About the Alliance

The Lilienfeld Alliance is an independent 501(c)3 non-profit organization, the purpose of which is to connect instructors who teach critical thinking at the college and university level, to advocate for course content that promotes rational skepticism, and to encourage further study of best practices in the pedagogy of teaching such courses.

Membership is open to those who teach in a college or university, or people retired from such work or in preparation for it. Please contact us for more information or to join this alliance. info@lilienfeldalliance.org

Photo of Natalia Pasternak, a woman with brown hair tied back, wearing a burgundy long-sleeve top, standing against a plain light background with her arms crossed and smiling.

Executive Board Members

Photo of Ray Hall, a smiling man with glasses, a bald head, and a beard, wearing a plaid shirt and tie, in front of a bookshelf filled with books.

Raymond Hall, PhD

Physics

California State University, Fresno

rhall@csufresno.edu 

Photo of Katie Dyer, a woman with gray hair and glasses, smiling, wearing a red top, sitting in an office with framed photos on the wall behind her.

Kathleen Dyer, PhD

Child and Family Science

California State University, Fresno

kdyer@mail.fresnostate.edu 

Photo of Rodney Schmaltz, a man with glasses and a goatee, wearing a gray shirt, standing outdoors in front of a gray stone wall and metal railing.

Rodney Schmaltz, PhD

Psychology

MacEwan University

rodney.schmaltz@macewan.ca

Natalia Pasternak Taschner, PhD

Science and Society Center

Columbia University

np2804@columia.edu 

History

The Lilienfeld Alliance formed as a result of professors meeting at TAM! and CSICon annual meetings. While higher education is not the focus of those meetings of skeptics, professors at the conferences tended to meet up and discuss their pedagogies. We met up informally in 2022 and 2023 at CSICon, then we had a more formal half-day meeting in 2024 at CSICon. In 2025, we met separately for the first time at MacEwan University in Alberta, Canada. We are planning to meet again in 2026, this time at the California State University, Fresno. 

Schedule for Lilicon 2025 conference, featuring sessions on rational skepticism in higher education, with keynote speakers Joe Schwarcz and Tom Gilovich, and various academic discussions, held on July 10 at MacEwan University.
Flyer for LiliCon 2024 academic conference on teaching rational skepticism in higher education, scheduled for October 24, 2024. Features a purple logo and contains information about speakers, topics, and registration link.
Schedule for Lilicon 2025 conference on July 11 at MacEwan University, including sessions on skepticism, teaching, and critical thinking, with keynote speakers Chris Labos and Jevin West.
Attendees of LiliCon 2024 standing in a conference room, wearing nametags, with a science-related poster and yellow curtains in the background.

October 2024

Lilicon 2024

CSICon Meeting

Las Vegas, NV

Pasternak, Hall, Dyer and Schmaltz standing in front of a black poster with a starry background advertising CSICon. From LiliCon 2024.
A large group of people at the 2023 meeting of the Lilienfeld Alliance, posing for a group photo in a hotel conference room.

October 2023 - CSICon Meeting - Las Vegas, NV

Group of people from the 2022 meeting of the Lilienfeld Alliance at a conference, all smiling, some wearing conference badges.

October 2022 - CSICon Meeting - Las Vegas, NV