zyk2003@columbia.edu
505 Butler Library

Yasemin Kalender is the Assistant Director, Graduate Student Programs and Services at the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). In this role, she supports graduate student’s teaching development and professional growth with inclusive and evidence based teaching methodologies. Drawing on her background in education research and teaching, Yasemin is passionate about sharing research-informed educational tools and fostering inclusive, student-centered, and psychologically safe classroom environments.

Yasemin earned her B.S. in Physics from Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey, and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Pittsburgh. Following graduation, she served as an Active Learning Initiative Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University. Prior to joining the Columbia CTL team, she worked as the Assistant Director of Science Pedagogy at Harvard University’s Derek Bok Center, where she helped faculty and graduate students improve their teaching and learning experiences. She has also held faculty positions at the Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Liverpool, teaching physics and astronomy to diverse student populations and mentoring graduate students in education research projects.

Outside of work, Yasemin enjoys quiet reading time with a good sci-fi or fantasy novel, knitting new projects accompanied by her cat, Gandalf. She also enjoys playing tennis and pickleball and attending board game conventions with her husband (always happy to discover a new favorite game!).