Course Design Institute on Inclusive Teaching
This May, the CFT hosted its third annual Course Design Institute on Inclusive Teaching. Instructors and staff from across campus participated in the event, delving into the scholarship on inclusive teaching and applying it via course design work. Over four days, they met with each other in large and small groups, and with resource faculty and staff from across campus. In these conversations, they learned to engage a diverse range of voices and perspectives, support student belonging and empowerment, develop productive dialogues about difficult subjects, provide accessible assignments and activities, and close performance and persistence gaps.
We would like to thank the 30 participants for their many insights and their work to transform their courses and practices. We also would like to express our gratitude for the faculty and staff who gave of their time to share their wisdom and support more inclusive teaching practices, including Ashley Brown, Katie Clements, Rory Dicker, Karen Enyedy, Julaine Fowlin, Steph Mahnke, Elizabeth Meadows, Rosevelt Noble, and Marcy Singer-Gabella. Together, all of you made the event a success and contributed greatly to Vanderbilt’s efforts toward inclusion and equity.
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L to R: Julie Sriken (Human & Organizational Development)
Nauff Zakaria (Graduate Department of Religion)
Jose Luis de Ramon Ruiz (Spanish and Portuguese)
Marta Eugenia Zavaleta Lemus (Anthropology)
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The CFT Thanks Our Graduate Teaching Fellows
The CFT wants to express our deepest gratitude to the 2022-2023 Graduate Teaching Fellows for their unwavering commitment to teaching values and for completing their 12 months of fellowship. To further the university's teaching mission, our outstanding Fellows demonstrated exceptional professionalism, and expertise and provided optimal pedagogical consultations to other graduate students and postdocs, designed and facilitated Teaching Assistant Orientation for new graduate students, and delivered high-quality CiCT instructions. It is an honor to work with Jose, Eugenia, Julie, and Nauff. Congratulations on all your accomplishments, and best wishes with your future endeavors.
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CFT Celebrates Certificate in College Teaching Graduates
Congratulations to all the graduate students and postdocs who successfully completed the Certificate in College Teaching (CiCT) this spring! Throughout this program, The CiCT participants delved into the art and science of teaching, honing their skills, and expanding their knowledge in the realm of higher education. Their commitment to becoming effective and innovative instructors is truly inspiring. By actively engaging in this certificate program, the participants demonstrated their willingness to go above and beyond, embracing new pedagogical approaches and incorporating them into their teaching practices.
The Certificate in College Teaching (CiCT), co-sponsored by the Center for Teaching and the Graduate School, prepares Vanderbilt graduate students and postdocs who wish to gain a clearer, deeper, more active approach to teaching and learning in higher education. The certificate focuses on the research on learning and best teaching practices and supports the university’s pursuit of excellence in teaching and learning. The certificate is ideal for graduate students who want to prepare for future careers in higher education teaching. For more details on the program, visit the CiCT webpage.
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JFTF Spotlights
Each year, the CFT highlights the work of our Junior Faculty Teaching Fellows (JFTF). This month, Danyelle Valentine shares about her work in the JFTF program.
Danyelle Valentine, Senior Lecturer in American Studies and Gender and Sexuality Studies:
I am a Senior Lecturer in both American Studies and Gender and Sexuality Studies. My research interests explore histories of resistance to bondage, migration, and freedom throughout the Black Atlantic. My current monograph chronicles the military tactics deployed by the British Royal Army after the Revolutionary War that facilitated the migration of free people of color to Trinidad and British Guiana in the years leading up to the American Civil War... [READ MORE]
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Teaching, Difference, and Power Learning Community: Anti-Racist Teaching
Throughout the 2022-2023 academic year, the CFT was honored to co-host with Meredyth Wegener (Neuroscience) a learning community dedicated to anti-racist pedagogies and practices as part of our annual Teaching, Difference, and Power series. Based loosely on the Building Anti-Racist White Educators (BARWE) curriculum, but designed for all participants, 25 faculty and staff participated in seven meetings and explored topics including white allyship vs solidarity, unpacking unconscious racial biases and privilege in teaching, inclusive and equitable assessment, culturally responsive teaching, methods of transforming racial conflict in the classroom, and debates around white supremacy pedagogy in higher education. We at the CFT would like to extend our gratitude to Meredyth Wegener and to all the participants for their commitments to pursuing models of teaching and learning that resist rather than replicate systems of exclusion in higher education, if not our broader world.
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CFT Working Group: Syllabus Preparation for New Faculty
During the Spring semester, the CFT organized a working group dedicated to supporting graduate students and postdocs who will be new faculty in the Fall of 2023 to create their needed syllabi in advance of the upcoming school year. In the six bi-weekly virtual meetings, participants engaged in activities focused on Understanding by Design for course development, shared their progress on their syllabi development goals, and discussed their challenges. Julie Sriken, one of the Graduate Teaching Fellows, developed and facilitated this learning community. Thank you, Julie, for your expertise and guidance.
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