Call for Applications: UWGB Teaching Scholars (2020-21) 

Dear Colleagues: 

Access. Think of all the ways you have heard that word recently. UW-Green Bay is an “access institution.” Do we practice equity-minded instruction that promotes inclusion and access? Do our students have adequate internet access to engage in learning right now? Are we using universal design principles to ensure access for all? How will our current range of instructional modalities influence how we and our students access education and each other? How does living in a pandemic influence our personal bandwidth access to function as educators and learners?  

Given the myriad ways it is a critical issue right now, access is the 2020-21 theme for the UWGB Teaching Scholars. The Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL), with financial support from the Office of the Provost, is currently accepting applications for the academic year.  This program provides faculty and instructors of all experience levels – from new instructors to the most senior tenured professors – the opportunity to share their teaching expertise and further develop their craft. Being a Teaching Scholar is an honor and a recognition of teaching excellence. It is also a professional development opportunity designed to promote continuous growth as an educator. 

Directed by Kris Vespia (Psychology), the program offers opportunities to discuss teaching with colleagues, develop new teaching strategies, read materials about teaching and learning, and assess a learning goal through a scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) project. We will also build a community to support one another through the challenges and joys of this academic year. 

The Teaching Scholars program has the following major components: 

  • Scholars will attend at least four of the five scheduled meetings, to be held on the following dates from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m.: Oct. 2, Oct. 23, Feb. 5, and April 9.* All meetings will be virtual. 
  • Scholars will read and discuss materials (e.g., chapters, articles) selected to fit with the annual theme (Access) and the selected scholars’ particular interests within it.   
  • Scholars will develop and implement a scholarship of teaching and learning project with guidance from the director. This year scholars may complete projects in pairs or as a group, particularly if they are interested in assessment of learning goals related to advanced “core-hort” CATL trainings from this summer. 
  • Scholars will participate in a formative peer-review of their teaching. 
  • Scholars will share the results of their SoTL project with the campus community in the Fall of 2021. 

*Note: It may be possible to change the meeting times after Scholars are selected, so please do not let that be an obstacle to applying. 

Up to five faculty members and instructors will be selected, and each will receive $500.00 as a stipend. Preference will be given to applicants who plan to design their SoTL project in the Fall of 2020 and implement it in Spring 2021.  If you are a 12-month, non-instructional staff member who teaches an introductory/gateway course, please reach out to your supervisor to see if they are supportive of this opportunity. 12-month staff receiving this stipend on overload may need to complete an Alternative Work Schedule Request to account for stipend-related activities performed on regularly-scheduled work time for their primary appointment, and the stipend will need to be approved by the Position & Compensation Review Committee. 

To apply for this professional development opportunity, please submit the following as one PDF to CATL (catl@uwgb.edu).  

  • A 2–page letter of interest detailing your: a) teaching philosophy, b) teaching accomplishments, c) interest in the students and access theme (very broadly defined), and d) a very rough description of a teaching or learning challenge or problem you propose to address with a SoTL project. Please include a sentence or two indicating your commitment to attend at least 4 of the 5 scheduled meetings, along with your availability on the currently selected days/times. 
  • A brief CV (approximately 2-3 pages, with an emphasis on teaching and any SoTL experience) 
  • A simple one-sentence statement of agreement from your unit chair indicating they are aware of and support your application to the program. 

Deadline: September 21, 2020  

Sample proposals from previous Scholars are available on the CATL website if you would like additional guidance on the letter of interest. If you have any questions about the program or your proposed SoTL project, please contact Kris Vespia (vespiak@uwgb.edu).

Mitigating Equity Gaps Community of Practice

Are you someone who is always searching for new ways to promote equity in your courses? This year’s community of practice will bring like-minded individuals together to try out new interventions in our introductory and gateway courses to promote greater equity in student success. 

Structural inequities in higher education—exacerbated by the pandemic—may leave you struggling to find ways to promote change. This year-long community of practice will connect us with our colleagues so that we can collectively research strategies to enhance student learning and retention in our introductory or gateway courses. In the fall, we will discuss three different forms of interventions: interventions you can apply as the instructor; interventions you can encourage students to apply in their courses; and interventions you can leverage from the university. In the spring semester, you will select and apply one strategy to a specific introductory or gateway course you are teaching, and we will work together to assess our impact on teaching and students. This community will also be able to investigate larger systemic issues that create barriers for students and instructors, and we will be able to share our ideas for change with decision-makers on campus. 

Format 

This year’s community of practice will meet once a month via Microsoft Teams and will engage in asynchronous work and discussion in Canvas between meetings.  Our synchronous meetings will be from 12-1 p.m. on Sep. 25, Oct. 16, Nov. 13, Dec. 11, Jan. 29, Feb. 19,  Mar. 26, and Apr. 23. We encourage you to apply even if you cannot make some of these times; we will provide alternative means of engagement for those unable to make a virtual meeting. 

Eligibility 

This community of practice is open to anyone who teaches an introductory course or a course that serves as a gateway to the major. Research has uncovered national trends in high-enrollment courses across disciplines such as Economics, Accounting, Biology, Philosophy, and College Writing. While the experience is open to all who teach gateway or introductory courses, we are particularly interested in supporting instructors who teach courses in these and other disciplines that have systemic, national issues. We have space for 15 instructors. If you are a First-Year Seminar instructor, we encourage you to seek out the First-Year Seminar community of practice because it is designed to provide you with specific resources to support students in those courses. 

Compensation 

Instructors who complete the community of practice are eligible for a $500 stipend. If you are a 12-month, non-instructional staff member who teaches an introductory/gateway course, please reach out to your supervisor to see if they are supportive of this opportunity. 12-month staff receiving this stipend on overload may need to complete an Alternative Work Schedule Request to account for stipend-related activities performed on regularly-scheduled work time for their primary appointment, and the stipend will need to be approved by the Position & Compensation Review Committee. 

How to apply

Click below to apply in Qualtrics. It will ask you to list the class you wish to work on with our community and to share what sort of intervention(s) you may wish to explore. While you will have all of the fall semester to consider what you wish to do in the spring, we wish to hear what instructors are interested in doing so it can inform our program.  

Apply Here