CIRTL Network

This week's member in the spotlight is University of Arizona, a public, land-grant university in Tucson, Arizona. University of Arizona has been a CIRTL member since 2020, and adds to our ranks of minority-serving institutions as one of 6 Hispanic-serving institutions in the Network.

Read more about CIRTL@UArizona at https://academicaffairs.arizona.edu/cirtl.

This week's member in the spotlight is Texas A&M University, a public, land-grant university in College Station, Texas. TAMU has been a CIRTL member since 2006, and as an R1 institution serving more than 4,000 PhD students is pivotal in shaping how future faculty learn to teach.

Read more about CIRTL@TAMU at https://grad.tamu.edu/professional-development/cirtl.

This week's member in the spotlight is Pennsylvania State University, a public, land-grant university in State College, Pennsylvania. Penn State has been a CIRTL member since 2021, and faculty and staff from their Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence have taught workshops and courses for our future faculty on everything from teaching demonstrations to teaching-as-research. Thank you Penn State for your contributions to the Network!

Read more about Pennsylvania State University's local CIRTL program at https://gradschool.psu.edu/career-and-professional-development/penn-state-cirtl-teaching-certificate-program/.

After a suddenly busy spring, we're back at our weekly member spotlights! This week's member: University of Pittsburgh, in CIRTL for 12 years. Pitt has been instrumental in teaching courses, workshops, and events for future faculty in the Network, and this spring PITTCIRTL helped teach a newly developed course on inclusive teaching. Thank you PITTCIRTL!

Read more about University of Pittsburgh's local CIRTL program at https://www.engineering.pitt.edu/subsites/centers/cirtl/ .

Going on the job hunt? Learn about STEM careers outside of academia in our final event of the spring! Join us online on Wednesday, April 24 to hear their experiences and ask questions.

Read more and register at https://cirtl.net/event/exploring-careers-outside-of-academia-with-cirtl-alumni/

Curious about how to take your teaching to the next level? Come to our online event on April 11 and hear how CIRTL grad students and postdocs have done just that through "teaching-as-research" projects! Every year we host online presentations for TAR practitioners to share their work - a question they've identified about teaching and learning, a shift in classroom practice they can implement to test that question, data collection to observe their impact, and analysis to figure out what that impact actually looks like.

Read more and register at https://cirtl.net/event/cirtl-network-teaching-as-research-presentations-2/

Applying for teaching jobs in academia? You might need a teaching statement! Come to our online event on Friday, April 5 to learn more about what goes into a teaching statement.

Read more and register at https://cirtl.net/event/writing-your-teaching-statement-for-the-academic-job-market/

Applying for STEM jobs in academia? You might need a research statement! Come to our online event on Wednesday, April 3 to learn more about what goes into a research statement and examine sample statements.

Read more and register at https://cirtl.net/event/writing-your-research-statement-for-the-academic-job-market/

Happy Women's History Month! To celebrate we're sharing the accomplishments of scientists like Wendy Carlos, an engineer and musician who helped develop the first synthesizer.

Born in 1939 in Rhode Island, Carlos grew up with a love of music, engineering, and electronics. She earned her bachelors in music and physics from Brown University, and her masters in composition from Columbia University. While at Columbia, she met Robert Moog, the inventor of the first commercial synthesizer. Carlos both refined its design and elevated its use through her own musical work. After the synthesizer was released in 1964, Carlos released "Switched-On Bach" in 1968, an all-synth album that made her the first trans artist to win a Grammy, the first artist to have an electronic album go platinum, and the second-ever artist to have a classical album go platinum.

Read more about Carlos at https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/wendy-carlos-electronic-musician-first-trans-woman-grammy/

Going on the job hunt? Come to our online event on Wednesday, April 3 to hear CIRTL alumni talk about what it's like to be in a primarily teaching appointment at a research institution! This is the first event in our four-part series featuring CIRTL alumni explain their journeys through different STEM career paths in academia and beyond.

Read more and register at https://cirtl.net/event/exploring-teaching-careers-at-research-universities-with-cirtl-alumni/

Happy Women's History Month! To celebrate, we're sharing the accomplishments of scientists like Ellen Ochoa, the first Latina astronaut in space.

Ochoa was born in Los Angeles, California in 1958, to parents who were Mexican immigrants; trying to protect their children from the discrimination they experienced, Ochoa's parents raised her and her siblings were raised without speaking Spanish. In school Ochoa loved math, reading, and music. After earning a bachelors from University of California, San Diego, she earned both her masters and PhD in engineering from Stanford. During the same time, Sally Ride became the first woman in space and inspired Ochoa to shift from optics to astronaut training. After applying to NASA's training program in 1985 and 1987, Ochoa was finally accepted in 1990. In 1991, she graduated the training program and officially became an astronaut, and in 1993 she became the first Latina in space during a 9-day mission aboard the space shuttle Discovery.

You can read more about Ochoa's academic and professional accomplishments at https://wams.nyhistory.org/end-of-the-twentieth-century/the-information-age/ellen-ochoa/ .

Happy Women's History Month! To celebrate, we're sharing the accomplishments of scientists like Marie Maynard Daly, the first Black American woman to earn a chemistry PhD in the U.S.

Daly was born in Queens, New York in 1921, Daly enjoyed chemistry from an early age. After attending an all-girls high school, Daly earned a bachelors in chemistry from Queens College in 1942. She went to Columbia for her PhD, where she studied under Mary Letitia Caldwell, the lone woman faculty in the chemistry department. In 1947, Daly earned her PhD, making her the first Black American woman to earn a PhD in chemistry in the United States' 171-year history. She briefly taught at Howard University before pursuing postdoctoral research under Alfred Mirsky, a renowned geneticist, at Rockefeller University. In the years since, she went to Columbia and then the Albert Einstein College of Medicine where she conducted groundbreaking research on diet, cholesterol, smoking, lung health, and heart health (among other topics).

You can read more about Daly's work at https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/daly.html