Civic Teaching Fellow Application Process

The Center for Civic Excellence is building an interdisciplinary community of faculty dedicated to helping students engage enduring questions, develop the habits of thoughtful citizenship, and flourish intellectually and personally. Our program depends on faculty who are eager to contribute to a coherent program of study while working collaboratively with colleagues from across the university.

We are seeking to appoint enough faculty to meet our capacity and enrollment projections for AY 2027-28. This process will be open to all faculty each year as we grow and ramp up to deliver a full curriculum.

This application serves two purposes. First, it helps the Civic Center learn about your interests, experiences, and the contributions you hope to make as a Civic Teaching Fellow. Second, it is intended to help you and the Civic Center determine whether the Civic Center's educational mission, expectations, and collaborative culture align with your own goals, interests, time constraints, and approach to teaching.

Civic Teaching Fellow appointments are two-year, renewable appointments. They do not alter a faculty member's academic appointment, rank, or role statement within their home department. While the Civic Center has developed its own CIVC-specific teaching expectations and will provide feedback to faculty and departments, departments retain sole responsibility for annual review and promotion and tenure decisions.

What We Look For

Civic Teaching Fellows are not expected to hold identical views or use the same pedagogies. Rather, we seek educators who demonstrate the qualities that sustain an outstanding interdisciplinary teaching community. These include:

  • Outstanding undergraduate teaching
  • A deep commitment to student learning and success
  • Intellectual humility
  • Respectful engagement with differing viewpoints
  • Curiosity and a love of learning
  • Willingness to collaborate across disciplines
  • Openness to feedback and continuous improvement
  • Professional reliability and collegiality

Teaching in the Civic Center differs from teaching a traditional university course. Rather than designing course syllabi independently, instructors collaborate to create a consistent learning experience across sections developed in accordance with the Civic Center's learning outcomes, mission, expectations, and values. Civic Teaching Fellows are expected to contribute to and teach within a shared course framework. Applicants should be enthusiastic about working collaboratively with colleagues and contributing to a shared instructional vision while bringing their own expertise and teaching style to the classroom.

Professional Commitments

Teaching in the Civic Center includes participation in an ongoing community of professional learning and curriculum development. Civic Teaching Fellows will engage in regular, ongoing professional development and course design each month of the academic year. They are expected to:

  • Participate in all annual Civic Center retreats and professional development activities.
  • Read and discuss designated foundational readings, including Creating Wicked Students by Paul Hanstedt.
  • Participate in curriculum design and course revision charrettes and complete assigned work between charrette meetings.
  • Collaborate constructively with colleagues in the ongoing development and revision of courses and curriculum.
  • Participate in assessment and continuous program improvement.

Applicants must be planning to teach a CIVC course for the 2027-28 academic year.

While CIVC teaching assignments are part of regular teaching loads, to honor the ongoing professional development work and significant effort to transform USU's general education curriculum, the Center for Civic Excellence will pay Civic Teaching Fellows a $2,500 (benefited) stipend for the 2026-27 academic year. This funding model will be reviewed and adjusted annually to ensure sustainable support for a growing number of Civic Teaching Fellows and the ongoing work they will do as they build out a full curriculum.

This work will count as evidence of teaching excellence/effectiveness in promotion and tenure cases and in annual review.

Before submitting your application, please review the Civic Center's Mission and Values, Program Learning Outcomes, and Plan for Continual Improvement of Courses and Teaching.

Rather than requiring agreement with particular viewpoints or pedagogical approaches, the Civic Center asks Civic Teaching Fellows to understand these educational commitments and to engage in this work in good faith while bringing their own expertise, intellectual perspectives, and teaching strengths to the community.

Application Materials

I. Short Responses (100–150 words each)

1. Your Goals

Why are you interested in becoming a Civic Teaching Fellow? What most excites you about teaching in the Civic Center's curriculum, and how does this opportunity fit with your own professional interests and responsibilities?

2. Educational Commitments

The Civic Center is committed to the following values in teaching and learning as we help students engage thoughtfully with important questions: intellectual humility, curiosity, open inquiry, diversity of perspectives, civil discourse, and civic engagement. Please describe how these commitments are reflected in your own teaching.

3. Contributing to the Community

Civic Teaching Fellows contribute to the Civic Center as members of an interdisciplinary community, not only as individual instructors. What expertise, experiences, perspectives, or strengths would you bring to collaborative curriculum design, faculty learning, or other aspects of the Civic Center's work? What areas of support and professional development would you need to help you grow, thrive, and succeed in doing the Civic Center's work?

II. Teaching Philosophy (200—250 words)

Please describe your philosophy of teaching first-year and general education students. How do you cultivate intellectual curiosity, thoughtful discussion, and meaningful engagement with challenging ideas? Please include examples from your own teaching where appropriate. Note: Please feel free to copy and paste from existing teaching philosophy documentation you may have.

III. Abbreviated Curriculum Vitae (2-page maximum)

Please attach a brief CV highlighting relevant experience, including:

  • Teaching appointments
  • General education teaching experience
  • First-year teaching experience
  • Mentoring or advising experience
  • Curriculum development experience
  • Relevant scholarly interests
  • Teaching awards (optional)

IV. Areas of Interest and Courses You'd Like to Teach

Which current CIVC courses are you interested in teaching? Or which broad topics for future courses are you wanting to teach? Why do these specific courses and topics interest you?

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Applicant Acknowledgment

  • I have reviewed the Civic Center's mission and values, program learning outcomes, plan for continual improvement of courses and teaching, course evaluation questions, and understand the expectations of Civic Teaching Fellows within the Civic Center.
  • I understand that Civic Teaching Fellow appointments are two-year, renewable appointments that do not alter my faculty appointment, rank, responsibilities, or evaluation processes within my home department.

Conversation with Civic Center Leadership

Applicants will participate in a collegial conversation with Civic Center leadership about teaching, collaboration, and the Civic Center's educational mission. The purpose of this conversation is mutual discernment. It provides an opportunity for the Civic Center to learn more about each applicant and for applicants to ask questions about the Civic Center's community, expectations, and future direction.

Please contact the Center for Civic Excellence if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions about the application or how we can support your participation.

Timeline

Faculty who apply to become Civic Teaching Fellows will be contacted within a few days to schedule a conversation with Civic Center leadership. Shortly thereafter, they will be notified of decisions. This allows department heads to proceed with scheduling for CIVC courses. The Center for Civic Excellence works with department heads each year on scheduling based upon course demand.