CIRTL Network

Finishing your Diss/Thesis
2026-03-10 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago)
In this event, we will discuss practical strategies for completing your dissertation/thesis. These strategies emphasize ways to effectively discover when you write best, thus making writing a more consistent practice and helping you to become a more productive writer.
Speakers
Scott Holman, Ph. D., Graduate Writing Services Coordinator and Lecturer in the Program for Writing and Rhetoric, University of Colorado Boulder
Event Schedule
This online event meets on Tuesday, March 10th at 4-5pm Eastern / 3-4pm Central / 1-2pm Pacific/Arizona.
**Gulf: Friday, March 11th at 12-1am**
Audience
This event is designed for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers looking for an introduction to fundamental academic professional development topics.
Registration
REGISTER NOW
This online event is open to the public. Once you register, you will automatically receive Zoom information for the session.
Accessibility
If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact Zoe Zuleger (zmzuleger@wisc.edu), who is supporting this event, to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience. In addition to meeting individualized needs, we will also take measures throughout the event to support accessibility for all our students:

Enabling live captioning in synchronous sessions
Incorporating multiple modes of interaction into synchronous sessions

About CIRTL Programming
CIRTL Network programming is designed to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to create undergraduate educational experiences that are accessible to all learners. Participants can explore our programming in any order, and to whatever extent supports your own teaching development needs and interests. To help participants understand what they can expect across all our programming, all CIRTL programming aligns with four broad learning goals; within those goals, programming might provide participants with an introductory, intermediate, or advanced learning experience.
This course supports the following CIRTL learning goals at an introductory level:

Goal 4: Prepare for an impactful career. See more Goal 4 programming.

Panel(s) of Careers Beyond Higher Education
2026-03-12 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago)
Join panelists from various disciplines to discuss their career paths from graduate degree to professional. Panelists will address how they used their degrees and training to prepare them for their current positions and any advice they can give to current graduate students. Plenty of time will be given for questions. This is the eight and final event in our eight-part series “The Joyful Journey: Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar Professional Development Series.”
Speakers
Irfan Alam
Irfanul (Irfan) Alam earned his PhD in Biology Education Research from the University of Colorado Boulder (EBIO), where he developed expertise in mixed-methods inquiry. He previously served as a Program Evaluator at the University of Mississippi’s Center for Research Evaluation, leading grant-funded evaluations of education initiatives. He is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at North Dakota State University, where his work focuses on strengthening cross-institutional collaboration through mixed-methods research and statewide social network analysis under the SPARK-ND initiative.
Mckenzie Dice
Mckenzie Dice is a former Lead Teaching Assistant and a proud MS and PhD graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. After completing her dissertation on Antarctic atmospheric boundary layer dynamics in 2023, she transitioned from academia into applied climate resilience work. She now serves as an Extreme Weather Resilience Specialist and Data Scientist at Booz Allen Hamilton, supporting the U.S. Department of War on extreme weather related risk. Her work focuses on translating complex environmental data into actionable insights for infrastructure resilience, mission readiness, and long term strategic planning.
Olivia Marrese
Olivia graduated from CU with a PhD in Linguistics, specializing in conversation analysis. She is currently a Conversational Architect in AI and Machine Learning at 66degrees, a Google Cloud premier partner. In her role as a consultant and engineer, she designs, builds, and maintains multi agent systems across a variety of industry verticals, and particularly enjoys operationalizing findings from conversational data. Prior to 66, Olivia worked at Quiq, a startup in conversational AI, and as a PhD student she held internships at IBM Almaden and SoundHound AI.

Carli Brucker
Carli Brucker is a former Lead Teaching Assistant for the Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering Department at the University of Colorado Boulder. She graduated in 2023 with her MS and PhD in Hydrology and Water Resources, with a research focus in wildfire impacts on water quality. Since then, Carli has worked as a Water Resources and Resilience Management engineer at Carollo Engineers, using her skills in data science and modeling to develop water supply plans for municipalities, wildfire resilience and preparedness strategies, and climate change impact assessments.
Event Schedule
This online event meets on Thursday, March 12th at 4-5pm Eastern / 3-4pm Central / 1-2pm Pacific/Arizona.
**Gulf: Friday, March 13th at 12-1am**
Audience
This event is designed for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers looking for an introduction to fundamental academic professional development topics.
Registration
REGISTER NOW
This online event is open to the public. Once you register, you will automatically receive Zoom information for the session.
Accessibility
If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact Zoe Zuleger (zmzuleger@wisc.edu), who is supporting this event, to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience. In addition to meeting individualized needs, we will also take measures throughout the event to support accessibility for all our students:

Enabling live captioning in synchronous sessions
Incorporating multiple modes of interaction into synchronous sessions

About CIRTL Programming
CIRTL Network programming is designed to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to create undergraduate educational experiences that are accessible to all learners. Participants can explore our programming in any order, and to whatever extent supports your own teaching development needs and interests. To help participants understand what they can expect across all our programming, all CIRTL programming aligns with four broad learning goals; within those goals, programming might provide participants with an introductory, intermediate, or advanced learning experience.
This course supports the following CIRTL learning goals at an introductory level:

Goal 4: Prepare for an impactful career. See more Goal 4 programming.

CIRTL Network Teaching-as-Research Presentations
2026-04-08 11:00 - 12:30 (America/Chicago)
Hear graduate students and postdocs from across the CIRTL Network share the results of their Teaching-as-Research (TAR) projects in this online presentation session. In TAR projects, future faculty explore a specific question about teaching and learning, design and implement some sort of classroom-based intervention to test that question, and consider how they might adjust their teaching practices based on what the results show. TAR is a cornerstone of CIRTL’s work in developing reflective practitioners that support learning for all.
Schedule
This online event meets on Wednesday, April 8th at 8-9:30pm Gulf / 12-1:30pm Eastern / 11am-12:30pm Central / 9-10:30am Pacific/Arizona.
How to attend
This online event is open to the public. Once you register, you will automatically receive Zoom information for the session.
REGISTER NOW
Speakers
This year, 17 emerging educators from 12 institutions will share their pedagogical research. Presentations will run concurrently across six disciplinary panels:

Education
Earth Sciences
Math, Computing, & Engineering
Health
Behavioral & Cognitive Sciences
AI in STEM Education

View the full speaker list and session descriptions here
Accessibility
If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact David Larson (dlarson23@wisc.edu), who is supporting this event, to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience. In addition to meeting individualized needs, we will also take measures throughout the event to support accessibility for all our participants:

Sharing materials for synchronous sessions with students (slides, activity instructions, etc.)
Enabling live captioning in synchronous sessions
Incorporating multiple modes of interaction into synchronous sessions

About CIRTL Programming
CIRTL Network programming is designed to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to create undergraduate educational experiences that are accessible to all learners. Participants can explore our programming in any order, and to whatever extent supports your own teaching development needs and interests. To help participants understand what they can expect across all our programming, all CIRTL programming aligns with four broad learning goals; within those goals, programming might provide participants with an introductory, intermediate, or advanced learning experience.
This course supports the following CIRTL learning goals at an introductory level:

Goal 3: Cultivate teaching skills through reflective improvement. See more Goal 3 programming.

Johns Hopkins University In Person Teaching Institute
2026-05-27 08:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Learn common themes and challenges of teaching in higher education during this 3-day Teaching Institute. Through faculty presentations and group work, participants will learn about effective teaching practices, with a focus on active learning, backward design, assessment, and applying inclusive, evidence-based practices to developing your own lesson plan. By the end of the institute, participants will be able to:

Explore and test multiple teaching methods that engage and assess diverse students
Develop skills and strategies to continue growing as reflective instructors who employ evidence-informed teaching methods
​​​​​​​Identify strategies that improve student learning outcomes for all students
Create a peer-reviewed lesson plan
Present a lesson plan or facilitate micro-teaching exercise to their peer group

Schedule

This in-person institute meets daily from Wednesday, May 27 through Friday, May 29. Participants can see a detailed schedule upon registration.
Workload
Participants are expected to continue working on their lesson plan and micro-teaching activity outside of daily sessions.
Registration & Enrollment
This institute is at capacity but interested participants can add their names to the waitlist for a chance to attend.
JOIN THE WAITLIST
Accessibility
If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact Zoe Zuleger (zmzuleger@wisc.edu) to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience.

About CIRTL Programming
CIRTL Network programming is designed to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to create undergraduate educational experiences that are accessible to all learners. Participants can explore our programming in any order, and to whatever extent supports your own teaching development needs and interests. To help participants understand what they can expect across all our programming, all CIRTL programming aligns with four broad learning goals; within those goals, programming might provide participants with an introductory, intermediate, or advanced learning experience.
This institute supports the following CIRTL learning goals at an introductory level:

Goal 1: Develop evidence-based teaching knowledge. See more Goal 1 programming.
Goal 2: Connect with community to enhance teaching. See more Goal 2 programming.
Goal 3: Cultivate teaching skills through reflective improvement. See more Goal 3 programming.
Goal 4: Prepare for an impactful career. See more Goal 4 programming.

Johns Hopkins University Online Teaching Institute
2026-06-08 08:00 - 11:30 (America/Chicago) | Online in Zoom
Learn common themes and challenges of teaching in higher education during this 5-day Teaching Institute. Through faculty presentations and group work, participants will learn about effective teaching practices, with a focus on active learning, backward design, assessment, and applying inclusive, evidence-based practices to developing your own lesson plan. By the end of the institute, participants will be able to:

Explore and test multiple teaching methods that engage and assess diverse students
Develop skills and strategies to continue growing as reflective instructors who employ evidence-informed teaching methods
​​​​​​​Identify strategies that improve student learning outcomes for all students
Create a peer-reviewed lesson plan
Present a lesson plan or facilitate micro-teaching exercise to their peer group

Schedule

This institute meets online daily from Monday, June 8 through Friday, June 12 at 5-8:30pm Gulf / 9-12:30pm Eastern / 8am-11:30am Central / 7-10:30am Mountain / 6-9:30am Pacific/Arizona. Participants can see a detailed schedule upon registration.
Workload
Participants are expected to continue working on their lesson plan and micro-teaching activity outside of daily sessions.
Registration & Enrollment
This institute is at capacity but interested participants can add their names to the waitlist for a chance to attend.
JOIN THE WAITLIST
Accessibility
If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact Zoe Zuleger (zmzuleger@wisc.edu) to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience.

About CIRTL Programming
CIRTL Network programming is designed to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to create undergraduate educational experiences that are accessible to all learners. Participants can explore our programming in any order, and to whatever extent supports your own teaching development needs and interests. To help participants understand what they can expect across all our programming, all CIRTL programming aligns with four broad learning goals; within those goals, programming might provide participants with an introductory, intermediate, or advanced learning experience.
This institute supports the following CIRTL learning goals at an introductory level:

Goal 1: Develop evidence-based teaching knowledge. See more Goal 1 programming.
Goal 2: Connect with community to enhance teaching. See more Goal 2 programming.
Goal 3: Cultivate teaching skills through reflective improvement. See more Goal 3 programming.
Goal 4: Prepare for an impactful career. See more Goal 4 programming.

Pedagogies of Care: Accessible Teaching, Systemic Barriers, & Care in Your Discipline
2026-06-09 10:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
How can educators sustain care for themselves and their students amid growing institutional pressures, shifting technologies, and increasing demands on their time and attention? In this workshop, participants will reflect on what care looks like in their classrooms, what gets in the way of practicing it, and how their disciplines shape (or neglect) its meaning. Through open discussion and reflective activities, participants will examine tensions between institutional expectations and inclusive teaching values, explore systemic barriers that reproduce harm or hinder access, trace the ethical and cultural lineages that inform their pedagogical approaches, and imagine practices of care that foster more just, accessible, and sustainable teaching and learning environments. By the end of this workshop, participants will be prepared to:

Reflect on how care, identity, access, and classroom climate shape their teaching and learning environments
Identify institutional and systemic factors that support or constrain care-centered and inclusive pedagogical practices
Analyze how disciplinary traditions and cultural lineages inform approaches to care in teaching and learning
Articulate a preliminary “Pedagogy of Care” commitment or set of guiding practices to inform future course design and classroom engagement

Instructors
Kelsey Reeder, Columbia University
Workshop Schedule
This one-session online workshop meets in Zoom on Tuesday, June 9th at 7-9pm Gulf / 11am-1pm Eastern / 10am-12pm Central / 8-10am Pacific/Arizona.
Audience
This session is designed for educators with some teaching experience who have already begun reflecting on their teaching practice. Participants will get the most out of the sessions if they have prior exposure to concepts such as inclusive teaching, course design, or classroom climate, whether through formal workshops or their own pedagogical reflection and experimentation.
Registration and Enrollment
Cap: 25. Registration opens on Monday, May 25th at 10am CT and will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis. Registrants from CIRTL member institutions or alumni of CIRTL member institutions will receive priority. Once registration closes, all registrants will be notified of their enrollment status.
Accessibility
If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact Zoe Zuleger (zmzuleger@wisc.edu) who is supporting this workshop, to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience. In addition to meeting individualized needs, we will also take measures throughout the workshop to support accessibility for all our students:

Sending pre-session reminders with upcoming assignments to all students
Sharing materials for synchronous sessions with students (slides, activity instructions, etc.)
Enabling live captioning in synchronous sessions
Incorporating multiple modes of interaction into synchronous sessions

About CIRTL Programming
CIRTL Network programming is designed to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to create undergraduate educational experiences that are accessible to all learners. Participants can explore our programming in any order, and to whatever extent supports your own teaching development needs and interests. To help participants understand what they can expect across all our programming, all CIRTL programming aligns with four broad learning goals; within those goals, programming might provide participants with an introductory, intermediate, or advanced learning experience.
This course supports the following CIRTL learning goals at an intermediate level:

Goal 1: Develop evidence-based teaching knowledge. See more Goal 1 programming.
Goal 2: Connect with community to enhance teaching. See more Goal 2 programming.
Goal 3: Cultivate teaching skills through reflective improvement. See more Goal 3 programming.
Goal 4: Prepare for an impactful career. See more Goal 4 programming.

Planning Your Teaching-as-Research Project
2026-06-16 10:00 - 11:30 (America/Chicago)
Jumpstart your plans for a Teaching-as-Research (TAR) project in this 6-week flipped course designed to guide participants through developing a research question, identifying project methods and outcomes, and more. Each week, students will watch videos, read articles, and complete assignments on their own time; in weekly sessions, students will refine their work with peer review, work through sticking points with instructors, and build community to sustain their work. Throughout the course, students will also be expected to meet occasionally with a local TAR contact (typically the person at your CIRTL member institution who mentors TAR students and/or runs your institution’s TAR program) to refine key components of your TAR project plan. By the end of the course, students will present a TAR project plan and be well-positioned to implement their project in the coming academic year.
What is Teaching-as-Research?
Teaching-as-Research (TAR) takes a deliberate and systematic approach towards investigating, reflecting on, and improving one’s own teaching. The TAR process follows an inquiry cycle that consists of the following stages: identifying of a challenge within the context of teaching and learning, delving into the relevant scientific literature, designing a project to elucidate why the challenge occurs or designing a teaching intervention to address the challenge, implementing the project, collecting data, analyzing the data, drawing conclusions, and reflecting on the experience. TAR is a proactive and dynamic approach towards improving your teaching and document your teaching effectiveness. A TAR experience will provide a substantial example of your reflective, professional practice applicable to a range of career outcomes.
Instructors
Sophia Abbott, The University of Rhode Island
Jessica Maher, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Course Schedule
This 6-week course has weekly online sessions on Tuesdays at 7-8:30pm Gulf / 11am-12:30pm Eastern / 10-11:30am Central / 8-9:30am Pacific/Arizona from June 16th to July 21st.
Workload
Your instructors estimate students will need to spend 6-8 hours per week on work outside of class sessions including: watching videos, reading articles, completing assignments, meeting with your local TAR contact, and reviewing peer group work so that you can provide in-session feedback.
Registration and Enrollment
This course is limited to 25 students. Registration opens on Monday, May 11th at 10am CT. All applications will be reviewed and enrollment will be based on eligibility. This course builds on a foundational understanding of teaching and learning, and interested participants will need to share their teaching and/or teaching development experience in a brief course application. Registrants from CIRTL member institutions or alumni of CIRTL member institutions will receive priority.
Accessibility
If you have access needs, please let us know what they are. Contact David Larson (dlarson23@wisc.edu) to let us know how we can help you have a successful experience.

About CIRTL Programming
CIRTL Network programming is designed to develop future faculty committed to implementing and advancing evidence-based teaching practices to create undergraduate educational experiences that are accessible to all learners. Participants can explore our programming in any order, and to whatever extent supports your own teaching development needs and interests. To help participants understand what they can expect across all our programming, all CIRTL programming aligns with four broad learning goals; within those goals, programming might provide participants with an introductory, intermediate, or advanced learning experience.
This institute supports the following CIRTL learning goals at an intermediate level:

Goal 1: Develop evidence-based teaching knowledge. See more Goal 1 programming.
Goal 2: Connect with community to enhance teaching. See more Goal 2 programming.
Goal 3: Cultivate teaching skills through reflective improvement. See more Goal 3 programming.
