Faculty Fellows

Due to budget cuts, no Faculty Fellow award will be funded for the 2011-2012 academic year.  This suspension of funding may continue until the LTEC budget can again support the cost.


Guidelines

Innovative approaches to teaching are central to the mission of SUNY Potsdam. Among the many statements regarding teaching and student learning in the college's mission statement is the following:

"To create a student-centered academic culture which encourages innovative approaches to teaching and learning, provides resources to support pedagogical innovation, and evaluates the effectiveness of teaching and learning."

The Learning and Teaching Excellence Center’s Faculty Fellows grant program invites proposals from any faculty member or staff person of SUNY Potsdam. The program supports three objectives within the College:

  1. innovative teaching,
  2. the development of instructional leaders and scholarship of teaching (Boyer 1990) and learning, and
  3. a student-centered academic culture.

To support these goals, the LTEC Faculty Fellows program awards $1,500 per year to a project proposed by a member of the College faculty or professional staff.

Criteria for Faculty Fellows Proposals

The type of scholarship that may be supported by this endeavor is flexible. However, projects should attempt to achieve several of the following criteria:

  1. Support the applicant in designing and implementing innovative approaches to teaching and learning. The project should enhance specific existing or planned courses and projects.
  2. Support the applicant in developing as an instructional leader, or support the applicant’s enhanced scholarly understanding of teaching and learning. (See Boyer 1990 for more information on the scholarship of teaching.)
  3. Attempt to build bridges between the faculty's knowledge and student understanding. Projects should contribute to a student-centered academic culture.
  4. Support the applicant in a project that would be difficult to support through more traditional funding sources.
  5. Yield results that benefit colleagues as well as students. Each project must include a “dissemination component,” in which the Fellow will collegially share the results of the project under the auspices of the LTEC. See “Roles and Responsibilities of LTEC Fellows,” below.

Although the following is not an exhaustive list, projects may include the following:

  • Participation in an intensive seminar, institute, or other professional development opportunity that supports the applicant’s innovative instructional goals. This may include tuition, registration, and travel fees.
  • Development of innovative strategies, techniques, and methodologies which enhance existing or planned courses and projects.
  • Infusion of new technologies to teaching or student learning; where necessary, this may include acquisition of such technologies and professional training in their use.
  • Creation of new techniques to enhance student learning, or the assessment of teaching techniques.
  • Research on other topics related to the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Role and Responsibilities of LTEC Fellows

One of the aims of the LTEC Fellows program is to tap and share the experiences and resources of our faculty. Fellows will be expected to share the results of the project under the auspices of the LTEC. A plan for sharing the results must be submitted as part of the proposal and included in the spending plan. Possible ways of sharing results include, for example: presenting a workshop or performance under the auspices of the LTEC, leading an interest group, serving as a peer-mentor, and producing a publication or other communication using campus resources.

In addition, LTEC Fellows must submit a report on their activities to LTEC at the conclusion of the fellowship period. This report should include an account of how the grant funds were spent.

Proposal Format

Proposals must not exceed five pages (12 point font, double-spaced). Please submit your proposal in both hard copy and in electronic format. Proposals should include:

  • Completed Faculty Fellows Proposal Form
  • Description of the project, including proposed methodology and target course(s) and/or project(s)
  • Potential impact on pedagogy and student learning
  • The project's application to the scholarship of teaching and learning
  • Assessment component
  • Timeline for completion
  • Plan for dissemination (must include an on-campus component)
  • Budget outlining expenses of project and/or project-related professional development activities related to teaching; expenses of project dissemination plan. Please clearly separate project and dissemination expenses.
  • An abbreviated curriculum vitae (up to four pages) should be attached to your proposal.

Funds

  • The $1,500 in project grant monies are to be used for expenses directly related to the project and/or relevant professional development.
  • The award includes an additional $500 to fund the fellow’s dissemination of results among colleagues. Faculty Fellows also have access to the full resources of the Learning and Teaching Excellence Center.
  • All funds must be spent according to purchasing policies of the college. Project funds are available during the fiscal year which begins soon after the application process. Specifically, applications are due March 7, decisions are made by April 15, and funds are available between July 1 of the same calendar year and ending July 1 of the next calendar year.
  • Applicants are generally encouraged to propose a project that uses the full $1,500. However, smaller projects will also be considered and funds may be divided among two or three projects in a given year.

Eligibility

The Faculty Fellow program is open to all teaching and professional staff, including adjunct instructors, in any discipline or service. Individual and collaborative proposals are welcome.

Application Deadline

Proposals are due           . Project funds are available during the fiscal year         , beginning September 1,         and ending June 15,         .

Submission of Proposals

Please submit both electronic and hard copies of your proposal by         to:

Dr. Cheryl Miller
LTEC Director,
Crumb Library 107
ltec@potsdam.edu

Reference Cited:

Boyer, Ernest L, Sr., Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 1990.

Faculty Fellows

2002:
Rob Badger: report and picture
Jeff Chiarenzelli
Judith Little
Bethany Usher

2003:
William E. Herman
Anne Righton Malone
Janet Schulenberg

2004:
none

2005:
Patricia Riley

2006:
Jennifer Mitchell

2007:
Jaimin Weets
Benjamin Pykles
Hadley Kruczek-Aaron

2008:
Peter Brouwer

Note: Name links to Faculty Fellow report.