Join the 2024 Cohort for the Inclusive Education Scholars Certificate Program (IESCP)

Dear UIC educators,
We invite you to join the Spring 2024 cohort of the Inclusive Education Scholars Certificate Program (IESCP), which is a professional learning community on inclusive teaching co-developed by the Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence (CATE) and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Engagement and partially funded by the National Science Foundation.

What is the goal of the program?
The goal of this program is to help UIC instructors support student success and well-being by acquiring the pedagogical knowledge and teaching skills needed to create a positive classroom climate and strengthen the educational experience for all UIC students.

What will participants learn?
The program will enable you to learn about the lived experiences and contextual barriers faced by different student groups, leverage the benefits of diverse classrooms in becoming more culturally-responsive in our teaching, and adapt inclusive and equity-minded teaching practices. You will engage in facilitated discussions and reflection exercises to help contextualize this information within your own courses or discipline and enable you to adopt teaching practices that transform your classrooms in ways that value diversity, foster inclusion, and close equity gaps.

What do program participants do?
The IESCP is comprised of a combination of eLearning modules, learning communities, and workshops as follows:

1. An asynchronous online course comprised of four modules on inclusive teaching;

2. A five-session, face-to-face online learning community where instructors come together real-time for facilitated discussions, which will dive deeper into the substance of the online modules, explore ways to apply inclusive teaching concepts to particular course and disciplinary contexts, and create opportunities to meet colleagues and build community with other UIC educators committed to supporting equity and inclusion in the classroom, and;

3. A total of 3 CATE Teaching Tidbits workshops on inclusive teaching, completed anytime during the Spring 2024 or Fall 2024 semester, where participants learn about, practice, and plan to integrate instructional strategies into their own courses.

How will you be recognized and rewarded for certificate completion?
The IESCP culminates in the achievement of an Inclusive Education Scholars Certificate jointly signed by the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Engagement and the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs. Certificate completion is recognized as a core service tied to the institutional policy that incentivizes and rewards UIC instructors for their participation in activities that demonstrate their commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion at UIC. We invite you to celebrate the first cohort of UIC instructors who earned their certificates as Inclusive Education Scholars in the Spring 2023 semester.

Who is eligible to participate?
Any instructor of record who teaches at UIC is eligible to register and complete the certificate program. This includes TT, NTT, full-time and part-time instructors (including adjuncts), and academic staff.

How do instructors register?
Please visit the IESCP program page to learn more about the program and to access the IESCP program registration link. If you have any questions, contact the CATE team at teaching@uic.edu.

Sincerely,
The Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence