Dr. William H. Cliff

Biography

William Cliff joined the biology faculty at Niagara University in 1992. Dr. Cliff has taught courses in general biology, public health, human anatomy and physiology, animal physiology, pharmacology, cell biology and natural history.  In addition, he has served as the Director of the Pre Health Program and Pre-Health Adviser for the University.  He also served as chairperson of the Committee for College Teaching and Learning, and the Task Force on Active and Integrative Learning.  He is a visiting professor at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics.

Dr. Cliff is a Carnegie Scholar at the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and a member of Project Kaleidoscope’s Faculty for the 21st century.  He has a longstanding interest in how case studies help students learn the biomedical sciences and his papers on case-based teaching and learning have appeared in Advances in Physiology Education and the Journal of College Science Teaching.  He has been a regular contributor to the annual summer workshops sponsored by the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, an investigative member of the Physiology Education Research Consortium, and a workshop facilitator at the Biology Scholars Program.  He has been invited to give seminars and to lead workshops on case-based teaching and learning at the annual meetings of the American Physiological Society and the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society.   He has served on the editorial board of Advances in Physiology Education.

Current Research

Dr. Cliff investigates how active and integrative approaches to learning impact student understanding of biology.  He is currently interested in the use of core concepts in biology and physiology to facilitate student learning.  He has examined the influence of case-based learning on conceptual change and misconception repair in physiology.   His work has been supported by awards from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the American Physiological Society.   He was a co-principal investigator on a National Science Foundation funded project that pioneered the definition and assessment of the core principles of undergraduate physiology.

Current Involvement

• Member of the Editorial Board – National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science
• Director – Program in Public Health
• University Committee on College Teaching and Learning
• University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee

Educational Background

• B.S. Cornell University, Biological Sciences
• Ph.D. Cornell University, Physiology
• Post Doctoral Studies University of Alabama at Birmingham, Physiology and Biophysics