Applications due January 15, 2009

Dates:
First Session: July 28 to August 3, 2009 - Wabash College
Second Session: January 21-24, 2010 - Corpus Christi, Texas
Third Session: June 9-14, 2010 - Wabash College

Leadership Team:
Richard Ascough, Queen's University (Director)
A. G. Miller, Oberlin College
Dianne Oliver, University of Evansville
Martha Reineke, University of Northern Iowa

Participants:
Whitney Bauman, Florida International University
Melissa Conroy, Muskingum College
Colleen Cullinan, St. Catherine University
Antonios Finitsis, Pacific Lutheran University
Angela Harkins, Fairfield University
Sara Koenig, Seattle Pacific University
Lillian Larsen, University of Redlands
Joseph Marchal, Ball State University
Karline McLain, Bucknell University
Maureen O'Connell, Fordham University
Sara Patterson, Hanover College
Michelle Voss Roberts, Rhodes College
Deborah Whitehead, University of Colorado at Boulder
Abraham Zablocki, Agnes Scott College

Eligibilty

• pre-tenure, fulltime, tenure-track status
  
• teaching in a religion, religious studies or theology program/department at an accredited college or university in the United States or Canada.
• Ph.D/Th.D. in hand at the time of application
  
• final tenure decision date no earlier than August 2010
  
• commitment to full participation from the opening to closing session for all three workshop meetings

Read our Policy on Full Participation (click here)

Description:
This workshop will gather 15 scholars in their first years of teaching. For a week during two successive summers, and for a weekend winter retreat on the Gulf Coast, this workshop learning community of committed and skilled teachers will explore such topics as:

• course design
  
• assignments and assessment
  
• student learning styles
  
• ethics in the classroom
  
• dealing with religious, social, ethnic, racial, and learning diversities in the classroom
  
• philosophy of education
  
• the meaning of good teaching
  
• vocation, career, and becoming a healthy, happy, nurturing teacher
  
• issues of tenure preparation
  
• collegiality, institution mission and teaching
  

The workshop balances plenary sessions with small group discussions, structured and unstructured social time, individual and collaborative work on teaching projects -- as well as relaxation, exercise, contemplation, meditation, rejuvenation ... and lots of good food and drink.

Workshop Goals

• To create an environment for undergraduate college and university faculty to engage in conversations that explore our commitment to student learning and the roles it plays in course design and delivery.
  
• To provide opportunity and resources for participants to develop their teaching skills and to share teaching resources.
  
• To develop a reflective practice about self and work that negotiates the relationship between course design, research, self-presentation, and the larger purposes of one’s teaching.
  
• To inspire collaborative projects and conversations that will foster and encourage excellence in teaching and learning.
  
• To support and honor excellence and leadership in the scholarship of teaching and learning and excellence in curricular and extra-curricular practices.
  

A Complete Application Includes:

1. An application information form.
2. An introductory letter describing your teaching situation and stating your reasons for wanting to participate in the workshop, including how your participation will support your development as a teacher.
3. Brief written responses to the following:
        a. Describe 2 things you try to accomplish in all of your teaching. Why are these important to you? Illustrate concretely how you go about accomplishing them in one of your courses. (1000 words)
        b. What pedagogical question do you want to address or what kind of teaching practice would you like to develop during the year of the Wabash workshop that would assist you in clarifying your sense of yourself as a teacher. (750 words)
4. Academic CV.
5. Agreement to the Policy on Full Participation.
   Read our Policy on Full Participation
6. Two signed letters of recommendation demonstrating institutional support for your participation in this workshop and describing your interest and skills as a teacher (including one from your dean or department chair). Please have these letters sent directly to you, and include them with the rest of your application materials (whether applying online or applying by mail-in application).
   

Please Note U.S. Law prohibits the Wabash Center from paying stipends to participants with certain classes of foreign national status. The Wabash Center is, however, able to reimburse ALL participants for travel and other expenses.

Read More (click here)

Follow-up Summer Fellowship or Grant:
All participants are eligible to apply for a research fellowship or a research grant to advance their professional development as research scholars. These awards are for five weeks of dedicated research and writing during the second summer of the workshop.

a $5000 Summer Workshop Fellowship
(in the form of a stipend)
a $5000 Summer Workshop Grant
(with delineated budget expenses)

Questions? Please Contact:
Paul Myhre
Associate Director, Wabash Center
301 West Wabash Ave.
Crawfordsville, IN 47933
800-655-7117
myhrep@wabash.edu