UCLA Life Sciences
Rachel Kennison – executive director of the UCLA Center for Education, Innovation and Learning in the Sciences (CEILS), associate professor of teaching in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and a Bruin alum (Ph.D. ’08) – has received the 2026 UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award for Senate Faculty in the category of Innovation & Impact.
For over two decades, Kennison has championed educational equity, transforming outcomes for STEM undergraduates in the classroom and beyond.
She began teaching undergraduate courses early in her academic career and helped lead undergraduate research programs at UCLA and Santa Monica College. At UCLA, Kennison recognized that practical career guidance in science education had long been overlooked, and so she created and taught LS110: “Career Exploration in the Life Sciences” within the Department of Life Sciences Core Education. The course guides students to reflect on their individual personality, values, and interests, helping them align their education with the right STEM career. Beyond crafting polished resumes, cover letters, and personal pitches, students explore diverse job opportunities and build professional networks through informational interviews–ensuring they graduate better prepared for the next steps in their career journey.
In addition to incorporating evidence-based teaching practices in her own classes, Kennison has been improving STEM instruction and student learning through her mentorship and training of faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and graduate students.
Kennison leads a team at CEILS to provide resources and raise standards for evidence-based teaching across south campus. CEILS hosts an annual faculty teaching workshop at the end of August, the UCLA Summer Institute on Evidence-Based Teaching, as well as a journal club to share the latest innovations to improve STEM teaching.
Under Kennison’s leadership, CEILS has been an important partner in UCLA’s implementation of SEA Change, an initiative of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, to support departmental assessments of their teaching practices and work toward changes in policies and practices that support equitable and inclusive teaching.
As the leader of UCLA’s Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (an international certificate program), she advances the training of post-doctoral researchers and graduate students – allowing them to design, apply, and assess evidence-based teaching interventions in their classrooms. The program helps build a generation of future faculty that will lead inclusive STEM teaching in higher education.
Centering her work on educational research, inclusion, and better outcomes for all STEM students, Kennison has not only elevated teaching and STEM student success in her own classroom, but also across UCLA’s South Campus and institutions nationwide.