The Daily Bulletin Archive

By Tony Astran

A series of free workshops will be available on campus later this month to help faculty better understand the CASTL Campus Program at Buffalo State College and learn how to prepare an effective proposal for one of three available $3,000 fellowships.

This unique opportunity combines teaching and research and simultaneously answers departmental and campus needs.

“Teaching and research are often considered to be separate clusters of tasks,” said Cheryl Albers, associate professor of sociology and CASTL Campus Program coordinator. “With a CASTL Fellowship, a single project can link teaching and research.”

The workshop is a two-part session run by Albers. She is offering two opportunities for faculty to participate: Wednesdays, February 11 and 25, from noon to 1:00 p.m., or Thursdays, February 26 and March 5, from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. All trainings will take place in Twin Rise 102.

During the first session, participants will learn what “scholarship of teaching and learning” means and how CASTL projects can relate to campus needs identified by the provost and the 2009–2013 Strategic Plan.

“The word ‘teaching’ can be misleading, as some may think the fellowship is designed to reward good teachers,” Albers said. “The research is really about systematically studying what is happening in the classroom.”

In the second session, participants will learn how to prepare a quality proposal for a CASTL Fellowship. Albers will discuss how to gather data, how to add CASTL-specific elements to an existing study, and how to devote time to the project and keep the workload manageable.

“I’ve noticed that the quality of the CASTL Fellowship proposals has improved each year,” she said. “I think there is generally more support for CASTL across campus as departments have come to understand the value of the research.”

Since the program’s inception in 2002, 20 faculty members from 14 departments have been awarded CASTL Fellowships. The program will continue for the 2009–2010 academic year and beyond. But the current sponsorship of the Carnegie Foundation is coming to a close.

Because of strong leadership from Buffalo State and the other 11 international “cluster leader” institutions in conjunction with the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching of Learning (ISSOTL), the Carnegie Foundation has decided to allow ISSOTL to nurture the scholarship of teaching and learning movement. Albers calls the change a “natural transition” and said the Buffalo State Campus Program may still be called CASTL despite the change in support from the Carnegie Foundation.

Albers believes the investigations of CASTL fellows have helped further research on how different teaching environments can affect learning outcomes. She encourages interested tenured and tenure-track faculty members to register for the upcoming workshops and apply by Wednesday, April 1, for a CASTL Fellowship.

“It does take time to participate in a CASTL project, but very often, the work is valuable to your whole department if not the entire campus,” Albers said. “There are many outlets for presenting and publishing the research, and the work can spin off into other colleagues getting interested in your study. It’s a motivating and renewing experience.”