Dr. Klehm brings a passion for teaching chemistry to beginning college students who desire to seek careers in science related fields such as medicine, engineering, education, and others. One of her favorite things is to relate Biblical and spiritual insights into the content of chemistry, helping students gain an appreciation for God as an excellent chemist.
In 2015, Dr. Klehm collaborated with math professor LeighAnne Locke and was awarded the largest grant the University had ever received (at that time) from the National Science Foundation. The NSF award was from the Robert Noyce Scholarship Program which promotes math and science majors to become teachers of those subjects in public schools. The grant was successful in achieving its goals, and Dr. Klehm is pleased that many of those teachers have remained in the field, inspiring future doctors and engineers in their secondary classrooms.
Dr. Klehm has also had success in earning grant awards from the Oklahoma Regents for Higher Education Summer Academy Grants Program. Dr. Klehm has been a Co-Director of the Summer Academy for many years and has helped impact secondary students from all over the state of Oklahoma with innovative and active science and engineering experiences. The summer camp has run almost continuously since 1990, and Dr. Klehm has had the longest involvement of all of the Summer Academy faculty.
Dr. Klehm grew up around ORU and is a second generation ORU faculty member. Her father, Dr. Richard Couch, taught Biology for many years and helped inspire Dr. Klehm with a wonder and awe of nature and the physical world. She hopes to have a similar impact on the students she teaches.
Dr. Klehm earned her B.S. in Chemistry Education in 1990 from ORU, then went on to earn a Master’s Degree from Northeastern State University in 1992. She taught high school for two years at Victory Christian School and was then hired as an Instructor at ORU. She continued teaching at ORU while starting part-time coursework at Oklahoma State University toward a doctoral degree in Higher Education Administration with a Specialty in Chemistry Instruction. She finished her doctoral degree in 2001. Dr. Klehm is now a Senior Professor of Chemistry at ORU.