The Provost's Thriving in Teaching Mentorship Program

Program Mission

Thriving in Teaching aims to bring together like-minded educators to cultivate a community of support, care, and rigor for practicing racial equity in teaching. Participating faculty can expect to practice with storytelling, somatic expression, and arts-based learning techniques to express their journey to teaching and to deepen their understanding of and relationship with racial equity teaching.

Participants will be paired with two to three colleagues with similar campus roles, teaching values, and shared lived experiences to form a peer mentoring partnership. These peer mentorships will serve as the foundation for (1) building community, (2) collectively implementing a set of observable racial equity teaching criteria, and (3) participating in a classroom observation exercise in spring 2026 where participants will have the opportunity to offer and receive teaching feedback.

This program runs from October through May and enrollment is limited to 14 Senate faculty, which includes both faculty in the Professor and Teaching Professor series. Senate faculty from all ranks are invited to apply. Participation in the program is not limited based upon self-identification of race or gender. Applications will be accepted until Friday, September 19, 2025. The Center for Teaching & Learning will notify applicants of their acceptance in late September. Any questions about the program or application can be directed to teaching@berkeley.edu.

Recognition

Faculty who participate throughout the full academic year will be provided a course improvement grant of $5000 and a letter recognizing their commitment to teaching signed by Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Benjamin E. Hermalin in support of their next merit review.

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

Attend 12 cohort meetings and actively engage in reflections about your teaching.
Regularly connect with 1-2 peer mentors, assigned based on a mentorship assessment completed at the start of the program.
Maintain a portfolio documenting your progress in the program, including:

reflective teaching exercises;
contributions to a collaboratively developed racial equity teaching resource; and
feedback to/from a peer-mentor from a spring semester peer teaching observation exercise.

Select one item from your portfolio to enhance and write a 1–2 page reflective statement demonstrating how this item has advanced your thinking and skill set as an equity-oriented educator.
Complete a program survey.

Campus Partners

This program 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 other UC Berkeley Thriving Initiatives

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.

Overview

Program Learning Objectives

This program is designed to reorient isolating teaching moments into ones that are uplifted by community support with care and collective wisdom. In aim of this mission, participants can expect to engage with the following learning objectives throughout the program:

Experience horizontal mentorship, a reciprocal relationship with two or more peers working to advance each person’s teaching goals and interests (VanHaitsma & Ceraso, 2017).
Develop a community of like-minded educators around racial equity teaching values.
Practice with peer feedback strategies, like teaching observations and review of instructional materials.

Program Schedule

Participants will be invited to attend 11 meetings scheduled on Tuesdays from 10am to 12pm in the Academic Innovation Studio (Dwinelle 117). Lunch will be served. Each meeting will contribute toward the development of peer mentoring partnerships, culminating in a teaching observation exercise in the Spring semester. Participants can expect to spend 1-2 hours of preparation and meeting time every three weeks, which is a total of 48 hours for the entirety of the academic year. Participants will be invited to an optional and informal meet-and-greet with program facilitators on Thursday, Oct 2, 2025 (light refreshments will be provided).

Oct 7
Oct 21
Nov 4
Nov 18
Dec 2
Dec 9
Jan 27
Feb 17
March 10
March 31
April 21
May 5

Inclusive Community

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

The program 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 the program. We welcome requests for accommodations and observations and/or recommendations for greater inclusion and access to learning.

Thriving in Teaching prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities, and prohibits discrimination against all individuals based on their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin.