Review Committee. Through sustained partnership with faculty, staff, and academic leaders, the AVP-EE fosters a culture of educational effectiveness grounded in reflective practice, coherent review processes, and the meaningful use of evidence to support student learning and institutional improvement. The AVP-EE is a member of the Data Governance Committee and collaborates with the Director of Institutional Research to align assessment and program review needs with institutional data resources and standards.
Vidya Chandrasekaran started in her role as the AVPEE in July 2026. She served as the Director of Assessment from 2024 - 2026, when she streamlined assessment practices through use of Canvas-based learning outcomes at the College. Dr. Chandrasekaran also developed and served as the Program Director for the Biotechnology Master’s Program and has previously served as the Chair of Biology. In addition, she has served as the Chair of Rank and Tenure Committee and Undergraduate Educational Policies Committee (UEPC) and served as a member on campus-wide committees including the Strategic Plan steering group, Core Curriculum Implementation Committee and campus-wide search committees.
Dr. Chandrasekaran is a Professor in the Department of Biology. Prior to joining Saint Mary’s College in 2007, she obtained her Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from State University of New York at Buffalo and worked as a postdoctoral researcher at University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Chandrasekaran is an active research scholar in the area of cellular neurobiology, publishing over fifteen articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals and regularly presenting her research at regional, national and international conferences. In addition, she has served as a research mentor for over 50 students since joining Saint Mary’s College and the last five of her papers have included Saint Mary’s College students as co-authors. She received an NSF grant to fund major instrumentation for Biology and an NIH grant (in collaboration with UC Davis) to study the effects of traffic-related air pollution on Alzheimer’s disease progression. Also, she has been a co-PI on multiple NSF grants that provide funding to help increase diversity among STEM students and develop an undergraduate STEM teacher education program committed to social justice.