Amanda L. Townley, Ph.D., became Executive Director of NCSE in 2023. She is an award-winning researcher and advocate specializing in science teacher education, evolution education research, and science literacy-focused public outreach. Townley is a deeply engaged advocate of science for all and "hands-on, minds-on" science teaching and learning, supporting the accurate and comprehensive teaching of science across levels of study. Prior to joining NCSE, she was an Associate Professor of Middle Grades and Secondary Science Education at Georgia Southern University in Savannah, Georgia. Her research centered on the intersections between science and society, specifically the acceptance and rejection of evolution and climate change, misconceptions and misuse of the nature of science in anti-science movements, and the impact of the perceived conflicts between scientific understandings and culture on science literacy. (See Amanda Townley's curriculum vitae.)
Amanda L. Townley
Executive Director