The Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) at the University of Kansas (KU) recruits Graduate Student Fellows (GSFs) to provide teaching and assessment resources to instructors and faculty through two projects: the Course Redesign Consortium (C21), a community committed to student-centered learning; and TRESTLE, a multi-institution, NSF-funded project committed to promote improved STEM education at research institutions. The GSF position is a paid position that requires approximately 5-8 hours of work per week during the academic year. GSF's assist faculty in designing and evaluating course transformations, developing virtual portfolios showcasing faculty course transformation efforts, and producing posters that demonstrate course transformation results at an annual end-of-year symposium. The GSFs also assist with project logistics and data analyses related to C21 and TRESTLE.
While other opportunities exist for graduate students interested in pedagogy at KU, the GSF program is unique as it allows for professional experience in designing student-centered classrooms with KU faculty and CTE staff. Graduate Student Fellows are exposed to a wealth of resources and knowledge on effective teaching practices and have the opportunity to communicate and collaborate with experienced personnel within the CTE. The GSF program also provides professional development of graduate students interested in learning evidence-based pedagogy and research practices in higher education. Lastly, by playing an active role in the CTE's ongoing education research, the GSF program demonstrates the value of graduate student contributions to faculty and institutional pedagogical innovation. This presentation showcases the GSF program described above and how the program has evolved and grown over the past five years, as well as highlights individual graduate student experiences and professional development attained while working in their roles as a GSF.