Memo

To: Faculty Council

From: University Teaching Fund Committee

Re: Refocusing efforts, from catalyzing to cultivating

Background
The University Teaching Fund was established during the spring of 1996 by the Provost, with an allocation of $250,000 per year to be awarded subsequent to internal competition, for grants to support teaching improvement and innovation. In September 1996, the University Teaching Fund Committee (UTC) was established as a standing committee of the University Senate Faculty Council. The Vice-Provost for Academic Affairs is an ex-officio member of the UTC. The committee has representation from every school in the University.

Goals attained
In the four years since its inception, the UTC has distributed nearly $900,000 for over 100 grants to over 40 different departments and programs from within the College, and the Public Health, Law, Business, Nursing, and Theology Schools.

Upon recent reflection and analysis, the UTC has realized that our initial goal of catalyzing innovative and interdisciplinary teaching has been largely attained. While there will always be room to improve in these areas, the consensus of the UTC is that we have been successful, based on these observations:

• The number of grants submitted per UTC funding cycle, the school and departmental diversity of the grants, and the amount of funds awarded have all decreased significantly in the last year. In 1996-1997, 91 proposals were submitted (51 in the first cycle, 40 in the second) and 37 were funded for a total of $231,236; this year, 42 proposals were received (28 in the first cycle, only 14 in the second), and 15 were funded for $74,618. Of the 14 grants submitted in the most recent funding cycle, 9 were from the Medical School.

  These are positive data, indicating that much of UTC's catalyst mission has been accomplished, that many effective seeds have been planted.

• Many recent proposals emphasize personal skill development, rather than the type of replicable model projects for which the fund was originally intended; faculty requests appear to be moving in a different direction.
• The UTC has made a strong contribution to enhancing the role of and attitude toward education on campus and has helped broaden the definition of Scholarship to include teaching and research as integrated, equally important practices. In the years since the creation of the UTC:
  • -UTC funds have left a powerful legacy in a panoply of areas, including the establishment of a Holocaust Video Archive, a new course in Health Care Ethics developed by Nursing, Theology, and Rehabilitation Medicine, an international teaching fellowship in Mammography, a multimedia computer-assisted course in Neurobiology, a new course in African Theology, a project in American Musical Cultures developed by the ILA, English, and Music, an effort by the Physical, Biological, and Social Sciences at Oxford to teach a course on the History of Medical Discovery, and the development of an Internet-based Evaluation Process in Emergency Medicine.
  • -other funding sources for teaching within specific schools, such as the Center for Teaching and Curriculum, have been or are being developed
  • -a University-wide policy to support Lecture-Track Teaching Faculty has been created
  • -recognition of excellence in teaching scholarship has increased.

What next?
What should be the next step in scholarship development, and what is the most effective role the UTC can play in its facilitation?

We propose expanding our mission toward cultivation of the seeds we have helped plant by refocusing the UTC and its funding into a University Faculty Excellence in Education Fund. While maintaining its essence in teaching scholarship, this fund would allow:

• expansion of the mission of the UTC by creating a fund for faculty venture, passion, and excellence in teaching scholarship
• a place to take innovative ideas and grow them in bigger ways and new directions
• integration of teaching with other broad efforts across the university, such as Theory Practice Learning and the Office of University-Community Partnerships
• for a flexible format, so that in a given year, the fund might announce that proposals around a particular theme, such as training in the use of technology, are encouraged.

We propose that this refocused organization would work most effectively without formal funding cycles, but that an annual statement would be issued to all university faculty stating the mission and focus of the fund. The Provost would then call on the committee as needed for evaluation and recommendation. Rigorous evaluation of the projects and follow-up in the form of a published product or public presentation should be integral to the new program, as well.

In sum
Simply put, the UTC can declare victory. Now is the time to refocus and support next steps in education scholarship.

Arri Eisen, PhD
Senior Lecturer, Biology
Director, Emory College Program in Science & Society http://www.emory.edu/COLLEGE/scienceandsociety/
Dept of Biology
Rollins Bldg, Room 2027
1510 Clifton Rd
Emory University Atlanta, GA, 30322
phone 404-727-4354
fax 404-727-2880