2008 Distinguished Alumni, Rebecca Portratz Creech
She returned to Purdue in 1998 to work as the Teacher-in-Residence for Bioscope, a National Science Foundation-funded science education project. She left BioScope to become an academic advisor in the then-School of Science at Purdue. She returned to the classroom in 2000 when she accepted a biology and chemistry teaching position at Harrison High School in West Lafayette. She continues to teach chemistry at Harrison while also serving as the school improvement co-chair. In addition, she is also the high school science chair for the Tippecanoe School Corporation. While at Harrison, Rebecca has been involved as a varsity softball coach, girl’s basketball scorekeeper, and co-sponsor for Key Club and Sunshine Society. She accompanied a student to the INTEL International Science Fair in San Jose, California.
Rebecca gives back to the teacher education field by serving as a mentor for new teachers and in-service teachers. She works with Purdue Block 1 students each year and has mentored four Purdue student teachers. She has also worked with students in the Summer Biology Experience at Purdue. She has partnered with chemistry education graduate students for four research projects and wrote standards-based chemistry lessons for the I-STeM Resource Network. Rebecca is a member of several science education organizations and has attended and presented at many state and national science education conferences.
