Provost’s Teaching For Equity & Inclusion Faculty Course

Grow in community. Evolve your teaching.

Course Mission

This faculty course is designed to raise awareness of potential inequities both faculty and students face when engaged in the process of teaching and learning. Through dialogue and self-reflection, participants will interrogate traditional approaches to teaching and learning in effort to reshape their own teaching practices. This course aims to help faculty identify and develop one to two instructional changes to address a specific student learning need in their course context and/or curriculum. A wide range of teaching frameworks, stories, and perspectives will be presented by guest speakers, short readings, and explorations of student learning data from UC Berkeley contexts. Participants will have the opportunity to practice inclusive and equitable teaching techniques with a group of their peers using collaborative learning strategies like peer review of instructional materials, low-stakes teaching demonstrations, and arts-based learning exercises.

This course will be offered in Spring 2025 and enrollment is limited to 20 Senate faculty, which includes both faculty in the Professor and Teaching Professor series. Senate faculty from all ranks are invited to apply. Applications will be accepted until Friday, November 22, 2024. The Center for Teaching & Learning will notify applicants of their acceptance in early December. Any questions about the program or application can be directed to teaching@berkeley.edu

Recognition

Faculty who participate throughout the Spring semester will be provided a course improvement grant of $3000 and a letter recognizing their commitment to teaching signed by Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Benjamin Hermalin in support of their next merit review.

Participating faculty are expected to complete the following in order to receive full recognition:

  • Attend course meetings and engage in the learning experience alongside a group of their peers.

  • Prepare a reflective teaching statement documenting their commitment to supporting the diverse student body at UC Berkeley.

  • Submit a revised course syllabus.

Campus Partners 

This course is a collaborative effort between the Office of the Provost, the Division of Equity & Inclusion, the Division of Undergraduate Education, and the Center for Teaching and Learning. It is also affiliated with UC Berkeley's SEA Change Intiative and Thriving Initiatives.

Overview

Course Learning Objectives

1. Develop a community of like-minded educators around shared teaching values
2. Reflect on how your positionality informs your teaching and impacts student learning and experiences
3. Explore and practice with teaching frameworks designed to enhance learning for students of color and students with disabilities as a starting point for strengthening your skill set as an equity-oriented teacher

Expected Campus-wide Impact

  • Provide faculty with actionable strategies to help close equity gaps in their courses
  • Give faculty the language and research to serve as ambassadors for equitable and inclusive teaching in their respective Departments and Colleges

Course Schedule

Participants will be invited to attend 7 meetings scheduled on Wednesdays from 10am to 12pm in the Academic Innovation Studio (Dwinelle 117) throughout January and April, culminating toward participant’s engagement with the Teaching & Learning Conference on Friday, May 9, 2025.

Each meeting will spotlight an evidence-based teaching framework, strategy, or point of inquiry that advances our collective understanding of equitable approaches to teaching. Faculty will engage with each topic across teaching and learning contexts and identify one or more of these strategies to adapt in their own teaching practice. Participants can expect to spend 3-4 hours of preparation and meeting time every two weeks, which is a total of 28 hours for the entirety of the Spring semester.

Course Meeting Dates & Session Topics

January 29, 2025 - Unpacking our teaching values as individuals and as a community of educators

February 12, 2025 - Using data to learn about your students and inform your teaching practice

  • Discussion led by guest speaker: Andrew Eppig, PhD - Director of Equity Data Initiatives
    Pronouns - he/his
  • Workshop a teaching strategy

February 26, 2025 - How does your course content, discipline, or teaching practice endure legacies of racism?

  • Discussion led by guest speaker
  • Workshop a teaching strategy

March 12, 2025 - Active learning, instructor identity, and instructional behaviors to cultivate a sense of belonging

  • Discussion led by guest speaker: Lorenzo Lones, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Division of Cell Biology, Development and Physiology
  • Workshop a teaching strategy

April 2, 2025 - Instructor positioning in/and advancing equity in assessment

  • Discussion led by guest speaker: Amber Sweat, Doctoral Candidate in French at UC Berkeley, Adjunct Faculty at Fisk University Pronouns - she/her
  • Workshop a teaching strategy

April 16, 2025 - Universal Design for Learning and its relationship to disability justice

  • Discussion led by guest speaker:Tara Mason, PhD - Universal Design for Learning Consultant
    Pronouns - she/her
  • Workshop a teaching strategy

April 30, 2025 - Our teaching values revisited and advancing equity and inclusion outside of the program

  • Workshop a teaching strategy

May 9, 2025 - Invitation to attend the 3rd annual Teaching & Learning Conference

Inclusive Community

Applicants are encouraged to communicate a request for accommodation directly on their application form when prompted. Participating faculty can submit a request for accommodation to course facilitators at any point during the semester.

The course facilitators are committed to creating an inclusive learning environment where learners with different experiences and perspectives - expressed through race and ethnicity, culture, gender identities and sexual orientations, political and social views, religious and spiritual beliefs, learning and physical abilities, language and geographic characteristics, age, veteran status, and social or economic classes - feel welcomed and prepared to effectively engage in this course. We welcome requests for accommodations and observations and/or recommendations for greater inclusion and access to learning.

All community members of this course - including participants, facilitators, and stakeholders - will respect all members with regards to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, medical condition, ancestry, marital status, age, sexual orientation, citizenship, and/or service in the uniformed services. By engaging with this course, participants demonstrate a commitment to advancing a more human-centered approach to teaching and learning.