TEK Faculty Fellows

Track 1: New Courses (TEK 200-level: Discover and TEK 300: Engage)
TEK Faculty Fellows who are selected for Track 1 will develop course sections for TEK 200-level: Discover or TEK 300: Engage. Fellows will teach those sections during the Spring 2025, Summer 2025, or Fall 2025 terms. These course sections will address all four TEK Student Learning Outcomes:
• Identify multiple viewpoints
• Reflect on process and growth
• Communicate ideas
• Collaborate in teams

Fellows selected for Track 1 will participate in an orientation/kickoff event in early-May 2024, followed by eight meetings as part of a small faculty learning community during the Fall 2024 semester. During the semester of teaching the TEK course, Fellows will participate in consultations with CELT and participate in the CELT midsemester feedback process. Fellows may be asked to participate in occasional events such as panels or luncheons. Upon completion of the Fellow teaching the TEK course, Fellows will participate in the assessment of student learning with respect to the TEK Student Learning Outcomes.

TEK 200-level courses and TEK 300 courses will include the following elements:
• Team development and team teaching by faculty from two or more disciplines
• A two-day or three-day per week meeting pattern
• Meaningful integration of one or more community partner(s) and/or experts from the workforce
• Critical problems, topics, or opportunities important to Kentucky (and beyond)
• Multiple points of view (e.g., theories, methods, perspectives, experiences) for problem solving
• Collaborative behaviors and dispositions (e.g., understanding cultural and societal differences and their relation to multiple viewpoints)
• Opportunities for reflection and awareness
• Transferrable or employability skills (e.g., communication, teamwork)
• Assessments/deliverables including (1) regular student reflections on process and growth throughout the semester and (2) a team-based project exploring a critical issue from multiple perspectives. Student products from the assignments will be used as part of the assessment of TEK.
 

The table below illustrates how TEK 200-level courses and TEK 300 courses differ based on characteristics specific to the course level.

Track 2: TEK Skills—Existing Undergraduate Courses
TEK Faculty Fellows who are selected for Track 2 will teach an undergraduate course or course section (up to and including 400G and 500-level courses) with a clear emphasis on employability skills tied to at least one TEK Student Learning outcome (e.g., multiple viewpoints, reflection, communication, collaboration). Faculty will reflect on their pedagogical practices and identify at least one major assignment in the course used to assess the identified TEK Student Learning Outcome. Student products from the assignments will be used as part of TEK assessment.

Fellows selected for Track 2 will participate in in an orientation/kickoff event in early-May 2024, followed by four meetings as part of a faculty learning community during the Fall 2024 semester and additional meetings during the semester when the TEK Skills course is offered. During the semester of teaching the TEK course, Fellows will participate in consultations with CELT and participate in the CELT midsemester feedback process. Fellows may be asked to participate in occasional events such as panels or luncheons. Upon completion of the Fellow teaching the TEK course, Fellows will participate in the assessment of student learning with respect to the TEK Student Learning Outcomes.

* TEK Skills courses may be offered in any modality for which the course is approved.
 

Who Should Apply?

Tracks 1 and 2 of the TEK Faculty Fellows program seek regular full-time faculty (e.g. tenure-track, tenured, lecturers, clinical) who are interested in:

• Developing new approaches to existing undergraduate courses to build transdisciplinary skills.
• Collaborating with community and workforce partners.
• Engaging students in exploring critical problems, topics, or opportunities important to Kentucky (and beyond)
• Experimenting with a variety of teachings methods, technologies, and processes that engage students in exploring multiple viewpoints, communicating, reflecting, and collaborating. 

The TEK Faculty Fellows program aims to build cohorts of faculty representing a wide range of disciplines in teaching and learning environments at UK. In addition, we are looking for applications that articulate the following:

Track 1:

• Commitment and ability to develop and teach a section of a TEK-prefixed course: Discover or Engage: during the Spring 2025, Summer 2025, or Fall 2025 semester
• A clear sense of how the course will be co-developed and team taught with one or more colleagues from different disciplines (You will need to identify collaborators in your application). A clear idea of the critical problem, topic, or opportunity important to Kentucky (and beyond) that the course will investigate from a transdisciplinary perspective A plan for integrating community and/or workforce experts
• Alignment between curricular design and TEK Student Learning Outcomes (e.g., topics, skills, learning activities, assessments)
• Alignment with the required characteristics of Discover and Engage courses as outlined in the table above
• Strong potential for student interest and enrollment, across disciplines
• Statements of support* from (1) the applicant’s department chair or school director and (2) college dean that states their support for the faculty participating in TEK and confirms the faculty had a satisfactory performance designation at their last faculty performance review across all areas of assigned activity as recorded in the DOE agreement

Track 2:

• Commitment and ability to target a specific undergraduate course section(s) that will be taught during the Spring 2025, Summer 2025, or Fall 2025 semester
• Meaningful integration of one or more of the TEK skills (multiple viewpoints, reflection, communication, collaboration) in the course content and assignments
• Alignment between curricular design (e.g., topics, skills, learning activities, assessments) and
  the chosen TEK skills 
• Strong potential for student interest and enrollment
• Statements of support* from (1) the applicant’s department chair or school director and (2) college dean that states their support for the faculty participating in TEK and confirms the faculty had a satisfactory performance designation at their last faculty performance review across all areas of assigned activity as recorded in the DOE agreement

* Statements of support will not be used to distinguish between applications.

Track 1 TEK Faculty Fellow teams will receive a combined $14,000 that will be divided between team members (e.g. $7,000 each for 2 faculty members) during the semester the Discover or Engage course is taught (up to one semester per academic year).

Track 2 TEK Faculty Fellows will receive a combined $3,500 (That will be divided between faculty if the course is team taught) that will be evenly divided across two semesters (e.g. one payment of $1,750 distributed over the fall semester and one payment of $1,750 distributed over the semester the course is taught).

Fellows in both tracks will have the option to receive their payment through payroll or a departmental budget transfer.

Faculty selected to participate in the TEK Faculty Fellows program will be expected to assign and collect course assessments through Canvas. Additionally, Fellows will score a sampling of student work as part of the TEK assessment process. Support and training for TEK assessment will be included in the TEK Faculty Fellows program. Assessment will occur upon completion of the Fellow teaching the course. Faculty Fellows will commit to participating in TEK assessment each time the course is taught for up to five years.

SCHOLARS@UK is a database of research expertise from colleges, departments, disciplines, and centers & institutes at UK. Maintained through UK Research, SCHOLARS@UK allows you to explore unit research output (publications, creative work), sponsored grants & contracts, and individual scholar profiles. SCHOLARS@UK is a great place to start when identifying a faculty collaborator.

If you need assistance identifying a collaborator for a TEK course, please reach out to uk.tek@uky.edu with details on a possible course topic and discipline partner.