Funded Projects
| Project Title | Overview of the Project |
|---|---|
| Introduction to the Clock Method $1792.00 |
I am applying for the Lecturers' Professional Development Fund in order to register on a training course for teachers of Spanish as second language in Santander, Spain. The tittle of the course is Introduction to the Clock Method: A new way of teaching Spanish grammar to foreigners. The course has been designed for Spanish teachers as a second language interested in reflecting on what being a Spanish teacher mean and what language teaching consists of, and in knowing the grammar aspects involved in foreign language teaching/learning through this new methodological approach. By attending this course I will acquire the tools, techniques and abilities to teach grammar through a different and original approach. At the end of the course I will be able to manage group dynamics and interaction in the classroom and I will become familiar with pedagogic grammar and learning to apply it in the classroom. One of the major goals of the course is to reflect on grammatical aspects that are especially difficult for non-Spanish speakers. Taking this course will help me grow professionally in my teaching career. Its learning experience will provide me with the capacity to improve my skills in designing, organizing and scheduling my courses. The course will also allow me to apply the acquired skills on my own courses on campus and to share the knowledge with my Lecturer colleagues so that they could benefit from it and implement their courses as well. |
| Pilot testing violence against women training curricula with evaluation methods for healthcare providers and students in the Ghana-Michigan Emergency Medicine Collaborative Vijay Singh Medical School $2000.00 |
Intimate partner violence and sexual violence, collectively known as violence against women (VAW), are globally pervasive with significant health consequences. The World Health Organization has recently developed guidelines for the health care response to VAW, and I will lead a team of investigators from the UM Department of Emergency Medicine to translate these clinical recommendations into education and practice of healthcare providers and students in low-to-middle income countries. With funding from the World Health Organization, I will develop this VAW training curricula, and through videoconferencing conduct a brief pilot with feedback in a low-to-middle income country, specifically Ghana. I am applying for this LPDF grant to cover travel to Ghana and conduct the curricular pilot on-site, and expand the evaluation to create on-site focus groups through the Ghana-Michigan Emergency Medicine Collaborative. The LPDF grant allows me to not only travel to Ghana to deliver the VAW curricula, but also conduct focus groups to further my scholarship and refine my teaching methods. Specific Aims: Pilot test and assess VAW training curriculum feasibility and acceptability among health care providers and students in Ghana-Michigan Emergency Medicine Collaborative, and develop and refine pre- and post-training evaluation methods. 1)Pilot test curriculum among Ghanaian healthcare providers and students. 2)Focus groups of Ghana pilot sites will review curriculum and evaluation feasibility and acceptability. 3)Outcomes include qualitative data and resulting manuscript(s) on evaluation toolkit assessing self-reported changes and chart review adapted for Ghanaian learners and settings. |
| New Technologies and Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives in Italian Language Teaching $2000.00 |
I am proposing to attend a graduate level course at the American University of Rome entitled “New Technologies and Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives in Italian Language Teaching.” This course will take place from July 7th-July 21st , 2017, in Rome and is geared towards teachers of Italian at all levels. As the title suggests, the main topics of the seminar will deal with innovative methodologies, Italian culture and the use of technology in the classroom. This is one of the few, if not the only course, offered in Italian and sensitive to the particular needs of those teaching Italian; it would give me the tools to make substantial changes in the way in which Italian is taught in the second year here at Michigan. My goal is to make the learning of Italian more engaging and culturally rich and to increase interest in the Italian program and I believe I can do that with the tools and strategies taught in this seminar. After having taken this course, I envision that I will be able to not only make significant changes in my own teaching but also in the teaching of other lecturers and graduate students who teach Italian 231 and 232. Upon my return to the University of Michigan, I will mentor and instruct my fellow lecturers and graduate students so that we can work together to teach as best as we can using technology and innovative methodologies. |
| Digital Tools for Detroit Urbanism Erik Herrmann Architecture and Urban Planning $2000.00 |
This proposal for the Professional Development Fund in the amount of $2,000 seeks support for the development of new research and algorithmically-based analysis and form generation software to speculate and study bottom-up forms of urbanism for Detroit’s future. This project is based on the premise that Detroit’s future urban development may not be best served through conventional top-down forms of development, but through the tactical bottom-up reorganization and reconfiguration of existing infrastructures and buildings in the city. Through algorithmically-based design methods, it will be possible to strategically model the latent architectural and urban potential of Detroit’s varied urban landscapes and propose new forms of civic and public space based on small interventions of maximum effect. To support the development of these new visions for Detroit, the final results of this research will be a library of software tools that can be used by architects and designers to speculate on alternative urban forms possible through the reconfiguration of existing infrastructure. Requested funds for this project will be used to support the development of new research on Detroit’s urban form and new softwares and tools for urban analysis and form generation that will be directly applied to both research and teaching. Ultimately, the knowledge and research generated by this project will further inform my teaching at Taubman College, where my coursework in design computation aims to expand the notions of software programming and coding in the field of architecture. |
| German for Professional Purposes - Planning Meeting and Session $1800.00 |
As a member of the German for Professional Purposes (GPP) committee of the American Association for Teachers of German (AATG), I apply for the Lecturers’ Professional Development Fund. The purpose of GPP is to establish a community of German post-secondary German instructors who teach German for Business, German for Engineering, and the STEM field. Various colleges and universities offer such German classes, but there is sparse interaction among the instructors. When I attended a meeting of German Chairs and Program Coordinators at Indiana this February, I learned that German for Business is taught at three other Big 10 universities. GPP will launch a survey that goes out to all German instructors who are members of AATG this week—you can find the survey, which Astrid Weigert (Georgetown) and I have designed over the summer here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Preview/?sm=teKDWzDQHCwulH_2BLuL4qphjFwYXAaYuIrCu6PBsyy6g_3D. When the GPP members will get together in Boston at the American Consortium for Teachers of Foreign Languages (November 17-November 20), I will chair a panel on “Engaged Learning in German for Professional Purposes.” The additional purpose of my participation is that we convene how to administer the listserve and finalize which tools we are using to collect teaching materials nationwide for instructors of GPP. The LPDF would help cover the costs for my attendance at the conference. |
| Travel to the SCS convention in Toronto, ON Jan 6-8 to present a paper about Heloise on ancient philosophy as a way of life Donka Markus LSA $800.00 |
I am applying for a LPDG grant to travel to Toronto, ON for the 148th convention of the Society for Classical Studies, SCS. I will present there a paper entitled “Heloise on ancient philosophy as a way of life.’ I plan to publish my findings in a paper. This research will enrich my teaching of Post-classical Latin. I also plan to organize in the W17 a reading group on Heloisa, a medieval (12th century) nun and erudite who knew Latin, ancient Greek and Hebrew and expressed ideas about philosophy as a way of life that gained an authoritative voice only at the beginning of the 21st century in the work of P. and I. Hadot. |
| 2017 AWP Conference Panels and Book Fair $1710.00 |
I am requesting a grant from CRLT to help fund my trip to the 2017 Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference in Washington DC, February 8-12. This annual national conference will further my professional development in several key ways. First, the conference will allow me to attend a number of panels to strengthen my own writing and teaching work here at the University of Michigan. These panels will offer important insights on writing pedagogy as well as tools for my own writing and publishing work. Second, participation in the conference will allow me to present my recently completed manuscript, titled Field Recordings, to publishers and agents. In addition to establishing and strengthening relationships with several publishers, I will present a reading from this manuscript at an off-site reading during the conference. Lastly, participation in the conference and book fair will allow me to promote Canarium Books, a small poetry press sponsored by the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program. I work as the managing editor of Canarium Books, which uses AWP to promote their authors and to gain important insights about the publishing industry. I will work shifts at the book fair and help run and promote several panels and readings across the conference. This conference will allow me to attend rigorous panels and workshops on writing and teaching and to actively engage with other writers, editors, and publishers. These experiences will continue to strengthen me as a teacher and member of the academic community here at Michigan. |
| Attending the "Teaching and Supervising Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy" Workshop at the Beck Institute $2000.00 |
I am applying for the CRLT Lecturers' Professional Development Fund to attend the Beck Institute’s “Teaching and Supervising Cognitive Behavioral Therapy” from February 6-8, 2017 in Philadelphia, PA. This 3-day experiential workshop is specifically designed for professionals who teach and supervise cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). The material covered would enhance my skills as the instructor for PSYCH 872 & 873 (Evidence-Based Psychotherapy Lab and Practicum I & II). These courses are offered every year and required for clinical psychology doctoral students. They provide a vital foundation for students’ professional psychotherapy development over the subsequent 4-5 years of graduate school. Learning to become an excellent psychotherapist comes from having excellent supervision and course work in psychotherapy; therefore, as the instructor, I strive to provide the graduate students with the best possible training experience. With the new creation of PSYCH 872 & 873 in the Fall of 2015, the department of psychology created a standardized class to ensure all students are learning evidence-based treatment approaches with high quality, consistent supervision. Since these courses are new to our curriculum, gaining professional training by attending the Beck Institute Workshop would help further develop these courses and my skills as the instructor. |
| Travel to American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) 2017 Annual Conference Stephanie Sheffield Engineering $1810.00 |
I am requesting funds to support my attendance at the American Society of Engineering Education 2017 Annual Conference (June 25-28, 2017). I plan to submit a conference proposal to share results of our current research into the use of peer mentors in our co-taught first-year engineering course. Given the current high interest in improving first-year engineering education, the potential value of research into mentoring in project-based engineering courses, and the general popularity at ASEE of presentations that provide specific strategies for improving existing courses, we expect that our proposal will be accepted. In addition to the opportunity to (hopefully) disseminate this research, attending this conference will allow me to participate in sessions and engage in conversations related to professional and technical writing, technical communication pedagogy and approaches, and new technologies relevant to engineering education, which will help me to strengthen my own practice as an educator. I will also be able to share the resources and experiences I gain with my colleagues in the Program in Technical Communication. |
| Attendance at the 2017 47th Annual meeting of the American Collages of Prosthodontists Kiyono Yamashita Dentistry $2000.00 |
I am requesting funds to support my participation in and travel to the 2017 annual conference of the American College of Prosthodontists in San Francisco, California (November 1-4th, 2017). This is the largest national conference focused on Prosthodontic training, research, and education. In my role as clinical lecturer, I work very closely each day with dental students both in pre-clinical and clinical settings. My goal is to teach them as much as I can about not only traditional prosthodontic treatments and options, but also to give them some idea or introduction of latest prosthodontic technology and concepts utilized in top notched prosthodontic clinics, so that more dental students would be interested in advanced prosthodontic trainings after graduation. Comparing with other dental specialists, such as Orthodontists, Periodontists, or Oral surgeons, dental patients’ recognition of prosthodontist as a specialist is generally low. That is thought to be a one of the reason why fewer dental students are willing to attend in graduate prosthodontic programs. In order to become an interactive teacher representing as a prosthodontist, I should be a good prosthodontist. Attending this conference will help me to stay current in Prosthodontic fields and to give me an opportunity to network with faculties that teach similar classes from other schools to exchange ideas. Attending the best prosthodontic conference in the U.S. will give me access to the people, presentations, and instructional courses necessary for me to keep my students exposed to the latest information in the fields of prosthodontics. |
| Participation in 2017 National Pituitary Society and Endocrine Society Meetings Adnan Ajmal Medical School $2000.00 |
For more than a year now, my research has focused on pathophysiology of congenital hypopituitarism and it’s relation with underlying genetic defects. Through this application, I am seeking financial support for traveling to the Pituitary Society and Endocrine Society meetings, both held in Orlando, FL, in March/April, 2017. These two meetings will enrich my professional development in multiple ways. First, attendance of the numerous educational sessions will augment my Endocrinology clinical knowledge and help apply that to my patient care. Second, the several career development workshops offer an interactive environment, where I can learn from experts in the field, interact with peers and improve my writing craftsmanship. As I strive to become a successful physician-scientist, participation in these workshops will improve my skills to develop and implement successful hypothesis-driven research and it will benefit my career path as an emerging investigator in the field of pituitary research. Third, by presenting data from my ongoing projects in these meetings, I will have the opportunity to showcase my research in front of renowned endocrinologists and pituitary specialists and receive valuable feedback for future studies and endeavors. Lastly, I will establish ties with many leaders in the field of Endocrinology, and seek future collaborations, critical in the advancement of research in rare diseases, like congenital adrenal hyperplasia. In summary, funding from the Lecturers’ Professional Development Fund would be invaluable, by facilitating my attendance of the most important career-enhancing events of the year in Endocrinology. |
| Bizarre Bazaar: A Guide to Ukrainian Markets Ashley Bigham Architecture and Urban Planning $2000.00 |
This proposal seeks a grant from the Lecturers’ Professional Development Fund in the amount of $2,000 to support teaching and research related to the social and architectural importance of spaces of consumerism. In particular, the funding will provide the opportunity to research, document, and publish a pamphlet about Ukrainian marketplaces. In Spring 2015 semester I taught a travel course entitled, “Bizarre Bazaar” in which I took a group of University of Michigan students to the cities of Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv, and Krakow to study Post-Soviet commercial spaces. The funds from this grant will be used to build upon the research that began in that course, and provide a pedagogical and theoretical foundation for future courses at the University of Michigan. The project is of importance to my own research and pedagogical ambitions as it will provide new methodological approaches to representing spaces of informal architecture and models for social engagement in public spaces. A portion of the grant funds will be used to hire a student research assistant who will continue the research and create drawings of the research sites. Specifically, this project will enhance my approach to representation and design in two courses I will teach next semester: ARCH 516: Architectural Representation and ARCH 422: Architectural Design. |
| ATTENDING THE JOINT MATH MEETINGS FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND ADVANCEMENT Nina White LSA $1956.00 |
This project requests funds to attend the Joint Math Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. Attending the meeting will allow me to (1) participate in an invited panel on contributions to math education by mathematicians, (2) present math education research on math anxiety, and (3) attend two mini courses, one of which is specifically relevant to a course design project joint with Statistics. |
| Is instructor feedback most effective for helping freshmen make the transition to professional writing? Elizabeth Hildinger Engineering Elaine Wisniewski Engineering $2000.00 |
I am applying for funding to attend the 2017 College Composition and Communication Conference (CCCC) in Portland, Oregon from March 15-18, 2017. My paper, “Is instructor feedback most effective for helping freshmen make the transition to professional writing?” was recently accepted to the conference as part of a panel on studying the transfer of skills from one institutional level to another. Attending the 2017 conference will allow me to learn from and network with national scholars and bring their research and teaching practices to my colleagues at the University of Michigan to benefit our students’ learning in our classroom. |
| Present at ALCESXXI International Conference in Zaragoza July 3rd-7th, 2017 $2000.00 |
From July 3rd to July 7th 2017 ALCESXXI (the Spanish acronym for the International Association of Spanish Literature and Cinema of the 21st century) holds its fourth bi-annual conference in Zaragoza in which I am planning to participate with a paper to be presented and discussed during the seminar “In solidarity: Assembly, Action and Activism”. In this paper I will examine the work of Galician pop-rock singer, Sés, and her activism around national identity and gender. One of the classes I have taught for the University of Michigan about Galician national identity, and that I hope to teach again in the future, has included an analysis of Sés’ music and live performances. |
| Attendance at academic conference to present research on workplace communication practices Elaine Wisniewski Engineering $1505.00 |
I am applying for funding to attend the 2016 College Composition and Communication Conference (CCCC) in Houston, Texas from April 6–9, 2016. My paper, "Looking back to look forward: Taking action to provide relevant communication instruction within the engineering curriculum," was recently accepted to the conference as part of a panel focused on bridging gaps between the academy and industry practices. Attending the 2016 conference will allow me to learn from and network with national scholars and bring their research and teaching practices to my colleagues at the University of Michigan to benefit our students' learning in our classroom. |
| Attendance at Academic Conference on Engineering Education Mike Umbriac Engineering $2000.00 |
I am requesting funding from the CRLT Lecturers' Professional Development Fund to attend the 2016 American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) conference from June 26-29, 2016 in New Orleans, Louisiana. In recent years, I have increased the amount of engaged learning in my ME250 and ME350 (Design and Manufacturing I and II) classes, and am particularly interested in exploring ways to increase the amount of peer-to-peer learning during lectures and labs, and also ways to provide students with immediate feedback on assessments about their understanding of each problem and their solution to it. The topics presented at the annual ASEE conference include these topics as well as information on successfully implementing flipped classrooms. I plan to incorporate these advanced pedagogies into my ME250 and ME350 classes, and the results of these improvements will benefit the 320 students each semester who are taking those classes. |
| The Seeds of Power: Cereal Crops and Exchange Networks. Paper to be presented at the Society for American Archaeology Meeting Laura Motta LSA $1369.00 |
I am requesting conference registration fee, travel and accommodation funding from the CRLT Lecturers' Development Fund to attend The Society for American Archaeology (SAA) annual meeting in Orlando, FL, in April 2016. At the conference I will present a paper illustrating preliminary results on new cutting-edge methodological developments in isotopic analysis applied to archaeobotanical material. The conference will provide an ideal opportunity to gain international exposure for this innovative research, an U of M collaborative effort between classical archaeology and geochemistry. Participation at the annual meeting will allow me to obtain important feedback and information on possible other experimental research that can be used to improve the course material for two classes that I currently teach on archaeological field methods and paleoethnobothany. |
| The Energy Turn, Ecology and Sustainability - The Green City of Future,Freiburg (Goethe Institute Seminar) $2000.00 |
The specific seminar that I am applying for is called "Energy Turn, Ecology and Sustainability - The Green City of Future", which is a new seminar offered by the Goethe Institute this year. In this two-week seminar I will learn about Germany's politically supervised shift in direction from nuclear and fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy. Germany is in the process of completely transforming its energy sector at a pace unmatched by other industrialized nations. Nuclear power is being phased out as renewables are gradually taking over. This seminar will inform us about the specific aspects of the German "Energiewende". This topic is of enormous current interest and relevance, both for understanding German politics, culture and society, and for teaching about these issues in the United States. Indeed, our next German Day (an outreach event that brings around 1,000 high school students to UM in April) will be dedicated to precisely this topic. We hope to be teaching regularly in this field in the coming years as a way of underlining the relevance of learning about German language and culture more generally. |
| 2016 AWP Conference & Book Fair James Walker LSA $1640.00 |
I'm requesting a grant to help fund my trip to the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference in Los Angeles. The conference, which runs from March 30 to April 3, 2016, will further my professional development in several key ways. First, I plan to attend a number of panels (e.g., "Writing and ‘The Racial Imaginary'," "Delmore Schwartz: The Life and Work of an American Writer," "Nature's Nature: Eco-Poetry at Kenyon Review," "Why We Innovate: The Case for Hybrid Genres") that will encourage me to investigate both my practice (as a poet) and my pedagogy (as a Lecturer). Second, I'm scheduled to read from my forthcoming poetry collection, The Self-Styled No-Child (Waywiser Press, 2016), at one of the conference's off-site events and to sign copies of the book at the Conference Book Fair. Third, I'll have the opportunity to meet with editors from the Waywiser Press (based in London) and Ooligan Press (based in Portland, and publisher of Alive at the Center: Contemporary Poems from the Pacific Northwest, an anthology I coedited). Fourth, I'll have the chance to re-establish (or strengthen) ties with many poets and educators with whom I maintain professional relationships. I've attended the AWP Conference for the past seven years; I always feel recharged by the experience. A Lecturers' Professional Development Fund Grant would help to counterbalance the conference's one downside: the financial toll it takes on faculty who lack department-sponsored travel support. |
| Teaching the Holocaust as a Language Course $1048.00 |
I am applying for the LPDF grant so that I may attend 2015 ACTFL conference to give a presentation entitled Teaching the Holocaust as a Language Course. In so doing, I intend to share my ideas, and solicit ideas, from my colleagues on how to tackle the challenges associated with this important and complicated topic. Specifically, I address the issue of balancing content and comprehension and the difficulty of staying true to the demands of language acquisition while trying to avoid the dangers of oversimplification. Those challenges make teaching the Holocaust as a language course relatively unique to other content language courses. The topic itself carries with it such sensitive emotional, psychological, political and socio-cultural material, that game based language teaching tactics often seem inappropriate or even dismissive of the enormity of the event. My presentation outlines some of the strategies, exercises and assignments, both successful and unsuccessful, that I have developed in an attempt to overcome the ever present challenges an instructor faces when teaching the Holocaust as a language course. |
| Attending the 38th Chamber Music America Annual Conference Amy Cheng Music, Theatre & Dance $2000.00 |
Chamber Music America is one of the leading organizations in the world for Chamber Music. The organization promotes Jazz, Classical Chamber Music and Contemporary Collaborative Arts through its commissioning and performing grant programs and provides critical information in the field of Chamber Music through its comprehensive website, Chamber Music Magazine and E-Newsletter. I believe that attending the Chamber Music America 38th Annual Conference will be an opportunity for me to observe and be in contact with what is at the forefront of the Chamber Music field. I believe that attending the conference will be a way to establish a presence as a representative for the U of M Piano Chamber Music area. Furthermore, the information I will gather will directly benefit our students in LP 588 (Piano Chamber Music Survey) and ENS 466-566 (Piano Chamber Music). In addition, I am hoping to develop a relationship with the New York Intercultural Music Society, Inc. (NYIMS), a nonprofit organization dedicated to performing, promoting, and commissioning musical works from intersections of Western and non-Western cultures. My vision is to develop a collaborative relation with the NYIMS and Confucius Institute either through a performing concert or lecture presentation on the U of M Campus, and perhaps also in New York City. |
| Attendance and paper presentation at an international academic conference (Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science) at MIT Ilya Volkovich Engineering $2000.00 |
I am requesting funds for travel to the 7th annual world-leading conference in Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science (ITCS) held at MIT in January of 2016, sponsored by ACM Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory (SIGACT). ITCS is one of the largest and most cutting-edge meetings devoted to Theoretical Computer Science in the world where international experts meet and exchange ideas. Therefore, my attendance would provide me exposure to many new ideas and people that would positively influence my research and teaching. Because ITCS seeks to promote research that carries a strong conceptual message (e.g., introducing a new concept or model, opening a new line of inquiry within traditional or interdisciplinary areas, or introducing new techniques or new applications of known techniques), the presenters and papers discussed challenge common thinking and expand theoretical Computer Science thought. Upon selection of my own submission, I would also contribute to this ground-breaking conference of leaders in Theoretical Computer Science. In addition, the content of the conference is strongly aligned with the classes I am and will continue teaching this year (Foundations of Computer Science). Listening to the latest innovations in Theoretical Computer Science would ensure that I could relay these concepts to my students to increase students' interest and expand the department's strength at UM. My attendance would also further my contribution to an on-going project to increase awareness of Theoretical Computer Science education on campus. |
| Lithography Printmaking Workshop $2000.00 |
I am applying for this LPDF grant to attend a professional art workshop at the Tamarind Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on the topic of lithographic printmaking. I teach two printmaking classes at the Residential College every winter semester. I am interested in covering as wide a range of printmaking techniques as possible, while still maintaining the classroom as a non-toxic studio. I believe that, given current ecological and environmental concerns, it is important to shift towards processes that minimize use and exposure to hazardous substances. Lithography is the most versatile of all print media since it can replicate a wide variety of mark-making including both tonal and line information. However, when done via the traditional lithographic stones, it requires a special lithographic press and it is a rather involved process due to the cost and weight of the stones. On the other hand, lithographic plates can be printed with a regular etching press (already in existence and in use at the classroom where I teach), the plates are portable and low-cost, and the process requires a minimum amount of solvents (very low toxicity). The use of these plates would allow the students a unique opportunity to explore lithographic printing within the parameters of a non-toxic studio. I would like to attend this workshop to learn more about the process so that I may be able to incorporate it into the curriculum for future printmaking classes at the Residential College. |
