Chelsea Barbercheck

Chelsea Barbercheck is the executive director of Great Plains IDEA.  Her responsibilities include implementing alliance policies, coordinating the cabinet and boards, managing alliance and management team operations, including financials and communications.

Prior to Great Plains IDEA, Barbercheck worked at Boston University where she served as director for the Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training, or BEST, program, a National Institutes of Health-funded initiative, and part of a 17-school consortium that engaged more than 1,100 doctoral and postdoctoral trainees across two campuses as well as deans, senior faculty members, and local professionals in career development. 

Before her work at Boston University, Barbercheck, a native of southeast Kansas, was at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She earned her doctorate in microbiology, cell, and molecular genetics, at Oklahoma State University and her undergraduate degree in biology with a minor in leadership studies from Southwestern College in Winfield, Kan. 

Ph.D. in Microbiology, Cell and Molecular Genetics, Oklahoma State University, 2012
B.S. in Biology with a minor in Leadership Studies, Southwestern College, 2007