Amy Jo Stavnezer began her higher education at Allegheny College and after receiving a degree in Psychology with a minor in Biology, earned her Ph.D. in Biobehavioral Sciences from the University of Connecticut in 2000.  She was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Skidmore College for two years, and is currently a Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at The College of Wooster, Ohio.  She was the chairperson for the interdisciplinary Neuroscience program for a decade and worked to revise the major to better support student learning and senior independent study success in the current two-track major.  Her teaching focuses on courses in Behavioral Neuroscience, Introduction to Neuroscience, Drugs and Behavior, and Sex Differences in the Brain and Behavior.  She also enjoys teaching Introduction to Psychology, First Year Seminar and other interdisciplinary courses.

In 2023 the College of Wooster honored Amy Jo by awarding her the Fighting Scots Award for Equity & Excellence. This award recognizes contributions that are made by an employee who exemplifies a commitment to DEI in their daily life, creating and sustaining an environment where everyone is respected and valued. Amy Jo was named as a major contributor in the STEM Success Initiative on campus, which promotes both equity and excellence for all STEM students, especially those from underrepresented groups. She also co-coordinates the bi-weekly STEM Faculty Learning Community (SFLC), which brings STEM faculty together several times each month to discuss best practices for inclusive teaching and learning – essentially ways in which we can promote both equity and excellence in our classroom for all students.

Amy Jo has also been honored by the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN) for continued efforts to support this meaningful group. In 2019 Amy Jo was incredibly honored to receive the FUN Mentor of the Year award in recognition of outstanding contributions as a mentor for young neuroscientists and in 2022 the Service award in recognition of her leadership creating monthly virtual pedagogical and professional development sessions for the membership.

Amy Jo is proud to serve as a Mentor for the AAC&U Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) STEM Leadership Institute. Amy Jo was a participant in 2014, served as a mentor for the virtual 2021 and in the in-person 2023 institutes. The Institute awakens and sensitizes its participants to the systems, structures, and influences of power and privilege within higher education, equipping them with the tools and skills needed to bring about social change, equity, and true systemic reform in undergraduate STEM education.

In terms of a research focus, Amy Jo is a behavioral neuroscientist and has worked mainly with mice and rats. Her areas of rodent research interest include sex difference in performance on complex learning tasks and she has investigated the influence of both gonadal hormones and sex chromosomes on those differences, the impact of environmental influences (could be contaminants or stressors) and neurodegenerative disease on learning and memory, and in better assessing rodent tasks and their extrapolation to humans.

Recently, she has become more focused on questions concerning student learning and best pedagogical practices. She has led seminars to help students excel in introductory STEM courses, co-taught a Belonging in STEM course, and given presentations and published papers on active learning in the classroom and how to best engage undergraduates in authentic research experiences.

She has been a councilor, secretary and President for the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, member of the Society for Neuroscience, Women in Neuroscience, member of the Editorial Board for the Journal for Undergraduate Neuroscience Education and loves to take Brain Awareness Week activities into local elementary schools.

From 2016-2018 she was PI on an NSF REU Neuroscience summer program in collaboration with Earlham College, Ohio Wesleyan University and Kenyon College.

Amy Jo is also a mom to two high school aged boys who are actively engaged with the marching band, speech and debate, drama club and competitive dance – this leads to lots of driving around town! One just graduated and is headed to Allegheny College!

You can find Professor Stavnezer in Ruth W Williams Hall, room 081, at ajstavnezer@wooster.edu or 330-263-2215.