Mellon grant boosts Brown/Wheaton teaching partnership
News @ Wheaton, October 2005
Wheaton has received a Presidential Leadership Award from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in support of Ronald A. Crutcher's new tenure as president. The college will use the $50,000 award to fund the Brown/Wheaton Teaching Laboratory in the Liberal Arts (TLLA), a unique partnership now in its second year.
The TLLA provides opportunities for advanced graduate students from Brown University to teach courses at Wheaton under the mentorship of two senior Wheaton faculty members, one from inside and one from outside the intern's academic department. The graduate students also participate in the life of the college by advising students, attending faculty meetings and workshops, and sharing their research with colleagues and students—opportunities that are not typically available to traditional teaching assistants.
For Brown's graduate students, Wheaton offers an ideal setting to develop their teaching skills in an environment that differs significantly from a large research institution. They also gain experience as professional members of a collegial community. In turn, the partnership gives Wheaton the opportunity to help shape a new model for the training of future liberal arts educators while tapping into the talents and scholarship of the visiting instructors.
Susanne Wiedemann, a Ph.D. candidate in American civilization, was the program's first intern, during the fall of 2004. Her English course, "Holocaust in U.S. Literature and Culture," drew rave evaluations from students, who called it "intellectually stimulating" and praised her passionate teaching style.
Serving as Wiedemann's faculty mentors were Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus (Religion) and Paula Krebs (English). Krebs said she enjoyed sitting in on Wiedemann's classes and "chatting with her about teaching strategies and innovations. The entire department loved her research colloquium in October, when students and faculty were treated to a lively lecture about her research on German Jewish emigration to the U.S. via Shanghai."
The pilot year concluded with Amy Vines teaching an English course called "Heroes in Medieval Romance" and Celeste Sullivan offering "Islam: Faith and Practice" for the Religion Department during the second semester. Said Vines: "My experience teaching at Wheaton was wonderful, and I'm very happy that I got to participate in the Brown/Wheaton TLLA almost at its inception.... I'm most impressed with my two mentors and the other faculty members I spoke with throughout the semester—I learned as much from them as from my students."
The program continues in full swing for 2005-2006, with four graduate student interns teaching courses in classics, philosophy, mathematics and First Year Seminar (English). After conducting the program for a few years, the partners hope to convene a conference in order to share aspects of this new model of intercollegiate cooperation and teacher training with other colleges.
TLLA is jointly administered by the Office of the Provost and the Kollett Center for Collaborative Learning at Wheaton, and the Office of the Dean of the Graduate School and the Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning at Brown.