Linda B. Nilson

Linda B. Nilson is an American author, faculty developer, and academic known for her work on college teaching and learning. She is the founding director emerita of the Office of Teaching Effectiveness and Innovation at Clemson University, a role she held as full-time director for over 25 years before semi-retiring in 2016. She began her academic career as a sociology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and later directed teaching centers at Vanderbilt University and the University of California, Riverside before moving to Clemson. Nilson completed a B.A. in sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison as a National Science Foundation Fellow.

Nilson is the author of Teaching at Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors, a widely used handbook now in its fourth edition, as well as related titles on teaching and course design. Her other books include The Graphic Syllabus and the Outcomes Map: Communicating Your Course, Creating Self-Regulated Learners: Strategies to Strengthen Students’ Self-Awareness and Learning Skills, Specifications Grading: Restoring Rigor, Motivating Students, and Saving Faculty Time, **Online Teaching at Its Best: Merging Instructional Design with Teaching and