| Cumberland Project in August 2022
In this time of environmental uncertainty and crisis higher education plays a vital role in helping the public meet the numerous challenges to sustainability, especially understanding and responding to climate change. Vanderbilt has taken up this challenge in a variety of forms, the latest of which is formation of the Climate and Environmental Studies Program. Towards the goal of supporting this program’s new curriculum, Vanderbilt’s Center for Teaching, the Climate and Environmental Studies Planning Committee, and the Climate and Society Grand Challenge are proud to announce the renewal of the Cumberland Project course design workshop, scheduled for August 15-17, 2022.
Modeled on Emory University’s Piedmont Project and Northern Arizona University’s Ponderosa Project, the Cumberland Project will be a three-day workshop in which Vanderbilt instructors will engage in course design and pedagogical discussions with one another, CFT staff, and faculty leaders of environmental and climate studies. Particular emphasis will be placed on interdisciplinary, experiential, and collaborative approaches to teaching across all fields and all participants will focus on (re)designing a course that will be offered in the Climate and Environmental Studies Program in the next two years. Participants will receive a $1000 stipend that they may choose to take as research funds or salary supplement, in addition to meals for the three days.
We hope you will participate. If you are interested, please apply by completing this form by July 1, 2022, and if you have further questions, please direct them to Joe Bandy at the Center for Teaching.
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| The CFT Thanks Our Graduate Teaching Fellows
The CFT wants to thank our 2021-2022 Graduate Teaching Fellows for their unwavering commitment to teaching values and for completing their 12 months fellowship. To further the university's teaching mission, our outstanding Fellows remained dedicated to providing 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, Leah, Sara, and Yvonne. Congratulations on all your accomplishments and best wishes with your future endeavors.
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| Queer Teaching, Queer Thriving Learning Community
Throughout the past academic year, the CFT was honored to co-host with the KC Potter Center for LGBTQI Life a learning community to help faculty and staff better support the needs of LGBTQI students. We discussed a variety of topics ranging from faculty well-being to inclusive teaching, from queer pedagogy to student mental health. We would like to thank the many participants throughout the year for your dedication to an inclusive and equitable campus, and for your wisdom and compassion in developing practices in your work. We also would like to give special gratitude to those who helped plan the events, including Franklin Ellis, Leah Roberts, Steph Mahnke, Catherine McTamaney, and Brianna Nesbitt. Thank you for all you do to support diversity and inclusion, and to catalyze high impact education at Vanderbilt.
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| Leading Lines
Episode 112 with Jill Lassiter
On today’s episode of Leading Lines, producer and colleague Stacey Johnson brings us an interview with Jill Lassiter, assistant professor of health sciences at James Madison University. Professor Lassiter recently wrote a Faculty Focus article on service-learning in a virtual world, including the changes she made to her service-learning projects during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the interview, professor Lassiter shares three principles for adapting service-learning to challenging environments, describes some of the virtual service-learning projects her students have engaged in over the last few years, and offers advice for instructors new to service-learning on getting started with technology-supported service-learning.
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Course Design Institute
on Inclusive Teaching
This May, the CFT hosted its second annual Course Design Institute focused 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 28 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, Karen Enyedy, Marcy Singer-Gabella, Carwill Bjork-James, Heather Fedesco, Elizabeth Meadows, Ipek Oguz, Rory Dicker, Franklin Ellis, Rosevelt Noble, Steph Mahnke, and Ciera Scott. Together, all of you made the event a success and contributed greatly to Vanderbilt’s efforts toward inclusion and equity.
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| CFT Celebrates Certificate in College Teaching Graduates
Congratulations to all the graduate students and postdocs who completed the Certificate in College Teaching this spring! 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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| Certificate in College Teaching Spring 2022
Julianna (Gigi) Adams
Bunmi Adegbola
Melanie Bowers
Emilia Cardenas
Cara DeLoach
Yelena Doe
Kacie Dunham
Zachary Feldman
Nicolette Frazer
Nicolette Granata
Joseph Howard
Dylan Irons
Sarah Jessup
Garrison Johnston
Anna Kasdan
Ketaki Katdare
Aidan Lorenz
Brian Luczak
Meredith McLain
Patricia Midori Murobushi Ozawa
Matthre Murphy
Abigail Neininger
Suzanne Nolan
Gabriel Perez Mesa
Andre Ramos-Chacon
Tanushree Sarkar
Anirban Sengupta
Jennifer Shuman (Battle)
Kritika Singh
KT Wiley
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| CFT Working Group: Preparing Syllabi for First Faculty Job
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 2022 to create their needed syllabi in advance of the upcoming school year. In the four bi-weekly 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. Sara Eccleston, one of the Graduate Teaching Fellows, developed and facilitated this learning community. Thank you, Sara, for your expertise and guidance.
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