Shenna M. Shearin, Ph.D.

Dr. Shenna M. Shearin is a Ph.D. graduate of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. She currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Bennett College. She teaches General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry to majors and non-majors. She employs an array of active learning tactics to help students learn chemistry.

Dr. Shearin’s research interests include STEM education, efficacy of STEM interventions at HBCUs, and STEM retention. Her past research focused on the evaluation of the synergetic impact of tutoring, faculty mentoring, academic advising, and supplemental instruction on the GPAs, retention, and graduation rates of under-represented minority (URM) female STEM majors. This research was instrumental in the College’s development of a systematic retention plan designed to reduce the attrition rates of Bennett College female students.

Currently, she is a Faculty Research Fellow for the 2021 Faculty Research Fellows Program in the HBCU STEM US Research Center’s Analytic Hub, a collaboration with Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Virginia State University. Her research project employs a mixed method which seeks to investigate and understand the correlation between achievement motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic), student learning, and academic performance in STEM courses at Bennett College.