Graduate Teaching Certificate Program

Overview

To compete in an increasingly competitive job market, graduate students must demonstrate their commitment to teaching effectively as future faculty members. Intended for graduate students in their third year or beyond, the Certificate program is a course of seminars and workshops aimed at preparing students to take on those teaching responsibilities.

Over 12 months, program participants read literature on teaching and learning, and use that scholarship to reflect upon their own teaching practice. Topics include:

  • Course design
  • Student backgrounds
  • Assessment
  • Teaching methods
  • Evaluation

These conversations carry over into more practice-focused workshops that delve deeper into select topics in teaching. In addition to this year-long process of reflecting on teaching practice, participants engage in designing (or re-designing) a course of their own. This endeavor takes the form of a teaching project, which participants will ideally be able to put into practice as part of their required teaching experience.

Students are supported in this effort by the Graduate Teaching Mentors, alums of the program who will meet with participants in small groups on a regular basis to facilitate peer feedback and to provide their own guidance and insights.

Finally, over the summer participants construct a teaching portfolio, a document central to their professional development as a teacher and essential for entering the job market.

For more detailed information about the Certificate program, see the 2011-12 Program Syllabus (PDF).

Application Information

All advanced graduate students (in the third year or beyond during the year enrolled in the program) and postdocs are eligible to apply. To learn more about the program, please attend an information session on Monday, April 18, 2011 from 5:00-6:00 pm in University Hall 1022 (map).

To apply, complete the online application form.

Applications are due by Friday, May 13, 2011. Please direct any questions about the program to Joseph Lampert, Associate Director at the Searle Center at 847-467-2274.

The WCAS/TGS Teaching Fellowship is awarded annually to promising graduate student teachers in recognition of their contribution to undergraduate education at Northwestern and to support the further development of their teaching. The 2011-12 WCAS/TGS Teaching Fellows are Connor Doak from Slavics and Allen Rosenthal from Psychology.

Fellows teach a Freshman Seminar in the College of Arts and Sciences and receive a $2,000 stipend in addition to their regular funding. Fellows must have completed the Graduate Teaching Certificate program or be enrolled in the program during the year of the fellowship. With the support of the Searle Center, Teaching Fellows also create a teaching development event for other graduate students in the form of a presentation, roundtable, or workshop.

The WCAS/TGS Teaching Fellowship is made possible with funding from The Graduate School and the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.

Teaching Fellows must be enrolled in at least the third year of a WCAS PhD program during the year of the Fellowship, and be fully funded with a full tuition scholarship and stipend. They are selected every spring from prospective and current participants and alumni of the Graduate Teaching Certificate program. Freshman Seminars are taught during the spring of the fellowship year. The application deadline is Friday, May 20, 2011.

To apply:

  • Complete the WCAS/TGS Teaching Fellowship application (due Friday, May 20)
  • Complete the Graduate Teaching Certificate program application (due Friday, May 13; not required of GTCP alumni)
  • Email to Sharon Bautista the following additional application materials (in one email; multiple emails will not be considered):
  • Arrange for a letter of nomination from a faculty member.  In this letter, the faculty member must also commit to serving as the student’s teaching mentor for the year of the Fellowship, providing guidance and feedback on the development of the Freshman Seminar.

The Mentor's Role
Certificate program participants work with a faculty teaching mentor. Graduate students often have research advisors but no one to discuss issues related to teaching and learning.
Faculty teaching mentors:
  • Meet with the program participant at least once a quarter to discuss issues of teaching and learning
  • Provide feedback on the program participant's Teaching Project, usually the design of a new course or the re-design of an existing one
  • Have their teaching observed by the program participant
  • Observe the program participant teach & provide feedback
  • If requested, provide a letter for the program participant's teaching portfolio
Choosing a Mentor
In most cases, participants choose their own faculty teaching mentor. A mentor:
  • Is ideally not the program participant's research advisor, to provide a different perspective
  • Is usually from the same discipline as the program participant, but they can be from any department
  • Can be at any stage of their faculty career as long as they have a demonstrated interest in teaching and learning issues
Mentors can be faculty from:
  • Northwestern University
  • A partner school: Lake Forest College, Oakton Community College, or Northeastern Illinois University
  • Another local institution with approval from the program coordinator
Working with a Program Participant
The specifics of the mentor-participant relationship are negotiated individually. Participants are responsible for setting up meetings, as well as setting meeting agendas, unless other arrangements are made.