College of Agriculture & Natural Resources

Resume for Dr. Laura Bix

Laura Bix, PhD, was named the assistant dean for teaching, learning and academic analytics in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) in fall 2018. The CANR assistant dean position in the Office of Academic and Student Affairs expands Bix’s scope of work into evidence-based decision making and expectation development related to teaching and learning within the college.

In the position, she supports fostering a culture that incorporates the use of learning analytics and interventions to help students success. She assists in defining what “student success” means within the CANR by using existing research, internal resources and external benchmarks to identify factors that can support teaching. Additionally, Bix collaborates with the Office of Institutional Studies to develop a tool capable of quantifying student recruitment, persistence and graduation rates. She looks forward to implementing proactive evaluations for teaching and learning across the college.

Bix has had a broad variety of teaching experience including core and elective courses on topics such as packaging law and regulations, packaging development and science writing. She has also participated as a fellow in the CANR Office of Academic and Student Affairs and has been on the faculty at the School of Packaging since 2002.

Previously, Bix was a professor at the School of Packaging at Michigan State University and an adjunct associate at Clemson University. She was also a the U.S. delegate to ISO TC122 WG 9, a group which is developing a standard for measuring the accessibility of packages. Additionally, Bix served as the Vice-Chair of Committee D10.32, the Committee on Consumer, Pharmaceutical and Medical Packaging, from 2004-2007, and as a member of Committee F-02, the flexible barrier material committee, since 2002.

In 2008 she was named one of the 100 most notable people in the medical device industry by Medical Devices and Diagnostics Industry.

Instructional Activities

PKG 452 Medical Packaging: Special requirements for packaging pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Evaluation of package systems and packaging procedures.

PKG 485 Packaging Development: Package development including selection, design and implementation of package systems for protection, distribution, merchandising, use and disposal.

PKG 490, Section 003 Directed Studies in Packaging: Development of solutions to specific packaging problems. Supervised individual study.