Presidential Chair Fellows Grant Program

Advancing Undergraduate Education through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

The PCF program provides an opportunity for individual faculty members, both Senate and non-Senate, to improve our collective understanding of undergraduate education through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). The Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) is seeking applications from interested faculty who desire to study the impacts of teaching design on advancing student learning through a SoTL study in partnership with the staff at CTL. The program will award up to eight (8) individual fellows with grants of maximum $10,000 per year for two years (up to $20,000 total) to support SoTL research beginning June 2, 2025.

Funds are intended to empower individual faculty from different academic departments to engage in SoTL, especially where such work has not previously been done. In the process of this SoTL inquiry, faculty are expected to engage in the design and implementation of a complete research study on undergraduate student-centered teaching and learning.

Prior experience or engagement in SoTL is not required to be competitive for this program. In close collaboration with the assigned mentor and other staff in CTL, selected Fellows will continue to build SoTL expertise and develop the design of their proposed study.

Program Expectations

The timeline/milestones that are expected of fellows are detailed on the Program Timeline and Milestones page.

As part of the PCF program, selected Fellows are expected to: 

  • Collaborate with an assigned CTL staff mentor to design and implement a SoTL study within the two years of the PCF program

  • Participate in regular monthly check-in meetings with their CTL staff mentor and/or other CTL staff

  • Share updates on budget expenditures and planning every semester

  • Engage in two community sessions per semester as part of the Fellows cohort

  • Present key takeaways and findings from their project at the Teaching and Learning Conference hosted by CTL in May 2026 and May 2027

Attend and participate in research seminars as relevant to their research project and professional development as SoTL scholars

Program Theme for 2025-2027

The theme for PCF 2025-27 is Centering student voices to diversify and enrich education for all.” We are especially interested in supporting projects that tackle such questions as: 

  • How does the ever-changing student body experience our courses and curricula at UC Berkeley, in new or different ways?

  • How do students bring their own personal strengths and lived experiences to the classroom?

  • How and where do students get to exercise agency in their own learning?

  • How do students shape their educational experiences, in courses or curricula at UC Berkeley?

  • How can students be engaged as partners in teaching research, to broaden our viewpoints and increase our understanding of student learning?

Applying to PCF

Applications are now open. Please submit your application responses via Qualtrics. You can preview the application questions to prepare your responses.

Applications must be submitted by Friday, April 18, 2025 for consideration Selected Fellows will be notified no later than Friday, May 2, 2025.

Info Session

To help interested applicants understand the PCF program and prepare competitive applications, CTL will offer two info sessions over Zoom. These info sessions will provide an overview of the program and a Q&A with CTL staff. Following each session, participants may participate in optional office hours with CTL staff to workshop their ideas for applications.

Info sessions for the 2025-2027 application cycle will be held on:

  • Wednesday, February 19, 2025 from 1-2 PM on Zoom

  • Tuesday, March 4, 2025 from 10-11 AM on Zoom

To receive the specific Zoom link to attend these sessions, we ask that you RSVP for these events. The initial presentation for the info session (not including Q&A and optional office hours) will be recorded for individuals who are unable to attend live.