Faculty who teach in the core curriculum at UAB are among the most dynamic, innovative, and dedicated faculty at the university. Almost every week, we read stories about their exciting courses and achievements in UAB’s eReporter. The Blazer Core Fellows program recognizes the achievement of these faculty by providing opportunities for them to explore innovative and impactful pedagogy through a two-year fellowship that is funded by the Office of the Provost. The Core Fellows Program, founded by CTL Executive Director Dr. Scott Phillips, is a partnership between the Center for Teaching and Learning and the Blazer Core Curriculum. This program is open to all full-time faculty who teach courses in the core curriculum and provides a professional development stipend of $3000 in the first year and $1000 in the second year, in addition to a conference travel fund for pedagogy conferences.

Core fellows begin their fellowship with a self-assessment of their teaching that enables them to develop a plan for getting the most out of the fellowship. In addition to meeting their Student Consultant on University Teaching at this time, they also begin attending workshops through UAB’s outstanding Center for Teaching and Learning in pursuance of the Center’s Gold and Platinum Level Certificates. SCOUTs provide fellows with feedback on areas of their teaching that they have identified as opportunities for development, and observe their courses multiple times to provide fellows with a full view of their core teaching. In the second year, fellows pair with other core fellows to observe one another’s courses and provide peer feedback. Fellows also share their insights with other faculty during this year through collaborative workshops and presentations.

Blazer Core Fellows

This summer, both classes of Core Fellows came together in August for a two-day core teaching workshop called IMPACT, which stands for Innovative, Measurable, Place-Based, Access-Oriented Core Teaching. This workshop explored strategies for core course design, assessment, teaching with technology, and incorporating service-learning, undergraduate research, and global learning into core courses. Ongoing workshops on each of these topics will be offered through a Points Partnership between the Blazer Core and the Center for Teaching and Learning beginning this fall.