Program Objective

The primary objective of the College of Engineering Graduate Teaching Fellow (GTF) Program is to better prepare interested doctoral students for the rewarding lifetime career of an academic in a university setting, with primary programmatic focus on the instructional aspects of being a faculty member.

Those holding academic faculty positions within a college or university are expected to be active in teaching, research, scholarly publication, and outreach.  Doctoral education programs have historically emphasized preparation for research and scholarly publications and perhaps to a somewhat lesser extent for outreach.  However the vast majority of candidates who complete a doctoral program in engineering have minimal preparation and experience in being an educator in the classroom. The GTF program has been designed to directly address this deficiency in doctoral student preparation.

 

Funding

A Fellow selected for the GTF program will be eligible to receive up to three years of funding at an annual stipend rate of $25,000.

  • This stipend would be funded by a 50% commitment from the College of Engineering, with the remaining 50% coming from the home department (through some mix of departmental and faculty advisor resources).
  • The funding provided by the home department cannot include any other instructional responsibilities (e.g., grading assignments in other courses, instructing laboratory sessions, etc.) besides the assignments that are part of the GTF program.
  • The College will also provide for the tuition needs of the Fellow during each academic year, and the home department will cover the comprehensive fee costs for the Fellow.
  • The Fellow will also receive a laptop (provided by College) for use while in the program, a free student membership in ASEE (provided by the home department), and $2,000 in travel support (provided 50% by the College and 50% through the home department) for use in attending a professional research conference and/or ASEE during the second or third year of the Fellow appointment.

A Fellow selected for the GTF program may receive additional partial fellowship support from his/her home department (e.g., Via, Grado, Bradley, Pratt, etc.). This will help avoid situations where a student may wish to participate in the GTF program but who would not wish to forfeit part of the funding that he or she would normally receive from another fellowship.