CIRTL Network

Preparing Your Teaching Demo for a Job Interview
2026-01-15 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Chicago)
As part of the interview process for a faculty position, you may be asked to lead a teaching demonstration. In this interactive workshop, we’ll discuss ways to go into your teaching demo with preparedness, confidence, and adaptability. Participants will explore considerations related to their audience, factors affecting content, logistics (including technology), and teaching/learning interactions. Participants will also strategize ways to cope with unexpected challenges that could emerge during a teaching demo. By the end of this workshop, participants will be prepared to:

Identify questions and decision points useful in preparing a teaching demo for a job interview.
Strategize ways to gather the information needed to effectively plan a teaching demo.
Generate strategies for dealing effectively with challenging situations that might emerge during a demo (e.g., logistical, technological, or interpersonal).

Instructors
Chas Brua, Pennsylvania State University
Beate Brunow, Pennsylvania State University
Workshop Schedule
This one-session online workshop meets in Zoom on Thursday, January 15th at 10-11:30pm Gulf / 1-2:30pm Eastern / 12-1:30pm Central / 11am-12:30pm Arizona / 10-11:30am Pacific.
Audience
This workshop is designed first and foremost for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in STEM/SBE disciplines, but generally relevant to anyone interested in an introduction to teaching demonstrations.
Registration and Enrollment
**At capacity and closed for registration as of Thursday, January 1st**
This course/workshop is at capacity and registration is closed. CIRTL’s self-paced teaching and learning courses are open for learning at any time, on your own schedule. And CIRTL’s professional development event series, taking place online on Thursdays starting January 22, is uncapped and open for registration.
Registration will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis and 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) 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 to all students
Sharing resources from synchronous sessions with 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 2: Connect with community to enhance teaching. See more Goal 2 programming.
Goal 4: Prepare for an impactful career. See more Goal 4 programming.

Pedagogies of Care: Accessible Teaching, Systemic Barriers, & Care in Your Discipline
2026-01-21 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 Wednesday, January 21st at 8-10pm Gulf / 11am-1pm Eastern / 10am-12pm Central / 9-11am Arizona / 8-10am Pacific.
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
**At capacity and closed for registration as of Monday, January 5th**
This course/workshop is at capacity and registration is closed. CIRTL’s self-paced teaching and learning courses are open for learning at any time, on your own schedule. And CIRTL’s professional development event series, taking place online on Thursdays starting January 22, is uncapped and open for registration.
Cap: 25. Registration will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis and 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.

Finishing your Diss/Thesis
2026-01-22 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. This is the first event in our eight-part series “The Joyful Journey: Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar Professional Development Series.”
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 Thursday, January 22nd at 4-5pm Eastern / 3-4pm Central / 2-3pm Arizona / 1-2pm Pacific.
**Gulf: Friday, January 23rd at 1-2am**
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.

Research Mentor Training
2026-01-26 11:00 - 12:30 (America/Chicago)
Work with a community of peers and facilitators to develop and improve your research mentoring skills in this engaging seminar. Students will develop their personal mentoring philosophy, learn how to articulate that philosophy across a variety of disciplines, and refine strategies for dealing with mentoring challenges.
The content of each session in this seminar is designed to address the key concerns and challenges identified by experienced research mentors. In addition to the general content about research mentoring, all of the case studies and some of the discussion questions draw specific attention to issues related to multidisciplinary research mentoring.
This course is built on the evidenced-based Entering Mentoring curriculum course that is offered by the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research (CIMER). For more information on CIMER, the research base of mentorship, or to request a CIMER training for your institution, visit https://cimerproject.org/.
Instructors
Sean Nicholson-Crotty, Indiana University
Jennifer Aumiller, The University of Maryland, Baltimore
Course Schedule
This intensive 6-week seminar meets online on Mondays from January 26th through March 2nd at 9-10:30pm Gulf / 12-1:30pm Eastern / 11am-12:30pm Central / 10-11:30am Arizona / 9-10:30am Pacific.
Workload
Instructors anticipate students will need to spend 1.5-2 hours per week on work outside of class sessions. Homework typically involves reading, reflection, and some writing.
Audience
This seminar is designed first and foremost for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in STEM/SBE disciplines, but generally relevant to anyone interested in learning how to support undergraduate mentees.
Registration and Enrollment
Cap: 25. Registration is closed. Registration will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis and 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 David Larson (dlarson23@wisc.edu), who is supporting this course, 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 course to support accessibility for all our students:

Using alt-text on images in reading materials
Sending weekly reminders with upcoming assignments to all students
Sending weekly reminders with missing assignments to students who have late work
Sharing materials for synchronous sessions with students via Moodle (slides, breakout group activity instructions, etc.)
Enabling live captioning in synchronous sessions
Incorporating multiple modes of interaction into synchronous sessions
Sharing recordings from synchronous sessions
Allowing students to make up absences and submit work late with no penalty

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.

Panel(s) of Early Career Faculty
2026-01-29 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago)
Join early career faculty panelists, from several institutions across the country to discuss their experiences on the academic job market, how they prepared for their current position, how their institution approaches community and mentoring for early career faculty and any general advice they would give to current graduate students and postdocs. Plenty of time will be given to questions. This is the second event in our eight-part series “The Joyful Journey: Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar Professional Development Series.”
Speakers
Daniel Usera: University of Texas at Arlington – College of Business, Marketing
Dr. Daniel Usera is a professional speaker and Clinical Associate Professor in the College of Business – Marketing at UT Arlington. He earned his doctorate from the University of Iowa in Communication Studies. His research focuses on persuasion, public speaking, and presence. He has worked in retail, hospitality, state politics, and in the nonprofit sector. He loves his field and finding ways to share it with as many people as possible, whether that’s through corporate training, Toastmasters, or lecturing. He is constantly learning and aims to build a world-class business communication courses at UT Arlington.
Lakshmi Raju: Georgia Tech – School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Lakshmi Raju is the ECE Director of Student Engagement and Well-Being, and a faculty member in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the School of ECE at Georgia Tech. In her current role, she teaches introductory courses in the School of ECE and leads initiatives and programs that promote a welcoming, inclusive student community while supporting their academic and professional growth.
Rounaq Basu: Georgia Tech – School of City & Regional Planning
Rounaq Basu is an Assistant Professor in the School of City and Regional Planning at Georgia Tech, with an affiliation to the Center for Urban Resilience and Analytics. He holds a Ph.D. in Urban Science and Planning from MIT, as well as dual master’s degrees in Transportation and City Planning, and a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering from IIT Bombay with a focus on transportation engineering. Basu’s research centers on sustainable urban mobility, with a particular focus on reducing auto-dependence in metropolitan areas. His work integrates urban analytics, econometrics, and agent-based microsimulations to inform policies that promote transportation equity, sustainable growth, and better urban systems. He is passionate about using these diverse tools to create more resilient and equitable cities that support the well-being of all residents. Before joining Georgia Tech, Basu worked at the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization, where he led multimodal planning efforts to improve transportation modes and services across the region. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of WalkMassachusetts, the first pedestrian advocacy organization in the U.S. He has also worked internationally with organizations like the World Bank, contributing to urban planning projects in cities across Latin America, India, Lebanon, and Singapore. Basu brings a global perspective to his work, combining technical expertise with a deep commitment to addressing the real-world challenges of urban growth, equity, and sustainability.
Erica Caasi: University of Boston – Clinical Assistant Professor, Wheelock College of Education and Human Development
Dr. Erica Caasi is a clinical assistant professor in the Language & Literacy Education Department at Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. She prepares future educators and partners alongside practicing teachers and schools to support culturally responsive and community-engaged literacy practices. Her scholarly work explores representation in literature for youth and investigates how narrative can function as a medium for both connection and disruption. Through partnerships with teachers and school leaders, she fosters critical engagement in literacy teaching and learning.
Event Schedule
This online event meets on Thursday, January 29th at 4-5pm Eastern / 3-4pm Central / 2-3pm Arizona / 1-2pm Pacific.
**Gulf: Friday, January 30th at 1-2am**
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.

CVs for the Academic Job Market
2026-02-05 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago)
Join Dr. Brian Hand of Career Services at CU Boulder for a 60 minute presentation on drafting your academic CV. We’ll go over formatting, content, and tailoring of the CV for academic job applications, including discussion of the basic eight CV sections, additional sections you might want to include, and how to structure the information you include in those sections, as well as some advice around CV mindset and how and when to update your CV content. This is the third event in our eight-part series “The Joyful Journey: Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar Professional Development Series.”
Speakers
Dr. Brian Hand, Graduate Student Program Manager, Career Services, University of Colorado Boulder
Event Schedule
This online event meets on Thursday, February 5th at 4-5pm Eastern / 3-4pm Central / 2-3pm Arizona / 1-2pm Pacific.
**Gulf: Friday, February 6th at 1-2am**
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.

Cover Letters for the Academic Job Market
2026-02-12 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago)
Join Dr. Tammy M. McCoy from the Center for Teaching and Learning at Georgia Tech for a 60-minute presentation on crafting effective cover letters for the academic job market. We will discuss the purpose and structure of the academic cover letter, how to tailor your letter for different institution types, and what search committees look for in a strong application narrative. Participants will learn how to align their experiences with position requirements, highlight their scholarly and teaching identities, and avoid common cover letter pitfalls, including guidance on tone, length, and strategic framing. This is the fourth event in our eight-part series “The Joyful Journey: Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar Professional Development Series.”
Speakers
Dr. Tammy M. McCoy, Center for Teaching and Learning, Georgia Tech
Event Schedule
This online event meets on Thursday, February 12th at 4-5pm Eastern / 3-4pm Central / 2-3pm Arizona / 1-2pm Pacific.
**Gulf: Friday, February 13th at 1-2am**
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.

Maximizing Learning Outcomes from Instructional Demonstration: Balancing Instructor- and Student-Led Experiential Learning
2026-02-17 11:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago)
Are you looking to enhance your teaching methods and boost student engagement in your classroom? Join us for a workshop designed for educators who use demonstrations to reinforce learning objectives. In this interactive workshop, participants will explore the overlap between instructor-led demonstrations and student-led experiential learning, while considering instructional choices that help shape the execution of in-class demonstrations. They will engage in collaborative discussions with fellow educators and leave the workshop with practical strategies. By the end of this workshop, participants will be prepared to:

Describe a relevant instructor-led demonstration in your discipline and how it helps to support student learning
Select between instructor-led demonstration and student-executed activity/laboratory for supporting student learning
Organize a class session that includes an instructor-led demonstration (e.g. decide where in a lesson plan a demonstration is most valuable)

Instructors
Jesse Streicher, Stanford University
Workshop Schedule
This one-session online workshop meets in Zoom on Tuesday, February 17th at 9-11pm Gulf / 12-2pm Eastern / 11am-1pm Central / 10am-12pm Arizona / 9-11am Pacific.
Audience
This workshop is ideal for educators, faculty members, postdocs, and instructional designers looking to enhance their teaching toolkit and create dynamic learning experiences in their classrooms.
Registration and Enrollment
**At capacity and closed for registration as of Monday, February 16th**
Cap: 50. Registration will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis and 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 introductory or 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.

Teaching Statements for the Academic Job Market
2026-02-19 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago)
Join Dr. Tammy M. McCoy from the Center for Teaching and Learning at Georgia Tech for a 60-minute presentation on developing a compelling teaching statement for the academic job market. We will explore the purpose, structure, and key components of an effective teaching statement, including articulating your beliefs and values, instructional goals, inclusive teaching practices, and assessment strategies. Participants will also learn how to tailor their teaching statement to different institutional contexts, align them with job postings, and communicate their teaching identity with clarity and intention. This is the fifth event in our eight-part series “The Joyful Journey: Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar Professional Development Series.”
Speakers
Dr. Tammy M. McCoy, Center for Teaching and Learning, Georgia Tech
Event Schedule
This online event meets on Thursday, February 19th at 4-5pm Eastern / 3-4pm Central / 2-3pm Arizona / 1-2pm Pacific.
**Gulf: Friday, February 20th at 1-2am**
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.

Quick Tips for Teaching
2026-02-23 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Chicago)
Teaching can seem like a mysterious juggling act, especially when we first enter the field. In this interactive workshop, participants will explore practical tips from the research literature, their own teaching experience, and other instructors. During the session, the facilitators will ask participants to vote on a list of possible topics, with the most popular topics forming the core of the workshop. Possibilities include: what to do when you don’t know the answer; how to shape an inclusive course climate; using formative and summative feedback; building a flexible lesson plan; ways to stay organized as an instructor; and more. By the end of this workshop, participants will be prepared to:

Identify effective strategies for their own teaching or TAing
Decide on one adaptation to make to their current teaching strategies
Engage in metacognition
Conceptualize teaching as a series of pedagogical decisions (before/during/after a lesson)

Instructors
Chas Brua, Pennsylvania State University
John Elia, Pennsylvania State University
Workshop Schedule
This one-session online workshop meets in Zoom on Monday, February 23rd at 10-11:30pm Gulf / 1-2:30pm Eastern / 12-1:30pm Central / 11am-12:30pm Arizona / 10-11:30am Pacific.
Audience
This workshop is generally relevant to anyone interested in practical teaching tips from multiple sources.
Registration and Enrollment
**At capacity and closed for registration as of Friday, February 20th**
Registration will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis and 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) 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 to all students
Sharing resources from synchronous sessions with 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 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 4: Prepare for an impactful career. See more Goal 4 programming.

Research Statements for the Academic Job Market
2026-02-26 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago)
Job postings in higher education often require a research statement as part of the application process. This session will focus on assembling a research statement for academic jobs. We’ll consider the intended audience and analyze examples from recent applicants. This is the sixth event in our eight-part series “The Joyful Journey: Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar Professional Development Series.”
Speakers
Nicole Xu, Assistant Professor, Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, Robotics Program, Biomedical Engineering Program, and BioFrontiers Institute at the University of Colorado Boulder
Event Schedule
This online event meets on Thursday, February 26th at 4-5pm Eastern / 3-4pm Central / 2-3pm Arizona / 1-2pm Pacific.
**Gulf: Friday, February 27th at 1-2am**
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.

Decentering Grades: Getting Started with Ungrading for Future Faculty
2026-03-02 10:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
Have you or your students been frustrated by grading structures in class? Have you ever felt that education has become too much about grading and ranking, rather than exploration and learning? The need to reshape the conventional means of assessing student work has become more pressing with the prevalent (mis)use of AI. The recent movement to “ungrade” education offers many tactics for instructors to provide meaningful feedback and nurture students’ intrinsic motivation, while decentering or doing without grades and the challenges they pose to deep learning. This workshop introduces a few common ungrading practices and explores how they can be adapted for use for graduate instructors and TAs, who often face greater institutional constraints when designing assessment plans. By the end of this workshop, participants will be prepared to:

Understand the definition and purpose of ungrading
Select ungrading practices on the basis of your teaching philosophy, course objectives, and external constraints
Apply ungrading principles to design an assessment scheme for an assignment

Instructors
Ruilin Fan, Columbia University
Workshop Schedule
This one-session online workshop meets in Zoom on Monday, March 2nd at 8-10pm Gulf / 11am-1pm Eastern / 10am-12pm Central / 9-11am Arizona / 8-10am Pacific.
Audience
This session is designed for future faculty or instructors who may have limited power to change the overall course setup and class policies but who want to decenter grades in some way. Participants should have some experience with assessing student work.
Registration and Enrollment
**At capacity and closed for registration as of Friday, February 20th**
Cap: 30. Registration will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis and 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.

Diversity/Equity/Inclusivity Statements for the Academic Job Market
2026-03-05 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago)
This event is designed to guide individuals on how to effectively write a diversity statement, which is a document outlining their commitment to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). We will focus on highlighting past experiences and future goals in creating an inclusive environment, particularly in academic settings. This is the seventh event in our eight-part series “The Joyful Journey: Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Scholar Professional Development Series.”
Speakers
Preston Cumming, University of Colorado Boulder
Event Schedule
This online event meets on Thursday, March 5th at 4-5pm Eastern / 3-4pm Central / 2-3pm Arizona / 1-2pm Pacific.
**Gulf: Friday, March 6th at 1-2am**
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.

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
REGISTER NOW
This institute has a cap of 15 CIRTL participants. Registration 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) 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
REGISTER NOW
This institute has a cap of 50 CIRTL participants. Registration 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) 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.
