Congratulations to the 2022-2023 UPI winners! This year's winners are Jared Berkowitz (History--Corporate Power and American Capitalism), Juliet Bottorff and Jasmine Quynh Le (Neuroscience--Central Nervous System Regeneration), Sarah Beth Gable and Miranda Peery (History and English--Violent Resistance: American Political Violence and Its Rhetorics), Samantha Leonard (Sociology--Violence & Intimacy), and Ray Maresca (Mathematics--Quiver Representations).
University Prize Instructorships, sponsored by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, awards a $7,671 stipend (an approximate amount which will align with the 2022-2023 per course rate) to advanced doctoral students to design and teach upper-division courses in their field of research. UPI instructors will also participate in a professional development cohort that meets monthly. Up to five instructorships will be awarded to candidates who propose courses that contribute substantially to the undergraduate curriculum and who have demonstrated excellence and commitment to teaching. Instructors may elect to co-teach and split the stipend equally. In this case, each applicant must fulfill the eligibility criteria and complete all parts of the application.
You can also view the 2018, 2019, and 2020 winners and their course titles. Several prior awardees have given their permission to view their successful applications. If you have any questions about the UPI application process, please contact the GSAS Department Administrator, Abigail Arnold.
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1. Applicants must be advanced doctoral candidates in a GSAS program who are finished with coursework and no earlier than year 3 in their program. Preference may be given to candidates who are in their 5th year and beyond.
2. Applicants must have completed at least 2 of their TA requirements.
3. Applicants must obtain their advisor’s support.
4. Applicants must be able to teach their course in-person.
1. CV
2. Course Syllabus: The syllabus should be as complete as possible. It should include a complete weekly course schedule, a description of the learning objectives for the course, the specific course requirements, criteria for calculating grades and all the mandatory statements regarding student accessibility support, credit hours, academic integrity, etc. Applicants are strongly encouraged to use the Brandeis University Syllabus Template.
3. Written support of the Department chair for the course, with an explanation of how the proposed course complements/supports the existing curriculum. We strongly recommend that prior to your application, you initiate a discussion with the departmental leadership (chair, Undergraduate Advising Head) about whether and how your proposed course fits in with the current curricular offerings.
4. Course Evaluations: You will submit all of your course evaluations, which include both statistical summary sheets and students’ written comments from every course in which you have served as a TA or taught as a TF. Combine all of your course evaluations into one pdf document in chronological order. If you did not receive evaluations for one or more of your courses, please be in touch with Assistant Dean Canelli.
5. Statement of interest (2 pages): This statement should describe your teaching approach, course design rationale, and connection between your research and the proposed course Remember, this is still an undergraduate-level course, so we encourage you to be cognizant of what that means for your course development. What do you want your students to learn? How will you know that they have learned those things? What are the key skills you want them to develop? How will teaching a part of your research help you develop better teaching and research skills?
1. The proposed course contributes substantially to the undergraduate curriculum, with a strong potential appeal for undergraduates in the department and division
2. Well-developed and pedagogically sound syllabus
3. Written support of the department chair for the course, with an explanation of how it complements/supports the existing curriculum
4. Evidence of teaching effectiveness, demonstrated by student evaluations, if available
5. Strength of statement of interest that describes teaching approach, course design rationale, and connection between student’s research and the proposed course
6. If there are multiple applications within a department, the review committee will ask the department chair to assess and rank the curricular need and impact of the proposed courses.
1. Must submit a course approval request with department chair’s guidance
2. Must take any mandatory trainings required of all Brandeis instructors
3. Must help market and encourage undergraduate enrollment in their course
4. Must agree to participate in monthly cohort pedagogical and professional development meetings
5. Enrollment is limited to 20 undergraduate students, but instructors may increase the enrollment with approval from GSAS and the Registrar. Courses with an enrollment of fewer than 5 may be canceled.
There are two separate parts to the application, all due by 11:59pm on February 28, 2022.
Please note the following:
- You will not receive a separate confirmation that your application is complete. However, if your application is incomplete, you will receive notice about the missing materials by Wednesday, March 2nd. You will be given until Friday, March 4th to complete your application.
