CTL Faculty Fellows

Center for Teaching & Learning Faculty Fellows

May 23 – July 1, 2016

View profiles for the inaugural class of 2016 faculty fellows.

Overview

The Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) Faculty Fellows program offers its fellows the opportunity to enhance their teaching and be active members of a teaching community at Boston University.

  • As a Fellow, you will create a structured, and personalized 6-week program designed to help you refine your teaching skills, and/or explore new teaching practices, assessments, or technologies. You may use this time to design a new course, redesign an existing course, explore new active learning strategies, apply the latest disciplinary research into your teaching, etc.
  • You will benefit from pursuing your projects in a community of other Fellows and CTL staff. We will meet twice weekly during the life of the program (May 23-July 1, 2016).
  • Upon acceptance into the program, you will receive $6000 in summer stipends to acknowledge the work it takes to improve one’s effectiveness as an educator.
  • Becoming a CTL Faculty Fellow requires a time commitment of approximately 10 hours per week, which includes 16 hours of the scheduled activities (listed below) over the six-week Fellowship.
  • Upon completion of your Fellowship, you may be invited to leadership and service opportunities within other CTL programs, and contribute to a community of practice that promotes effective pedagogy among peer faculty.

Program Activities

As a CTL Fellow, you will engage in a variety of program activities sequenced to develop and refine your teaching skills over a six-week period (May 23-July 1, 2016). These activities will help you make more effective and efficient use of your time designing courses, planning class sessions, and reflecting and writing about your teaching.

  • Customized Program Plan – You will develop a personal program plan that has two purposes. The plan will be, first, dedicated to your exploration of the scholarship on teaching and learning so as to inform your evolution as a scholar-teacher. Second, your Plan will involve the practical work of designing (or redesigning) a course that you will offer in the near future.
  • Individual Consultations – You will meet weekly with a CTL consultant to reflect on your teaching. The first consultation will provide an opportunity for you and the consultant to design a customized development plan.
  • Lunch Discussions – Each week you will meet with other Fellows over lunch, provided by the CTL, to share experiences, challenge each other’s assumptions, and support each other’s pedagogical experimentation.
  • Dinner Reflection – At the end of the program, you will have a chance to reflect on your growth as a scholar-teacher and share the results of your time with other Fellows.

Why Participate?

Engaging in the CTL Faculty Fellows Program will help you:

  • Learn from the teaching experiences of colleagues at Boston University.
  • Develop skills that will enable you to analyze and improve your teaching over time.
  • Enjoy the community of teachers at BU.
  • Learn to balance and integrate your teaching and research.
  • Develop and improve materials for tenure and promotion process.

Eligibility

The Center for Teaching & Learning Faculty Fellows Program is open to all faculty: tenured, tenure track, and non-tenure track.

Application Process

Applicants should submit the following items through email to CTL@bu.edu. Application deadline for Summer 2016 has passed.

  • Application Letter – A letter describing how participation in the program will support your growth as a teacher.  This letter should describe your past teaching experiences, and identify your strengths as a teacher and areas for future improvement. The letter should also include a description of a course, project, or question you plan to address during your time in the program.
  • Teaching Statement – A brief statement of teaching philosophy that reflects your current approaches to teaching. This document need not be as refined as one used for tenure and promotion, but should communicate your perspectives on teaching and methods of enhancing student learning.
  • Letter of Support – A letter of support from your department chair (or dean for those from schools without departments).  This letter should indicate the chair’s (or dean’s) approval of your investing the time required by this program as well as any measures that will be taken to complement the support provided to you by the CTL Faculty Fellows program.
  • Curriculum Vita – Your CV should be submitted as well.

Since the CTL promotes teaching as an ongoing and collaborative process of inquiry, experimentation, and reflection, applicants will be selected primarily on the basis of how participation in this program will benefit their individual professional development trajectories.  The current quality of applicants’ teaching skills is less important than their interest in developing those skills through this program.  Preferences will be given to those applicants who have prospects for long-term impact on Boston University students and the broader BU community.

Comments or Questions should be directed to Matthew Trevett-Smith, Director, Center for Teaching and Learning CTL@bu.edu or 617.358.0017.