Tomorrow (9/23) I will host a discussion on a new grant program I am initiating as the CITA director. The goal of the grant is to encourage SLU faculty to write about their teaching practice or write about ways that their scholarship and creative work intersect with their teaching.
An ideal that many of us at residential liberal arts colleges share is the ideal of the teacher-scholar. But what–exactly–do we mean by this?
In 1990, Ernest Boyer published the influential Carnegie Foundation report, Scholarship Reconsidered. One thing Boyer hoped to accomplish with this report was differentiating the types of scholarship and scholarly lives available to people working in very different types of academic institutions. Someone teaching a 1-1 load with a host of dedicated doctoral students may be able to do different types of scholarly and creative work than someone teaching a 4-4 load and advising hundreds of first-generation students.
One salutary development from Boyer’s work was that more teachers, across institution types, began to study their teaching with more intentionality, and they began sharing their work with colleagues (and they began to get “credit” for this work when standing for tenure and promotion). An entire field was born, and one aim of my small grant program is to encourage us to research our teaching practice and share what we learn with colleagues.
But the teacher-scholar ideal is broader than people contributing to the literature on teaching and curriculum development in higher education. Another reason I started this small grant program was to encourage us to think about how our commitment to our disciplines can make us better and more engaged teachers.
I worry that we live in an especially fragmented and disconnected age. Though many of us probably pursued a graduate degree because we were passionate about something in our fields, and though we all understand that we have a professional responsibility to publish and stay connected to developments in our fields, I also wonder: What would it look like to bring our professional obligations to teaching and scholarship together in more holistic and upbuilding ways?
Instead of feeling overwhelmed by having to keep up with so many things pulling in so many different directions, might we find a wholeness that is hidden from us?
Join us on Friday to consider ways we can more closely connect the passions that drew us to pursue an advanced degree to the types of teaching we offer our students. Though I never get to teach many of the things I care most about as a scholar, the pursuit of learning about things I care deeply about influences my students. I encourage you to think about how remaining in touch with your scholarly, creative, and professional passions can help our students more fully engage with their educations.
Even if you cannot attend the event, please reach out if you’d like to talk more about the meaning of being a teacher-scholar in our overwhelming age.