New faculty spotlight: Sarah McBrien

Sarah McBrien is a new faculty member at UNMC.

• Name: Sarah B. McBrien
• Hometown: Omaha
• Title and department at UNMC: Assistant professor, director of curricular and learning assessment, UNMC College of Allied Health Professions

Research Interests:

• Qualitative research methods in health science education
• Measuring the impact of instructional innovation on student learning
• Innovative assessment methods
• Instructional technology

How I fell in love with assessment and evaluation:

I began my career at UNMC in 2010, when I was hired by the College of Medicine to develop a computer-based testing program using the technology infrastructure our campus had in place at that time. It was during that process that I became interested in how we can use technology to deliver and score assessments, gather longitudinal data and provide valuable feedback to students. I enjoy discussions with my colleagues about theoretical and pragmatic aspects of student assessment and look forward to expanding my perspective on health science education in the College of Allied Health Professions.

Degrees:

• M.S., education, University of Nebraska at Omaha
• B.S., education, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio

Memberships:

• American Educational Research Association
• UNMC Interprofessional Academy of Educators

Three things people may not know about me:

• I am a Ph.D. candidate in the College of Education and Human Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I intend to graduate in May 2018.
• UNMC is a family affair! My mother, Chris Pickett, is an accountant in the College of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics, and my sister graduated from UNMC in 2007 with a Doctor of Physical Therapy.
• One of my closest friends and I have been friends for over 30 years, but we have not lived in the same city since we were in grade school. We stayed in touch via handwritten letters, then email. Now, we interact almost daily via text message.