The Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in collaboration with Michigan State University and Pennsylvania State University, is creating an interdisciplinary program to prepare graduate students, post-doctoral researchers and current faculty to meet the challenges of STEM higher education. This Higher Education Center for Learning and Teaching is based on a teaching-as-research concept that enables future and current STEM faculty to engage in teaching in the same way they engage in their research. The project integrates teaching-as-research and interdisciplinary learning communities in a professional development program that addresses the educational responsibilities of current and future faculty. The professional development program includes a curriculum that provides a foundation for teaching-as-research and improved classroom practice, experiential learning in informal education and instructional materials development, internships in a variety of learning environments, and preparation for teaching and learning with diverse student populations. The focus of the research component is on promoting best practices in post-secondary STEM teaching and learning, fostering change in STEM graduate-through-faculty cultures, and transferring successful strategies between departments and across universities. Through national implementation of the professional development program, CIRTL is expected to serve approximately 2,000 STEM graduate students and post-doctoral researchers annually while establishing learning communities for graduates-through-faculty at 10 research universities representing 10% of the major U.S. graduate institutions. This project is jointly funded by the Division of Undergraduate Education in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources and the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences.
