15 The Process
Faculty Cohorts
Each academic year, TLH led three cohorts of faculty fellows (approximately 17 fellows per cohort). For the academic year 2021-2022, the 51 Mellon TLH Faculty Fellows selected for the first three cohorts were chosen from a pool of 118 applicants. For the academic year of 2022-2023, the 51 Fellows were selected from 92 applicants. Each application was reviewed carefully by at least one TLH staff member and one member of the TLH Faculty Advisory Board. The 51 fellows selected were full- and part-time CUNY faculty in the humanities, qualitative social sciences, and arts committed to equity, social, and anti-racist teaching. They worked together to share and develop active, creative, participatory learning practices and pedagogical research designed to engage CUNY students and help ensure their success in and beyond the classroom.
All three cohorts met for one half-day virtual Summer Institute to kick off the fellowship program. One cohort convened in the Fall semester, meeting for three seminars (one per month) led by the two TLH Faculty Co-Directors. The semester concluded with a showcase of fellows’ public knowledge projects, which they worked on together in groups of 4-5 and in collaboration with their students, who were awarded small scholarships. Two cohorts convened in the Spring semester. This time, each cohort was led by one Faculty Co-Director and one returning fellow (“Pedagogy Co-Leader”). The curriculum was similar to that of the fall semester, however each semester was unique in its own right as fellows attended and responded to TLH’s Transformative Speaker Series. Likewise, the curriculum for the 2022-2023 academic year was similar, however it was shaped by different required readings and new voices in TLH’s Transformative Speaker Series.
At the end of the fellowship semester, TLH awarded faculty fellows $1,800 and wrote formal letters of thanks to their provosts and department chairs or deans to thank them for their service and contributions to the CUNY community. Fellows completed exit surveys about their experiences, which TLH used for internal program assessment purposes.
In addition to the 2 Faculty Co-Directors, TLH selected Pedagogy Co-Leaders to support fellows and co-lead seminars. Pedagogy Co-Leaders were given one course release and a stipend ($7,000) to recognize their leadership and service to TLH throughout the semester. Pedagogy Co-Leaders met with the whole TLH team at every Monday business meeting and planned the seminars with the Faculty Co-Directors. Pedagogy Co-Leaders helped TLH leadership to plan events in TLH’s Transformative Speaker Series, inviting speakers of their choice who could best speak to the needs of CUNY faculty and students. They also proposed panels in collaboration with TLH leadership and presented their transformative pedagogies at national conferences such as American Studies Association (New Orleans, 2022), American Educational Research Association (Chicago, 2023), and HASTAC (New York, 2023). Pedagogy Co-Leaders went on to publish articles on ungrading and transformative teaching practices and to lead events and initiatives on their campuses such as a Transcribe-a-Thon on Douglass Day, where students transcribed papers of Mary Ann Shadd Cary, who was an abolitionist and the first African American publisher in North America.
The outcome for faculty was greater engagement – with course content and with students – through innovation and co-created learning spaces. More meaningful engagement leads to faculty satisfaction with how their classes perform and their positions within their institution. This also leads to greater student satisfaction and better course evaluations, which can help faculty progress in their professional careers.
Application Overview
To learn more about the Transformative Learning in the Humanities Faculty Fellow application process, see the Application Overview: