The University of Georgia Libraries and the Center for Teaching and Learning invite full-time UGA faculty from all disciplines to apply to participate in the 2021 Special Collections Libraries Faculty Teaching Fellows program.
Now in its sixth year, the program brings together a select group of UGA faculty to explore archives-based learning as a high-impact learning practice through intensive workshops with specialists from the University’s three special collections units and representatives from the Center for Teaching and Learning.
The Special Collections Fellows program is ideal for faculty interested in developing new approaches to teaching and who are interested in experimenting with using archival collections to amplify or complement course content in significant and novel ways.
Although archives are often thought to be the province of those working in humanities, the holdings of the special collections at UGA support research and learning in fine arts, social sciences, professional programs, and STEM fields too. In addition to serving as source material for historical inquiry, special collections materials can become novel datasets for analysis; serve as object lessons in chemical and physical processes; and serve as inspiration for new creative works.
Previous participants in the program represent a wide range of disciplines and professional fields including: Science Education, Ecology, Population Health, Historic Preservation, History, English, Communication Studies, Journalism, Advertising, Music, Theater, Art, Family and Consumer Sciences, Entertainment and Media Studies, Qualitative Studies, Geography, Women’s Studies, Sports Management, and Academic Enhancement. To learn more about the past fellows participants and their projects visit the Special Collections Faculty Fellows Web page.
In response to COVID-19 and as an opportunity to experiment with the format of the program, the 2021 SCL Faculty Fellows Program will kick off with a session on Spring 2021 Reading Day (May 4th) and the rest of the program will take place over a four-week period during Maymester. The program will embrace both online asynchronous learning and on-site learning and will model approaches for both online and onsite socially distant archives-centered learning.
The program kicks off on May 4, 2021 (Reading Day) with an introductory workshop. Beginning on Tuesday, May 18, the rest of the SCL Fellows Program will unfold over the four-week period of Maymester. The group will meet from 8:30-12 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays of the first two weeks. During the third week (June 1-4) Fellows will work independently conducting archival research for their courses and meeting with SCL instructors to discuss course design. Beginning Monday, June 7, 2021 and concluding on Wednesday, June 9, 2021, the formal instructional phase of the SCL Fellows Program will conclude with an intensive, 3-day institute. Each day, from 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. fellows will present their course designs and demonstrate archives-centered encounters for each other. On Wednesday, June 9th, the Fellows Program will close with a luncheon from 1:30-2:30 p.m. Check out the full schedule.
Throughout, fellows will have unparalleled access to the diverse and extensive holdings of the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, and Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection as they adapt an existing course or develop a new course to include an archives-focused approach to the pedagogy and the course content.
Special Collections Faculty Fellows receive a $2000 stipend to enhance the development of a new course or a restructuring of an existing course to make use of special collections materials in a variety of contexts.
To learn more about the program, contact SCL Fellows Program Coordinator, Jill Severn at 706-542-5766 or jsevern@uga.edu
To apply, please complete the SCL Fellows Application by 5 p.m., January 4, 2021.