Chair, CSTA Board of Directors

Steve Cooper is an Associate Professor (teaching) in the Computer Science Department at Stanford University, with a courtesy appointment in Education. Prior to teaching at Stanford, Steve was at Purdue University, where he served as Professor of Computer Graphics Technology and as a Professor of Computer Science (courtesy). He was previously an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Saint Joseph's University and the Director of its Center for Visualization. His research areas lie in program visualization and semantics, with a broad interest in computer science education. He has been working with Alice and developing Alice-related curricular materials since 1998. Along with Wanda Dann and the late Randy Pausch, he has written many technical papers on Alice, as well as two texts, Learning to Program with Alice (2011, Prentice-Hall) and Exploring Wonderland (2010, Prentice-Hall). The latter text, which includes Barbara Ericson as a co-author, integrates Alice and Media Computation into a single CS1 course. From 2007-2009, Steve worked in NSF's Division of Undergraduate Education, within its Education and Human Resources Directorate in the Division of Undergraduate Education. There, he worked as a program manager on the CCLI/TUES, ATE, NSDL, SFS, and S-STEM programs.

Steve won election to the CSTA Board of Directors in 2006 as the University representative. He served as the CSTA Board Vice President from 2008-2011. He has helped to write successful NSF grant proposals on behalf of CSTA, co-authored the Level 3 implementation of the CSTA model curricula, and has worked on several standing committees.

Steve's BA degrees in chemistry and mathematics are from Cornell University, and his MS and PhD degrees in computer science are from Syracuse University.

Executive Director, CSTA

Chris Stephenson is the executive director of ACM's Computer Science Teachers Association. She joined ACM after 16 years at the University of Toronto's Computer Systems Research Institute and the University of Waterloo's Mathematics and Computing Department, where she designed instructional resources and professional development for high school educators. She is former president of Holt Software, an educational publishing company focusing computer science.

Since 2000, Stephenson has served as chair of the annual Computer Science and Information Technology Symposia and as chair of the review committee for computer science for the National Educational Computing Conference. She is the former chair of the International Society for Technology in Education's Computer Science special interest group and of the ACM K-12 Task Force. She is also a former president of the Association for Computer Studies Educators and of the Educational Computing Organization of Ontario, Canada. She has produced numerous research publications in the field of computer science education and adaptive technology, and has written several high school textbooks.

Stephenson earned a B.A. in English Literature, a B.J. (Journalism) from Carleton University, an M.Ed. from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education with a specialty in Computer Applications, Measurement, and Evaluation, and a Ph.D. in Education and Teaching Leadership from Oregon State University.