The Ph.D. Program in History

at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York

Funding

CUNY Humanities Teaching and Learning Alliance

Marilyn Weber

Call for Applications (Deadline: February 29, 2016)

The Graduate Center is pleased to announce a groundbreaking new program and a fellowship opportunity for nine (9) doctoral students at the Graduate Center to engage with teaching and learning in community college contexts. Part of the four-year CUNY Humanities Teaching and Learning Alliance (HTLA), generously funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, this competitive two-year fellowship offers nine students the opportunity to learn with master faculty and then to teach at LaGuardia Community College. Humanities Teaching and Learning Alliance Teaching Fellows will receive robust professional development from faculty and administrators at both LaGuardia and at the Graduate Center.

Specifically focusing on the humanities and social sciences, the program will give Fellows the opportunity to reflect on the importance of those disciplines in the urban community college context. It will help doctoral students learn innovative methods for translating their specialized doctoral research into engaged learning tailored to the introductory and developmental classroom and, specifically, for diverse students from many backgrounds. This is an ideal opportunity for Graduate Center students committed to public higher education and social justice to participate in, learn from, and ultimately to strengthen the structures that support the students that the City University of New York is intended to serve.

The Humanities Teaching and Learning Alliance focuses on the value of the humanities for the new majority of college students, and as such is dedicated to training Ph.D. students in innovative methods to teach humanities. A major goal is to support graduate students in mastering the most successful methods for teaching undergraduate general education humanities courses to increasingly diverse student populations. Simultaneously, this program is dedicated to broadening and strengthening access to and opportunity in the humanities for those undergraduates, some of whom may well be identified as having the potential to, one day, become future humanities college professors.

LaGuardia Community College is an ideal partner in this mission. LaGuardia has developed innovative and powerful pedagogies and practices, as well as institutional structures and methods that foster faculty intentionality, mutuality, and exchange. For more, see the LaGuardia Center for Teaching and Learning web site: http://www.laguardia.edu/ctl/default.aspx.

Eligibility

  • Doctoral student in the humanities or social sciences at the Graduate Center, CUNY
  • Entering years 2-5 of study in fall 2016
  • Prior teaching experience welcome but not required
  • Open to students with and without fellowship packages
  • Students with DACA status are eligible for this fellowship

Fellowship Structure

This two-year fellowship offers compensation of $25,000 per year and will follow a specific sequence:

Semester 1 (Fall 2016): In pairs or groups of three, graduate students shadow master teachers at LaGuardia, who will provide mentorship. Students will be expected to participate in a two-day intensive workshop prior to the beginning of the semester, as well as monthly professional development workshops at LaGuardia Community College.

Semester 2 (Spring 2017): Students will be assigned to teach their own section of a course at LaGuardia Community College. Monthly professional development workshops continue.

Semesters 3-4 (Fall 2017, Spring 2018): Students will teach one course per semester. They will become leaders and mentors for a new entering cohort of Humanities Alliance Teaching Fellows, and share their reflections about their experiences with a broader audience at the Graduate Center. Select professional development opportunities will continue.

Requirements

Applicants must:

  • Be making satisfactory progress towards their degree;
  • Be available to teach on LaGuardia Community College’s academic calendar (Fall I runs from September through December; Spring I runs from early March through late June);
  • Attend monthly professional development workshops at LaGuardia Community College;
  • Write regular (at least monthly) public reflections about their  experiences (to be shared via an online platform developed specifically for the Humanities Alliance project);
  • Participate in public events at the Graduate Center to share their experiences with the GC community.

 

About the Humanities Teaching and Learning Alliance

Graduate Center Partners:

LaGuardia Community College Partners:

For more information about the grant supporting these fellowships, please see:

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