With support from the Office of Instruction, the new Fellows for Transformative Teaching program kicked off its inaugural cohort of 10 non-tenure track faculty this fall.
The Fellows for Transformative Teaching program was created to recognize and enrich the teaching expertise of senior non-tenure track faculty, and it was designed to bring experienced faculty across the University of Georgia together to explore and discuss advanced teaching practices, challenges, and strategies. Among other things, this fellows program helps fill a gap in UGA’s teaching development opportunities available to advanced non-tenure track faculty.
“Through this program, we have brought together a group of dedicated and accomplished faculty in a way that both recognizes and contributes to their high-quality work with students at UGA,” said Ruth Poproski, Associate Director for Teaching and Learning with the Center for Teaching and Learning.
The cohort meets four times per semester for roundtable discussions to share innovative instruction ideas and brainstorm opportunities to overcome challenges in teaching. This fall, the cohort’s topics have included understanding Gen Z students, student wellbeing, artificial intelligence and teaching, opportunities with learning technology, building community among students, and managing and avoiding burnout. The cohort also met at the Botanical Garden for a two-day retreat in September and has elected to repeat the experience again in February.
Through the program, fellows also develop instructional projects designed to strengthen the courses and teaching methods in their academic department, and each participant is provided $2,000 to fund these projects. This year’s projects include bringing students into direct contact with industry experts, developing a college-wide Teaching Excellence Spotlight program, developing resources for graduate students and new instructors in a large, coordinated course, developing a capstone course experience for majors, and further developing existing courses and initiatives.
Participants in this program arefull-time non-tenure track faculty with instructional responsibilities who have advanced at least one rank in their faculty line, have been at UGA for at least four years, and have been in their current non-tenure track role for at least two years.
2023-24 Fellows for Transformative Teaching:
- Catherine Case, Senior Lecturer, Department of Statistics, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
- Kerstin Gerst Emerson, Clinical Associate Professor, Institute of Gerontology, Health Policy and Management, College of Public Health
- Tricia Jonas Hackleman, Senior Lecturer, Department of Legal Studies, Terry College of Business
- W. Anthony Hawkins, Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy
- Keith Herndon, Clinical Professor, Department of Journalism, Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication
- Christin Huggins, Senior Lecturer, Department of Communications Studies, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
- Clair McClure, Senior Lecturer, Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Interiors, College of Family and Consumer Sciences
- Kristen Miller, Senior Academic Professional, Division of Biological Sciences, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
- Allison Nealy, Clinical Professor, Department of Language and Literacy Education and Department of Communication Sciences and Special Education, Mary Frances Early College of Education
- Siddharth Savadatti, Senior Lecturer, School of Environmental, Civil, Agricultural, and Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering