Senior Teaching Fellows: Renewal and Professional Development

Abstract

During the fall semester 2011, I had the delightful experience of being invited to dinner with the University of Georgia’s 2011–12 Senior Teaching Fellows (http://www.ctl.uga.edu/ faculty/ctl_senior_teaching_fellows). This program began in 1987 with a three-year grant from the Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE); and, at the conclusion of the grant cycle, the demonstrated success of the program led the University to continue it. It now resides in the University’s Center for Teaching and Learning and is in its 23rd year. This level of success should be a lesson to funders everywhere: an investment in colleges and universities pays dividends, and sustainability is a high priority for the grantee. However, I am digressing, so back to the story. The Senior Teaching Fellows program annually supports eight associate or full professors in a year-long program to share ideas about teaching and learning across the disciplines. Through monthly roundtables, guest speakers, a fall retreat, and a small grant ($2,000 each) to support instructional enhancement in the home department, the fellows are given opportunities for professional and personal renewal. While fellows build and share their pedagogical knowledge, they are also building meaningful faculty relationships outside their units and across a large research campus. An evening with the fellows was such a delight after spending many hours each day in committee meetings and informal discussions where the topics often are budget cuts, external pressures, lack of faculty and staff raises, the poor economy overall, and increasing regulation from the governing authority. After the dinner, based on the fellows’ enthusiasm and commitment and their thoughtful suggestions about improving teaching and learning and academic life on campus, I went straight to the website to learn more about previous participants; it read like a who’s who of campus leaders. Now the classic chicken-oregg dilemma emerged. Were these fellows established campus leaders who were chosen for the program, or did the program create university leaders? It’s probably some of both. If it creates leaders, great, and if it rewards leaders, then wonderful! Needless to say, in these difficult times in the academy, I came away believing that the program should have two cohorts next academic year! Innov High Educ (2012) 37:1–2 DOI 10.1007/s10755-011-9205-9