ASU teacher-in-residence elected VP of American Association of Physics Teachers

Arizona State University Teacher-In-Residence Kelli Warble has been elected vice president of the American Association of Physics Teachers.

The American Association of Physics Teachers is a national organization composed of high school and college-level physics instructors to share ways to advance physics through education. Warble is currently a teacher-in-residence at ASU’s Department of Physics. Since becoming a member of the association, Warble has worked on initiatives such as the Step Up project, which encourages young women to go into physics education. In addition, she co-designed the Master Teacher Policy Fellowship, which brings physics teachers from around the country to Washington, D.C., to advocate for physics education in their home states.

Warble feels she was selected for the position due to all of her activities, but she thanks the department for support.

“All of it probably started with the support of the ASU physics department early in my career that got me involved in these kinds of activities. So it all really originates here, from the support that I get from ASU physics,” she said.

Warble feels that the pandemic has resulted in a lot of turmoil in education, and she wants to work toward a solution as the association's vice president.

“When I talk to my fellow physics teachers from throughout the country, we don't necessarily want to return to normal after the pandemic because normal, unfortunately, in physics, we don't have inclusiveness and representation from a lot of students,” Warble said. “So, there's a lot of students that are filtered out of getting a physics education, and so we're looking forward to how can we leverage some of the things we learned from the pandemic to get a wider cross section of students to have a high-quality physics education available to them in their area, which is not an easy task.”

Warble said these are difficult challenges up ahead but that she looks forward to tackling them.

“These are sticky problems, the path is uncertain and the solutions are non-trivial. But I know my fellow teachers and colleagues in the AAPT and have been amazed again and again by what we can achieve when we work together as a community,” Warble wrote in her vice president election candidacy bio.

Patricia Rankin, Department of Physics chair, is excited for Warble’s promotion.

“We benefit immensely in the department from having Kelli around to help us expand our reach. We look forward to seeing what she does next. The American Association for Physics Teachers plays an important role, and Kelli will help the organization succeed,” Rankin said.