Mellon Postdoctoral Teaching Fellowships: Applications Invited

Rackham and CRLT offer several exchange and mentorship programs with nearby colleges and universities to create opportunities for graduate students to grow as scholars and teachers beyond the U-M campus. Among these professional development initiatives is the Postdoctoral Teaching Fellows program funded by the Mellon Foundation for students in the humanities and humanistic social sciences.

This year, four one-year postdoctoral fellowships will be awarded to new U-M Ph.D.’s, providing the opportunity to develop teaching skills and research agendas at Oberlin and Kalamazoo Colleges. Details and application materials are available on the Rackham website. Applications are due on February 18, 2013.

Several current and past Teaching Fellows shared with us how valuable the program has been for their career development. Read more »

Submitted by tbraun on Thu, 01/24/2013 - 5:13pm
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Messages of Hope for Our Students

This afternoon, U-M's Counseling & Psychiatric Services (CAPS) will bring together the campus community in a show of support for students in severe distress. As part of CAPS's "Messages of Hope" suicide prevention project, they are inviting all of us to participate in writing messages that communicate hope and encourage resilience in students experiencing a mental health crisis. CAPS has already gathered hundreds of inspiring student-to-student messages that can be viewed in their Facebook photo album. The goal of "Tile Day" is to collect at least 1,000 new handwritten Messages of Hope to be displayed in the CAPS office.

As teachers, we are often among the first to see signs that a student is struggling. U-M instructors are lucky to have a range of excellent resources to which they can refer students when they need additional support or mental health services. The CAPS website offers guidance for faculty and staff, including suggestions for reaching out to students you're concerned about to connect them with appropriate campus resources.  

Teachers can play an important role in supporting the mental health and well-being of our students. Today we can focus our energies on giving hope to students in the greatest moment of crisis by participating in this suicide prevention effort. Here are the details for Tile Day:

  • Friday, January 25
  • Drop by 12-5pm
  • CSG Chambers, 3rd Floor of Michigan Union
  • Light refreshments will be served 

You can learn more about the Messages of Hope project on the CAPS website. 
(Photo credit: Kristin Kurzawa)

Submitted by tbraun on Wed, 01/23/2013 - 10:55am
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MLK Day Symposium

Across campus yesterday, classes were suspended, but teaching and learning certainly were not. As many speakers remarked during MLK Day events, Michigan has for 27 years celebrated and reflected upon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy through a campus-wide, weeks-long symposium focused on the institution's central mission: education. 

The Symposium events are scheduled nearly every day through the end of January, but the challenge to live up to King's ideals lasts throughout the year. In the words of yesterday's keynote speaker Morris Dees, "the march for justice continues." CRLT supports U-M instructors in living out the MLK Daycommitments in their classroom teaching every day. Through a range of services, including individual consultations, our seminar series, and resources on our website about multicultural teaching and learning, we support instructors in their efforts to teach in ways that celebrate diversity, pursue justice, inspire service, and foster productive dialogue across difference. 

Submitted by tbraun on Tue, 01/22/2013 - 10:55am
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Michigan's World Class

A new website sponsored by the office of U-M's Vice President for Global Communications highlights extraordinary moments in teaching and learning at the university.  Michigan's World Class features stories about courses that involve students in engaged, experiential learning at Michigan--stories showing the myriad ways U-M faculty (in the words of the website) "help students reach their potential to become some of the world's greatest scientists, inventors, entrepreneurs, educators, humanitarians and problem-solvers." 

Check out stories about life-changing classroom experiences, inspiring faculty, and service-oriented students reaching out across the globe at Michigan's World Class. A great starting point is this video about the value of experiential learning for U-M students. Readers can also keep up with the series on Twitter at #UMWorldClass.

Submitted by tbraun on Mon, 01/21/2013 - 2:17pm
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Pedagogies for Understanding Race

This term's LSA Theme Semester on "Understanding Race" provides opportunities for U-M instructors across campus to engage their students in productive exploration of questions about race. In connection with the Theme Semester, CRLT is sponsoring a panel later this month on "Pedagogies for Understanding Race."

Four U-M faculty members from a range of LSA departments will share insights they have gained from their experiences teaching courses focused on critical approaches to race. The panelists include:

  • Evelyn Alsultany of American Culture
  • Martha Jones of Afroamerican and African Studies (DAAS), History, and Law
  • Shari Robinson-Lynk of Social Work and the Ginsberg Center for Community Service Learning
  • Stephen Ward of DAAS and the Residential College

Participants will also hear from organizers of the Theme Semester with more information about the rich array of events, exhibits, and performances taking place across campus throughout the semester. We encourage instructors to spread the news among their students so they can take full advantage of the Theme Semester as a broad learning opportunity taking place both in and out of classrooms. The full calendar of events can be found here. 

The "Pedagogies for Understanding Race" session will take place Tuesday, January 29, 2pm-4pm in Palmer Commons. For full details, including registration information, click here. 

Submitted by tbraun on Fri, 01/18/2013 - 10:35am
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