Abstract

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign houses doctoral programs in a full array of STEM disciplines, as well as programs that serve to integrate research, teaching, and learning for students seeking careers as university researchers and teachers. Some programs are broadly designed to serve doctoral students across the campus, some are focused along broad disciplinary lines, and some are dedicated to particular fields of study. These programs are in turn hosted in a wide array of homes and affiliations - the Graduate College , the Center for Teaching Excellence, registered student organizations, national programs like the Carnegie Initiate on the Doctorate, disciplinary colleges, and STEM departments. Programs represented range from broad-based campus- and college-level ones, to those that are distinctive to Engineering, Mathematics, and Neuroscience.

1. Campus-Level Programs at the University of Illinois

The Center for Teaching Excellence, formerly the Office of Instructional Resources ( www.oir.uiuc.edu/ ) is a campus-wide service unit responsible for assisting faculty and graduate teaching assistants in improving instruction. Each fall, the Division of Instructional Development (DID), a subunit of CTE, offers an All-Campus Teaching Assistants Orientation, introducing students to college pedagogy and providing peer review of instructional skills. Online resources and workshops are available on a variety of topics, including classroom pedagogy and management, test construction, course and instructor evaluation, student assessments, and the incorporation of technology into the classroom. CTE staff also provides one-on-one consulting with graduate instructors and offers the Graduate Teacher Certificate (GTC) and Advanced Graduate Teacher Certificate (AGTC), as means of improving and documenting pedagogical skills.

The College Teaching Effectiveness Network ( www2.uiuc.edu/ro/CTEN/ ), a registered student organization comprised of graduate students from a variety of disciplines, sponsors professional development and teaching effectiveness workshops for graduate students preparing for academic careers. Past seminar topics have included "Techniques for Incorporating Critical Thinking into Your Classroom," and "Using Writing as a Means of Enhancing Student Performance."

The Responsive Ph.D. ( www.woodrow.org/responsivephd ) is a project of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. The University of Illinois is working with a number of other doctoral-degree-granting institutions to collaborate on a national agenda for improving the doctorate in at least three aspects: paradigms, practices, and people. Through what new paradigms can the learning associated with highest degree in academic disciplines inform more fully the life of the nation? By which new practices can the doctorate more perfectly represent adventuresome research? And how can the increased involvement of new people from a wide variety of backgrounds aid in the diversification of the American intellect?

Summer Pre-Doctoral Institute ( www.grad.uiuc.edu/minorityaffairs/SPI2003/index.htm ) provides incoming underrepresented minority graduate students with experiences designed to help them succeed in their studies. SPI encourages rapid acclimation to the campus and to the various departmental, disciplinary, and graduate school cultures. Students from all disciplines are eligible for participation; however, students in science, engineering, and mathematics are specifically targeted. Participants complete coursework recommended by their department, and participate in seminars on such topics as publication, mentoring, research ethics, and choosing an adviser. Each participant is also asked to make an individual research presentation.

2. College-Level Programs at the University of Illinois

The Academy for Excellence in Engineering Education (AE3, ae3.cen.uiuc.edu/about_ae3.htm ) is a center for effective teaching and learning within the College of Engineering . AE3 advocates excellence in engineering education through instructor development, course redesign, and learning innovations. AE3 is made up of faculty, staff, graduate assistants and students from a variety of colleges, departments and academic units: the College of Engineering , the Department of Human Resource Education, and the Office of Instructional Resources are among the contributing units that make AE3 possible. AE3 sponsors a variety of opportunities for instructor development, including FAST Start, a faculty development program whose purpose is to help new faculty members succeed at Illinois . FAST Start is sponsored and run by the Colleges of Engineering and Education, and the Academy for Excellence in Engineering Education (AE3). The program focuses on teaching, advising, managing a lab, obtaining grant support, working with colleagues, and other issues relevant to STEM fields. FAST Start is also a significant support base where new faculty interact with peers.

The Graduate College Career Services Office ( www.grad.uiuc.edu/CareerServices/ ) provides advising, special programs, and resources to assist graduate students with decision making and planning for career paths both within and beyond academia. Numerous discipline-specific career services offices also provide resources for graduate students.

3. Departmental Programs at the University of Illinois

Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate ( www.carnegiefoundation.org/CID ) is a five-year initiative aimed at enriching and invigorating the education of doctoral students. Six disciplines are the initial focus of the study: chemistry, education, English, mathematics, neuroscience, and history. At the University of Illinois , four units have been selected to participate as Partner and Allied Departments, History, Neuroscience and Mathematics as the former, and Educational Psychology as the latter. The Foundation's research activities primarily focus on Partner Departments and their activities. Through annual convenings, independent data gathering, and other activities, the Carnegie Foundation will support, encourage and publicize the work done by Partner Departments. Allied departments have agreed to pursue similar goals and strategies, albeit with less support from the Foundation.

At the University of Illinois , Mathematics has been a Partner Department since 2002. The eight partner departments of mathematics nationally seek to fund new teaching initiatives, including Carnegie Fellows, faculty from teaching colleges who visit partner departments, and teach and participate in the intellectual environment; teaching postdoctoral fellows, and new fellowships for interdisciplinary graduate studies. Neuroscience and History were selected as Partner Departments in Summer 2003, and therefore are in the early planning stages of this initiative. Educational Psychology is an Allied Department. Beginning with the fall 2003 semester, and continuing through the academic year, Educational Psychology will be holding a seminar for faculty, graduate students, and staff in which they collectively explore various aspects of the composition and purpose of the doctorate in educational psychology.

Vertical Integration of Research and Education in the Mathematical Sciences, or VIGRE (www.mathematics.uiuc.edu/VIGRE ) is a program of grants to mathematics departments, its goal being to make the study of mathematical sciences more attractive for undergraduate and graduate students, and to render undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral training more effective and broadly applicable.

In June 2000, the Department of Mathematics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was awarded a five-year VIGRE grant. The main components of the Illinois VIGRE program are graduate recruitment with fellowship support; postdoctoral recruitment with funded teaching/research positions; RAPs (Research Among Peers) mentoring groups, working seminars that consist of regular faculty, postdoctoral faculty members, and graduate students; ALPs (Across Level Peers), which include undergraduate students as well as faculty members and graduate students; graduate student seminars; Teacher-Training for Undergraduates, or TTUs; Research Experiences for Undergraduates, or REUs; and Research Experiences for Beginning Graduate Students, or REGs.