- Educational Development
Anna M. Cunningham, MEd, PhD
Assistant Director of Teaching Innovation
- Eads Hall
- a.cunningham@wustl.edu
How Can I Help
I am excited to collaborate with faculty, students, and staff in the development of innovative, inclusive, and dynamic learning experiences. I am especially interested in discussing the ethical integration of generative AI and other innovative technologies in teaching and learning, inclusive and accessible course design, online-specific instructional design, and fostering a sense of psychological safety and belonging in educational spaces.
Curriculum VitaeBio
Anna (she/her/hers) joined WashU and the Center for Teaching and Learning in June 2025 as Assistant Director for Teaching Innovation. Prior to joining WashU, Anna was a faculty member at Arizona State University where she additionally served Dean’s Fellow, Assistant Director of Teaching & Learning, and Co-Director of Teaching, Innovation, and Excellence.
Anna holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Missouri as well as a Master of Education in Learning Design and Technology from Arizona State University. Her teaching portfolio spans biology and interdisciplinary STEM courses across community colleges, regional universities, and R1 institutions. She has led research projects focused on enhancing equity and belongingness in STEM, including NSF-funded STEM education grants focused on building institutional capacity for inclusive teaching, experiential learning, and workforce-based education.
With over a decade of experience in higher education and a unique blend of expertise in biology, STEM education, instructional design, and educational leadership, she enjoys partnering with faculty and students to tackle pedagogical challenges creatively and collaboratively, especially via interdisciplinary perspectives. In her role as Assistant Director of Teaching Innovation, Anna supports programming focused on exploring innovative and inclusive pedagogical strategies that promote both faculty and student engagement, exploration, success, and joy via evidence-based teaching practices. This includes, of course, innovative and ethical use of generative artificial intelligence (gAI) in the teaching and learning space!
Anna’s interdisciplinary background informs her commitment to research-driven and compassionate course design that supports both student learning and faculty development. She is especially interested in technology-enhanced pedagogy, generative AI, community-based pedagogy, social learning theory, accessibility-centered instructional design, and the roles of psychological safety and a sense of belongingness in educational success.