The CFT is Hiring – Assistant Director Applications Due January 22nd

Posted by Rhett Mcdaniel on Thursday, December 7, 2017 in News.

The Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching is seeking an Assistant Director who will promote effective teaching across campus. The Assistant Director will work with graduate students, faculty, and others in the Vanderbilt teaching community to enhance student learning through the use of research-based practices in university teaching. The Assistant Director will report to the Director of the Center for Teaching and work collaboratively with senior and support staff at the CFT as well as others involved in supporting teaching at the university.

The CFT was founded in 1986 and currently has eleven full-time staff positions, as well as four graduate student fellows. The CFT offers a variety of professional development programs and opportunities for faculty and graduate students at Vanderbilt, and CFT senior staff have excellent relationships with individual instructors and with departments, programs, and schools. The work of the Assistant Director will be integrated with and supported by the ongoing work of the CFT.

Key functions and expected performances:

Planning, implementing, and assessing ongoing CFT programs for graduate students that offer opportunities for participants to engage in sustained reflection on and conversation about teaching and learning principles and practices.
Designing and facilitating professional development events for graduate students, as well as faculty and others, such as practice-focused workshops and more open-ended conversations on teaching, both for the entire campus community and for particular departments and units
Consulting with graduate students, as well as faculty, helping them to critically reflect on their own teaching and their students’ learning and to make informed, intentional choices about their teaching practices
Liaising with departments, schools, and other units to consult on curriculum design, implementation of particular pedagogies, creating plans for teaching improvement, and navigating other teaching and learning challenges and opportunities
Teaching credit-bearing courses at Vanderbilt, typically one course per year in the Assistant Director’s home discipline, pending approval from the relevant department and school
Engaging in scholarly work on teaching and learning, including the creation of teaching guides and other online materials for the CFT website, participation in national (and international) conversations about teaching and learning, and conducting occasional research on university teaching and learning and/or graduate student and faculty development

Preferred skills and experiences:

Significant university teaching experience
Background as a faculty member at a college or university
Background and interest in graduate student / future faculty professional development
Strong consultation, interpersonal, and communication skills
Knowledge of the scholarly literature on teaching and learning in higher education
Familiarity with the academic mission of a research university
Experience in planning, implementing, and evaluating educational development programs