2 ASU faculty recognized for their innovative teaching practices

Recognized for their innovative educational practices, Assistant Research Professor Christopher Caseldine and Assistant Professor India Schneider-Crease, both in Arizona State University's School of Human Evolution and Social Change, were recently selected as recipients of the 2026 Centennial Professorship Award. 

The Centennial Professorship Award was created in 1984 by the Associated Students of Arizona State University and celebrates and recognizes ASU junior faculty who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and instruction both within and beyond the classroom. Caseldine and Schneider-Crease were two of three ASU faculty members selected for the honor this year.

Schneider-Crease, who co-directs the Zelaki Project, a partnership between Ethiopian and U.S. universities that trains engineering and design students on building plastic-recycling systems, said it is humbling to have been selected for the award.

“My teaching, research and mentoring have each developed through these ongoing, iterative feedback loops with my students,” said Schneider-Crease. “The projects and programs that we've built at ASU and in Ethiopia wouldn't have been possible to do alone, but are only possible in collaboration with our Ethiopian colleagues and informed from the ground up by our students.”

At ASU, Schneider-Crease has cultivated even more diverse and innovative educational opportunities through her Worms Gone Wild Lab. The structure of the lab allows students to progressively take ownership of research, moving from participation to leadership, providing students with a chance to develop both technical expertise and mentorship skills. She also developed a One Health course centered around the idea that health emerges from complex webs linking humans, animals and environments. The course incorporates taking field trips in order to create opportunities for students that extend past the traditional classroom.

Caseldine, who serves as the curator of collections for the school's Center for Archaeology and Society, created a first-of-its-kind Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act education program for undergraduate students, designed to address a critical shortage of well-trained NAGPRA practitioners and a lack of hands-on NAGPRA education in anthropology programs.

The program trains students in collections care, artifact documentation, consultation preparation and repatriation compliance through guided mentorship by NAGPRA practitioners, ultimately embedding students directly within active repatriation workflows. Caseldine designed the NAGPRA learning track to incorporate learning within and beyond the classroom by combining experiential learning with an external internship so students can practice the skills they’ve learned in real-world environments. 

“My selection for this award shows that ASU's students find our work important and that ASU should support it,” said Caseldine.

Caseldine said he was inspired to become an educator after being tasked with training fellow Marines when he was part of the Marine Corps, which then prompted him to get his bachelor’s degree in high school history education in addition to his bachelor’s in anthropology. 

“Guiding students, regardless if they are undergrads or grads, in discovery and meeting their goals gives me a lot of fulfillment,” said Casledine. “I am able to pass on what I learned from mentors and personal experience to help them be better prepared for life beyond the classroom.”

Schneider-Crease shared a similar sentiment in that being an educator is a gift as she has the opportunity to engage with students and understand what does and doesn’t work well for them, ultimately guiding them into thinking critically about the world they live in.

“I have found that doing this in an international context magnifies the effect by a million,” she said. “Finding ourselves in unfamiliar places, working across cultures, having to rethink what we think we know, and incorporate perspectives and values wildly different from the ones we grew up with, has the capacity to completely transform how we understand the world and our roles in it. This is what has the capacity to change the world — young people engaging meaningfully at a global scale and challenging the limits of what we think is possible.”

Both Caseldine and Schneider-Crease plan to use the award funds to improve and expand access to innovative learning opportunities for students. Caseldine will use the funds to improve virtual class participation, allowing students to connect during live classes regardless if they are in person or in their home community. This investment will expand access to museum studies training for students who face geographic or financial barriers, particularly those in tribal communities. Schneider-Crease plans to use the award to support students who are a part of the Zelaki Project, ensuring equitable access to the program, as well as funding improvements for her online One Health course to ensure career-path exposure for online students.

As demonstrated by their recognition by ASASU, Caseldine and Schneider-Crease are making meaningful contributions to the educational development of ASU students through their inventive teaching practices. 

“Both Chris and India represent what it means to exemplify excellence in scholarship, leadership, community service and the enrichment of our students’ academic experience at ASU. We are proud to have both of them as faculty at the School of Human Evolution and Social Change,” said Patrick Ryan Williams, professor and director of the School of Human Evolution and Social Change.