Charity Flener Lovitt, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)

Preferred name: Charity Lovitt

Associate Teaching Professor

Faculty in First Year and Premajor Programs

Charity Flener Lovitt, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)

Preferred name: Charity Lovitt

Associate Teaching Professor

Faculty in First Year and Premajor Programs

Dr. Charity Flener Lovitt is an associate teaching professor of Physical Sciences at the University of Washington Bothell whose work focuses on transforming STEM education through evidence‑based, student‑centered teaching. With deep experience in active learning, curricular design, and faculty development, she leads initiatives that strengthen belonging, scientific identity, and equitable learning in chemistry and interdisciplinary science courses. A two‑time Fulbright awardee, she has taught and collaborated internationally, published widely on chemical education and climate‑focused pedagogy, and facilitated dozens of workshops that support instructors in adopting high‑impact practices. Her scholarship and leadership continue to shape how students and educators engage with science in meaningful, socially connected ways.

Education

  • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign- Urbana, Illinois
    • Ph.D. – Chemistry
  • Kentucky Wesleyan College- Owensboro, KY
    • B.S. – Chemistry (Minor- Mathematics)

Courses

  • BCHEM 139 Preparation for General Chemistry
  • BCHEM 143 General Chemistry 1
  • BCHEM 153 General Chemistry 2
  • BCORE 110 Discovery Core: Natural Sciences
  • BCHEM 497 Apprenticeship in Chemistry Education
  • BST 205 Women in STEM

Teaching Interests

Chemistry education, sustainability, history of chemistry

Research and Scholarship Interests

Belonging, curriculum design, curriculum assessment, information literacy, green chemistry

Creative Interests

Travel

① used to denote student authors
② used to denote DEIJ activities

  • ② “Embodying Change: Courses that Integrate Narrative, Storytelling, and Embodied Learning in Climate Change Education” Charity E. Flener Lovitt, Miriam Bertram, Dana Campbell, Avery Cook Shinneman, Martha Groom, Deborah Hathaway, Amy Lambert, and Grace A. Lasker, J Chem Ed, 2025, 102 (2), 516-526, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.4c00465
    Invited – Published as part of special issue “Action for Climate Empowerment in Chemistry Education”
  • ② “From Science to Society: Humanizing Climate Change Education by Integrating the Social Sciences and Humanities, U.N. SDGs, and Systems Thinking in Chemistry Learning” Grace A. Lasker and Charity Flener LovittJ Chem Ed, 2024 101 (11), 4765-4772, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.4c00460 Invited – Published as part of special issue “Action for Climate Empowerment in Chemistry Education”
  • ② “Belonging in POGIL Gateway Classes” Gleboa, Olga; Lovitt, Charity; Mak, Giselle①; Castillo, Darian①; Horn, Matthew; Murray, Tracey. SIGCSE 2024, March 20–23, 2024, Portland, OR, USA ACM ISBN 979-8-4007-0424-6/24/03.
  • ② “Using Structured Teams to Develop Social Presence in Asynchronous Chemistry Courses” Flener-Lovitt, Charity; Bailey, Karl; Han, Rui. J Chem Ed, 2020, 97 (9), pp 2519-2525.
  • “Developing Communication Skills in First-Year students with a MythBusters Style Video Project” Charity Flener-Lovitt, Kara Adams, Avery Cook Shinneman, in “Communication in Chemistry”, American Chemical Society Press, Washington DC, USA. DOI: 0.1021/bk-2019-1327.ch013, 2020.
  • “Wikipedia editing in chemistry classrooms: Learning chemistry and improving information competencies simultaneously” Charity Flener-Lovitt, Ye Li, Kristen Shuyler, and Anne McNeil, in “Integrating Information literacy into Chemistry Curricula” American Chemical Society Press, USA. DOI: 10.1021/bk-2016-1232, 2016.
  • “Designing a library research project to identify credible resources on climate change” Charity Flener-Lovitt and Kristen Shuyler in “Integrating Information literacy into Chemistry Curricula”. American Chemical Society, USA. DOI: 10.1021/bk-2016-1232, 2016.
  • “Using the socioscientific context of climate change to teach chemical content and the nature of science” Flener-Lovitt, Charity. J. Chem. Educ., 2014, 91 (10), pp 1587–1593.
  • “An osmium(II) methane complex: Elucidation of the methane coordination mode” Peter J. Sempsrott; Trinh, Brian; Flener Lovitt, Charity; Capra, Nicolas; Girolami, Gregory S. Sci. Adv. 9, eadg8130 (2023). DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adg8130
  • “Steric and Electronic Analyses of Ligand Effects on the Stability of σ-Methane Coordination Complexes: A DFT Study” Lovitt, C.F.; Capra, N.E.; Lastowski, R.J.; Girolami, G.S. Organometallics, 2022, 41 (24), pp 3834-3844.
  • UW Bothell Initiatives Group (UW BIG) Grant “Supporting Learning in Large Gateway Classes”
  • American Chemical Society Climate Change Toolkit Grant
  • Fulbright Teaching Scholar to Qatar (2023-2024)
  • Technology Teaching Institute Fellow (2021-2022)
  • UW Bothell Community Based Learning and Research Fellow (2015-2016)
  • Fulbright Fellow to Germany (2008-2009)

UW Office of Sustainability

  • POGIL Project
  • Pacific Science Center
  • General Faculty Organization
  • Western States Chemistry Education Group
  • ACS (National and Puget Sound Local Section)