Southern Wisconsin Aspire Regional Collaborative

SWARC supports up to 10 Scholars annually in a 9-month program from July-March. Scholars receive extensive cohort and mentor support to meet program goals and are paid a $2000 stipend upon program completion. While travel for the four site visits (see below) is not be provided by SWARC, we will work with Scholars to facilitate ride-sharing, minimize travel costs, and ensure that lack of transportation access is not a barrier to participation. The SWARC Scholar Program is comprised of:

• Cohort Gatherings (6 virtual meetings total: August - March)
• SBC Internship (one 1-day site visit to UW-Whitewater: August)
• PUI Faculty Internships (2 x 1-day site visits to participating PUI institutions: September - December)
• 1:1 Faculty Mentorship (2 virtual meetings + 1 site visit: January - March)

Cohort Gatherings will be held virtually six times in total across the fall and spring semester. Cohort Gatherings allow Scholars to discuss and integrate program experiences with one other and with Program Directors. In these gatherings, Scholars will:

• Explore background readings that address key concepts for inclusive teaching, best practices that improve educational outcomes for diverse student bodies.
• Be matched with faculty mentors at participating PUIs.
• Share, compare and contrast SBC Internship and PUI Faculty Internship experiences.
• Collaborate and critique development of a novel course component using inclusive teaching concepts developed and implemented with faculty mentors.

The 2022-2023 Virtual Cohort Gatherings will be from 10:00-11:00 am on the following Fridays:

• August 12, 2022
• September 09, 2022
• November 11, 2022
• January 20, 2023
• February 10, 2023
• March 10, 2023

The SBC Internship will include one one-day site visit to UW-Whitewater on Thursday August 25, 2022. Scholars will shadow one day of the UWW STEM Boot Camp, a bridge program (between high school and the first year of undergraduate studies) that supports the success of URM STEM students. Scholars will mentor STEM Boot Camp students by providing feedback on students’ small research proposals developed earlier in the program, sharing their own graduate school experiences, and discussing their career interests with students. Scholars will also meet with STEM Boot Camp program directors to discuss impacts of bridge and other mentorship programs, how faculty at PUIs can initiate and participate in targeted mentorship programs, and how similar inclusive teaching principles can be applied to classroom activities and mentorship program development.

The PUI Faculty Internship will include two one-day site visits to different participating PUIs in southern Wisconsin. For each site visit, Scholars will travel in pairs (with another program Scholar) to a PUI where they will welcomed by a Faculty Mentor. Scholars will shadow the faculty mentor during course instruction, explore the campus, meet with undergraduates to discuss student experiences, and talk with the Faculty Mentor about faculty experiences, expectations, and opportunities at that institution (scheduling, teaching, research, and mentorship experiences and expectations, unique aspects of that institutions’ student body, hiring criteria, tenure expectations etc.) Scholars and Mentors will also discuss how inclusive teaching practices may have been integrated into the observed class. Dates of the PUI Faculty Internship will be arranged to accommodate Scholar and Faculty Mentor schedules, but both site visits will occur September-December.

Finally, the 1:1 Faculty Mentorship will provide Scholars with experience in course development and an opportunity to implement and hone inclusive teaching practices and skills, further preparing them for successful applications to faculty positions and for successful transitions into faculty careers. Each Scholar will work with a Faculty Mentor to develop a novel course component (a learning activity, lecture etc.) that the Scholar will then implement with students at the Mentor’s institution, generally as part of a STEM course taught by the Mentor. To accomplish this, Scholars will:

• Meet (virtually) with the Mentor to identify an appropriate topic and course component to develop.
• Integrate an inclusive teaching concept from the Cohort Gathering readings and discussions into their course component plan.
• Solicit feedback from the Mentor, Scholar Cohort, and SWARC Program Directors to refine the component plan.
• Provide similar critiques to other Scholars through the Cohort Gatherings.
• Implement the course component as arranged with the Mentor.
• Receive feedback from the Mentor and students.

SWARC Scholars will also have access to a pedagogical development resource site that will compile lists and links for teaching development activities (workshops, talks, panels etc.) offered through participating institutions and related programs. This will facilitate further pedagogical training for Scholars interested in building their inclusive teaching knowledge and skills beyond the SWARC Scholar Program.

The 2022 cohort of SWARC Scholars will participate in activities between August 2022-March 2023. Applicants and accepted Scholars are also encouraged to attend the virtual Career Panel in July 2022. The 2022 Scholar applications will be reviewed beginning in June (priority acceptance for those submitted by June 20, 2022) with rolling acceptance thereafter until the program is full.

SWARC Scholars will be selected from eligible applicants on the timeline described above. To be eligible for the SWARC Scholar Program, applicants must be:

• Of one or more groups designated as underrepresented and/or minoritized (URM) in STEM fields (see below), AND…
• Currently enrolled as a graduate student or working as a postdoctoral researcher in a designated STEM field (see below).

Required qualifications for SWARC Scholar support are based on categorizations of STEM fields and URM groups determined by our funding sources. For these purposes, URM groups include:

• URM racial and ethnic groups (American Indian or Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, Black or African-American, Hispanic or Latinx)
• Women
• Persons with disabilities
• Persons from economically disadvantaged backgrounds

For these purposes, STEM fields include:

• Computer and information sciences
• Engineering
• Mathematics
• Natural Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Biology, Environmental Science)
• Social and Behavioral Sciences (Psychology, Economics, Sociology, Political Science)

Competitive applicants will also demonstrate a strong interest in exploring teaching-intensive faculty career paths and developing inclusive teaching and mentorship skills.

2022 Date:

10:00 am CST, Friday July 22, 2022

Recording of Virtual Career Panel 

This virtual panel discussion comprised of PUI faculty from participating SWARC institutions will target STEM graduate students and post-docs across the UW System. Panel Members will discuss career experiences with attendees, including those applying to become SWARC Scholars as well as those who do not intend to apply for and/or do not qualify for this portion of the program (non-URM, non-STEM, or students at non-participating institutions.) The panel will address what they perceive as the unique aspects of their jobs that differ from faculty experiences at research-intensive 4-year universities with extensive STEM graduate programs, including:

• Goals, challenges and opportunities for teaching, mentorship, research, and service
• Challenges in transition from graduate experiences to faculty careers
• Skills and qualifications of successful candidates in such positions

The virtual event welcomes attendees from any UW System STEM graduate or post-doctoral program. Students and researchers interested in becoming SWARC Scholars (see below) are especially encouraged to participate. Recordings of the panel discussion will be distributed to a national graduate student audience by UW-Madison’s Wisconsin Center for Education Research and the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL) Network.

This event has passed.