Equity-Oriented Teaching

Graduate Center students teach CUNY undergraduates with diverse and uneven levels of preparation for and understanding of the public higher education system. This FIG will work to define equity-oriented teaching in the CUNY context, and examine instructional practices and interpersonal behaviors for mitigating systemic barriers to learning that adversely impact first-generation, low-income, and racially and ethnically minoritized students. The curriculum will focus on two components of an equitable learning climate: the instructor’s teaching persona and classroom dynamics.

The equity-oriented teaching FIG is a think-and-make space. FIG members will use their teaching experiences and readings to collectively think and develop a shared knowledge base of equity-oriented teaching approaches relevant to CUNY’s diverse student body. Members will individually work on an equity-oriented teaching project relevant to a course they currently teach or might teach in the future, culminating in one piece of public scholarship shared as an equity-oriented teaching resource with the Graduate Center community and beyond. Diverse forms of public scholarship, including but not limited to a Visible Pedagogy blog post, an addition to the TLC Assignment Library, or a CUNY Academic Commons site, are encouraged and welcome.

FIG members will be paid $500 via a Financial Award.

Eligibility

Full-time Graduate Center doctoral students with experience teaching CUNY undergraduate courses are welcome to apply. Teaching experience in any capacity, such as Teaching Assistant, Grader, or Instructor of Record, will be considered.

Requirements

The Equity-oriented Teaching FIG will meet five times between October 2024 to April 2025. The October kick-off and April wrap-up meetings will be in person. Other meetings will be online.  Meeting dates will be determined based on group members’ schedules. The first meeting will be held at the Graduate Center sometime between 10/14 to 10/31.

To Apply

Please submit the following materials as a single PDF to tlc@gc.cuny.edu by October 7th, 2024, by midnight. Please name the attachment “LastName_equityteachingFIG24.”

• A two-page CV.
• A statement of interest. In no more than 500 words, share your ideas for an equity-oriented teaching project relevant to a class you currently teach or might teach in the future. The project description should include a piece of public scholarship that will serve as an equity-oriented teaching resource for CUNY instructors.

If you have questions, please contact Manju Adikesavan at madikesavan@gradcenter.cuny.edu

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Designing Interdisciplinary Curricula Toward Many Futures

Postsecondary science education holds the potential to address pressing societal challenges like climate change, public health, biodiversity loss, and artificial intelligence. By embedding interdisciplinary thinking in our curricula, we can link scientific ideas and practices with justice and sustainability in the larger society. If you want to design meaningful pedagogical materials that equip students to ask generative questions and connect their communities through science, consider applying to join this Focused Inquiry Group (FIG).

We will work together to develop interdisciplinary teaching materials for CUNY classes centered around justice and sustainability. Drawing inspiration from Daniel Morales-Doyle’s book Transformative Science Teaching: A Catalyst for Justice and Sustainability, we will explore how interdisciplinary science education can be transformational for CUNY students and the communities from which they come. We will read and discuss the book; then, each participant will design an assignment or activity inspired by its ideas. These materials will then be implemented in our courses in Spring 2025. Materials produced will be published in the TLC Assignment Library as open educational resources.

FIG participants will meet three times a semester throughout the 2024-2025 academic year. Meetings will be held online or in person, depending on the members’ schedules. Participants will be paid $500 via a financial aid award to participate in the FIG and get a free copy of the book.

Eligibility

We welcome graduate students from all disciplines to teach courses that incorporate interdisciplinary science content. No prior experience in curriculum development is required.

Requirements

Participants must be:

• A currently enrolled Graduate Center student in good academic standing;
• Teaching a course in any discipline that covers socially relevant scientific issues such as climate justice, sustainability, public health, environmental sciences, or community-focused capstone projects in Spring 2025.

To Apply

Please submit the following materials as a single PDF to tlc@gc.cuny.edu by October 7th, 2024, by midnight. Please name the attachment “LastName_sciFIG24.”

• 2-page CV
• Statement of interest (300-500 words) that addresses the following questions
  • What interdisciplinary scientific issue are you interested in? How do they connect to your teaching contexts and practices?

If you have questions, please contact Şule Aksoy at saksoy@gc.cuny.edu to learn more.

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Teach@CUNY AI Working Group

As artificial intelligence increasingly impacts both teaching and disciplinary practices, graduate instructors must navigate a web of ethical, academic, and pedagogical challenges unique to the rise of AI (hype) in education. This FIG allots space to consider these challenges in dialogue with fellow instructors, while critically integrating AI tools into teaching practices across the humanities, social sciences, and STEM fields.

In turn, participants will contribute to the development of open educational resources (OER) for the TLC’s Teach@CUNY AI Toolkit, with any two of the resource models below as the basis for their contribution:

• AI policy statement
• Assignment or project description
• A sequence of lesson plans, learning activities, or course modules

The working group will meet four times during the 2024-2025 academic year to discuss artificial intelligence in the context of course policy, assignment design, and learning activities. Following these discussions, participants will develop open educational resources to be used in their teaching and later published as part of the tCUNY AI Toolkit.

Participants will receive a stipend of $500 for their time, labor, and contributions.

Eligibility

We are looking for graduate students interested in exploring the problems and potentials of using artificial intelligence in their teaching. No prior experience with assignment design or curriculum development is required.

Requirements

Participants must be:

• a currently enrolled Graduate Center student in good academic standing;
• teaching or expected to teaching during the 2024-25 academic year

To Apply

Students should submit the following materials as a single attachment named  “LastName_aiFIG24.pdf” to tlc@gc.cuny.edu by October 7th, 2024:

• A two-page CV;
• A statement of interest that responds to these prompts over two paragraphs:

1. 1. How do you understand the emerging impact of artificial intelligence on your discipline?
   2. How have you previously approached the role of artificial intelligence in your teaching?

If you have questions about the application, please contact Zach Muhlbauer at zmuhlbauer@gradcenter.cuny.edu.

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Imagining the Humanities at the GC

More than just a set of academic disciplines, the humanities offers unique ways of knowing, being, and relating to others outside the classroom. With this in mind, the CUNY Humanities Alliance invites Graduate Center students to reflect on the humanities’ presence and possibilities within our institution. How might we invigorate existing spaces at the GC (such as the library or the CUNY Academic Commons) and build upon community-wide engagement with the humanities? And how might such interventions benefit the GC community at large?

The CUNY Humanities Alliance works with students at all levels of the CUNY system to think expansively about the role of the humanities in their lives and careers. Building on the program’s work for the last eight years, staff from the CUNY Humanities Alliance will facilitate a Focused Inquiry Group (FIG) to address the questions above. Participants will not only critically assess existing structures for humanistic inquiry within our institution, but will also work together to envision new humanities-oriented initiatives and expressions that foster interdisciplinarity, inclusion, and collaboration. We’ll also discuss the ways in which some of the core foci of the CUNY Humanities Alliance—including mentorship, art, and solidarity—are present or absent in the experience of GC students.

Participants will be paid $500 via a financial aid award.

Eligibility

To be a currently enrolled Graduate Center student.

Requirements

FIG participants will meet three times a semester throughout the 2024-2025 academic year, for a total of six meetings. Most meetings will be held online, but at least two of them will be in person. By the end of the year, participants will produce one or more public-facing artifacts (such as a blog post or informational poster) proposing, in detail, one way in which the humanities might be more deeply integrated into a particular space at the GC.

To Apply

Please submit the following materials as a single PDF to tlc@gc.cuny.edu by October 7th, 2024, by midnight. Please name the attachment “LastName_HumanitiesFIG24.”

1. A two-page CV.
2. A short paragraph response (300-500 words) to the following prompt: tell us about a space at the GC where you engage with the humanities in some form (other than pure academics), or imagine what such a space might look like.

If you have questions, please contact Luis Henao Uribe at lhenaouribe@gc.cuny.edu.