Wimmer Faculty Fellowship for the Development of Teaching

To encourage and foster the professional development of junior faculty as educators.

These fellowships of $3,000 each can be used to help junior faculty members improve the quality of their teaching and learning of CMU students by designing a new course or revising an existing course through:

• incorporating instructional strategies (e.g., active learning, group work, peer evaluation, "flipping" the classroom);
• implementing educational technologies (e.g., online/blended formats, collaboration tools, video/screen capture);
• creating instructional materials (e.g., assignments, case studies, classroom activities, performance rubrics);
• collecting and analyzing data on student learning to iteratively improve course design (e.g., via learning analytics, pre/post-tests, analyses of student work, student surveys or focus groups); and/or
• integrating new content (e.g., global or multicultural perspectives, ethics, sustainability, interdisciplinarity - simply updating disciplinary content is not sufficient).

Who is eligible?

Junior faculty members with a continuing appointment (i.e., teaching, tenure, research, or library track instructors)  teaching at CMU who have five or fewer years of teaching experience at the university level, either at Carnegie Mellon or elsewhere. Proposals must seek to enhance CMU students’ learning. Projects targeting undergraduate and/or graduate students are welcome. Proposed courses must be taught in AY 2024-25 and affiliated with CMU academic programs.

Funding

The maximum funding period is one year (i.e., May 2024 - May 2025). Fellowship awards may be used as faculty stipend (taxable) or to directly support project costs.

Relevant dates

Applications due Tuesday, March 12, 2024, 11:59pm.

Expectations for Wimmer Faculty Fellows

To ensure that participants make demonstrable progress toward their proposed goals, we require that you:

• meet regularly with an Eberly consultant who will provide support, guidance and feedback;
• participate in Wimmer Course Incubator on Wednesday, May 1, 2024;
• produce and share materials (e.g., assignments, projects, classroom activities, performance rubrics, instructional units) for a course you will be teaching;
• receive a confidential Early Course Feedback Focus Group service from the Eberly Center during the semester the course is offered;
• submit a short (2-page) reflection on what you have done and its impact on your teaching and student learning or engagement;
• collect data on learning outcomes to inform future course iterations, with the full support of the Eberly Center staff; and
• present your project at a future CMU Teaching & Learning Summit or Spotlight event

Application Process

Interested faculty should attach a PDF of your proposal and email it to mg2e@andrew.cmu.edu  by Tuesday, March 12, 2024, 11:59pm.

Proposals should include the following sections (with a maximum of five pages overall). Please do not include your name or key identifying information anywhere in your proposal. Your identifying information will be retained to connect it to your deidentified application, but will help us reduce bias in our review process.

Proposed Project: What are the nature, scope, and goals of your intended project in relation to a specific course or courses you will be teaching? Please include important contextual information about your students and the course, but keep the focus on your project and not disciplinary course content.

Expected Outcomes: What are your specific goals for student learning and development? Describe the anticipated impacts on CMU students (i.e., how your project will improve student learning and/or enhance teaching at CMU). Please be specific. 

Evaluation Plan: How do you plan to evaluate the impacts of project activities? Plans may include surveys or focus groups regarding student experiences/perceptions. However, this plan should also include the types of data sources (e.g., exam scores, assignments, etc.) you could collect in order to directly measure your project’s impact on student learning. 

Professional Development and Eberly Center Support: What are your expectations for this fellowship? Specifically, what do you wish to gain from collaborating with a team of Eberly consultants on your project? Identify the specific help/advice you will seek from Eberly colleagues to effectively develop and implement the project.

Feasibility/Sustainability: 

• What will you or your students require to do the proposed project (e.g., equipment, space, etc.)? To what extent are project requirements available and already in place? If not, what is your plan for securing them?

• Provide a timeline identifying major milestones in your project and justify their feasibility during the funding period. 

• An itemized budget is not required. However, if your project requires funds beyond $3000, please justify the feasibility of implementing the proposal during the funding period.

Any questions about the program may be directed to eberly-assist@andrew.cmu.edu.

Applicants may request a consultation with an Eberly colleague on their project idea and evaluation plan prior to submitting a proposal. Please request a consultation at least one week prior to the submission deadline.