meet “professor s”
meet “prof. s”
Steve C. Schenk’s career in professional science began in 1990 while he was still a junior at St. John’s High School (now St. John’s Jesuit High School). Working as a research assistant in a laboratory at Bowling Green State University, he helped to develop a method for transferring DNA into Staphylococcus bacteria. His path to Reverie Productions was greatly influenced by other high school experiences, including SJJ’s “Men for Others” focus and numerous fine arts courses through the University of Toledo at the Toledo Museum of Art.
While earning his B.Sc. in biology from Duke University, Steve spent two summers working in an organic chemistry lab at the Toledo oil refinery of Sun Co., Inc. Nearly a year of his time at Duke was spent at the Duke University Marine Laboratory. While there, he assisted with antifouling research, conducted original research into hermit crab behavioral ecology, and helped to design larval collection equipment for use on the DSV Alvin. He also took numerous courses in expository and scientific writing while a student at Duke.
In 1996 he began graduate school at Florida State University. There, he conducted research on the biomechanics and ecology of crab claws. He also got his first taste of science education, serving as a Teaching Assistant nearly every semester of graduate school. He taught a range of courses, including invertebrate zoology, comparative vertebrate anatomy, field marine ecology, and animal diversity. As a TA he experimented with on-line support for classes and was nominated for a teaching award. He also became involved with Saturday-at-the-Sea, a middle school outreach program at FSU. In 2000, he realized his heart was in scientific communication, not research. Withdrawing from the doctoral program, Steve defended a master’s thesis and received his M.Sc. in biological science in 2001. Then he stumbled into a one-year teaching position at Darton College (Albany, GA), and the rest, as they say, is history.
Steve served as a full-time faculty member in biology at Darton (2001 - 2006), Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, NV (2006 - 2012), and the College of Central Florida in Lecanto, FL (2012 - 2025). He was tenured and/or promoted at each school and was a tireless classroom innovator. Among other things, Steve…
was an early adopter of flipped classroom and directed note-taking strategies.
became a passionate promotor and innovator of case study-based instruction.
actively incorporated art and music into his courses.
implemented “outside activity points” to engage students with biology beyond the classroom.
has never used and has no idea how a scantron machine works.
Steve made his first instructional videos in 2012, and he launched Sci5-Videos on YouTube in 2020, becoming “Professor S.” In 2023, Steve was awarded the Dorothea G. Jerome Faculty Endowed Chair (Any Discipline) by the College of Central Florida Foundation. He used this grant to create the Wilton Simpson Citrus Campus Biodiversity Trail (BioDiT Citrus), a hybrid walking tour-science museum. Using art and music to teach about the local biodiversity and ecology, BioDiT Citrus was his most significant STEAM initiative, helping Citrus County residents better understand the connection between ecology and their local economy.
Steve now lives in Northfield, VT, with his wife, youngest son, and their chiweenies, Scarlett and Ginger. While science education is his first love, he still finds time for his other passions, including music, horror films, good whisky, cooking, and the Legend of Zelda.
Steve has founded Reverie Productions to channel his passions for biology, art, and community engagement into producing new kinds of educational materials and inspiring a love for science and nature in as many other people as he can.