Carolyn Schick is the Assistant Director of the Learning Assistant Alliance (LAA), based at the University of Colorado Boulder. In this role, she supports various initiatives and the mission of the LAA, co-organizes the annual conference (ILAC), and facilitates workshops across the country, helping institutions begin and grow their LA programs.

Prior to her Assistant Director role with the LAA, Carolyn founded and directed the LA Program at Montgomery College (MC), a three-campus two-year college located outside of Washington, D.C. in nearby Montgomery County Maryland. The MC LA program features LAs from all over the world and Carolyn fostered empowerment and inclusion for the LAs as well as for the students they support. Before starting the MC LA program, Carolyn was a chemistry professor at the College. She changed roles from teaching chemistry to starting the MC LA program as she sought a creative way to weave caregiving for her parents with supporting students at the College. Through her lived experience, Carolyn also now serves as a community educator, public speaker, and caregiving mentor - sharing insights from her caregiving journey with others, encouraging them to build connections and create moments of joy as they support those with cognitive change and dementia.

LA Program Experiences: With the Montgomery College LA program, Carolyn handled all aspects of the program: she taught the LA pedagogy course, selected and hired LAs, recruited faculty and courses for LA use, and worked with faculty to implement LAs in their courses. She also conducted research on LA use, worked with administrators to grow/sustain the MC LA program, formed partnerships with other institutions around LAs, encouraged other two-year colleges to consider LA programs, and secured external and internal funding for the Montgomery College LA program. Since Fall 2013, Carolyn worked with, taught, mentored, and supported over 550 LAs, 60 Faculty Mentors, and 14,000 students at Montgomery College.

With the Learning Assistant Alliance, Carolyn served on the Leadership Council (2021-2023) and has enjoyed collaborating with LA program colleagues across the country on various grants and projects.

Education and Teaching Background: Carolyn received her B.S. in Chemistry and Natural Science from Muhlenberg College, in Allentown, PA. She received her Sc.M. and Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Brown University. Carolyn was a General Chemistry lecturer at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, specializing in active learning in large lecture classes for two years before returning to her hometown in Maryland. As a chemistry professor at Montgomery College, she specialized in active learning, technology and visualization in the classroom, inclusion, and academic advising for success.