Undergraduate Education

Dr. Daniel A. Wubah

Daniel A. Wubah is vice president for undergraduate education and deputy provost of Virginia Tech and professor of biological sciences. In his current role, he is responsible for setting the academic vision and advancing excellence in undergraduate education allocating resources to college deans to supplement classroom instruction. In addition to serving as the acting provost in the absence of the senior vice president and provost, Wubah represents the university before external bodies.

Wubah received a Bachelor of Science with Honors in botany and Diploma in Science Education from the University of Cape Coast in Ghana; a Master of Science in biology from the University of Akron, Ohio; and a Ph.D. in botany from the University of Georgia, with a specialization in anaerobic microbiology. He was postdoctoral fellow at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Research Laboratory in Athens, Ga. Wubah started his academic career as assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Towson (State) University in Maryland in 1992. A year after he earned tenure, he was elected chair of the department. In 2000, he moved to James Madison University as the associate dean of the College of Science and Mathematics, and three years later, he was appointed the special assistant to the president. After serving as associate provost for undergraduate education and professor of zoology at the University of Florida from 2007-2009, he moved to his current position in 2009.

Wubah’s research interests focus on the characterization of obligately anaerobic zoosporic fungi, bench scale bioremediation studies of toxic halogenated organic compounds, and characterization of the microflora in the digestive tract of neotropical wood-eating catfish. His work has resulted in more than 60 peer-reviewed journal publications, book chapters and technical reports. The National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have funded his research and training projects. Wubah has supervised research projects and served on theses/dissertation committees for 93 students including seven masters and four doctoral students.

Among the courses that Wubah has taught are general microbiology, medical microbiology, microbial ecology, and geomicrobiology. He has also been a leader in the integration of international experiences in undergraduate education and research. He has served as the principal investigator in five successful international NSF-Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) sites, including the longest continuously running REU site in Africa (REU-Ghana; 2002-present). He is currently the PI for the Scieneering Program, funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the NSF-funded WIDER program that focuses on assessment of instructional practices and outcomes in the general education curriculum. 

He was a member of a National Academy of Sciences panel that studied the scientific basis for estimating air emission from animal feeding operations. He presented a testimony before the US Congress on preparing the scientific workforce of the 21^st century in 2003. He was an associate editor for Mycologia and currently serves on the editorial board member of Frontiers: the interdisciplinary journal on study abroad. He has served on several national committees including the Advisory Committees for the NSF Directorate of Biology and the Office of International Science and Engineering. He currently chairs the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities Study Session (2005- present). He is a trustee of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS-COC). For the past 10 years, Wubah has been a member of the Board of Governors of the National Aquarium in Baltimore.