Announcements
New Endowed Professorships in General Chemistry Announced
The Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry’s new Endowed Professors in General Chemistry, Albert Courey and Yung-Ya Lin, will work together to enhance the learning experience for life science undergraduates.
Albert J. Courey, Ph.D.
Yung-Ya Lin, Ph.D.
Professors Courey and Lin will bring together a collaborative team of instructors, including several of the department’s teacher-scholars and lecturers, and pedagogy experts from the UCLA Center for Education Innovation and Learning in the Sciences (CEILS) to transform the first two chemistry courses taken by nearly all life science majors: Chem14A, which focuses on atomic and molecular structure, and Chem14B, which focuses on thermodynamics and kinetics. The end result will be chemistry classes that are more effective, engaging, and relevant for UCLA life science majors.

Congratulations to 2018 LAUC-LA Librarian of the Year - Doug Worsham!
The Librarian of the Year Award Committee has announced that Doug Worsham, Team Lead for Teaching and Learning Services, is the recipient of the 2018 Librarian of the Year Award, presented by the Librarians Association of the University of California, Los Angeles (LAUC-LA). This award is given in recognition of excellence in librarianship, particularly as such excellence in achievement furthers the teaching and research mission of UCLA, and meets the intellectual, informational, and cultural needs of the university community.

Doug is being recognized for his significant contribution to teaching and learning at UCLA, especially through the Writing Instruction and Research Education (WI+RE) Program . WI+RE hires students and trains them in pedagogical techniques, instructional design, and media production. The students work closely with Doug to create innovative tutorials to guide their fellow students through practical strategies for research and writing. In addition to WI+RE, Doug continues to shape the future of teaching and learning at UCLA through his many campus partnerships.

Doug also serves as a CEILS Instructional Consultant. He is interested in connecting with faculty who would like to discuss instructional design, research skills and information literacy, scaffolding the research process, and related topics. You can connect with Doug and other CEILS Instructional Consultants through the CEILS website: https://ceils.ucla.edu/team/instructional-consultants

Save the Date! 2018 Faculty Workshop on Best Practices in Teaching

September 20, 2018 | 8am - 5pm
Hershey Hall Grand Salon, Room 158

Please see the event page for more information.

The agenda for our 2018 workshop is currently being developed and will be posted shortly. You can refer to our 2017 Workshop Agenda to see the type of topics that will be covered and format of the day-long event. We hope you will be able to join us in September.

Postdoctoral Scholars & Graduate Students
Resource: ScienceCareers - 2018 Career Handbook (PDF download available)
CIRTL @ UCLA - Professional Development Opportunities for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars

The Center for the Integration of Research,Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) provides national events and courses. UCLA is a CIRTL institution, and we offer in-person learning communities and training opportunities. For detailed information about CIRTL @ UCLA, please visit:  https://ceils.ucla.edu/cirtl-at-ucla/. If you have any questions, please contact our program coordinator Dr. Rachel Kennison at [email protected].

View all CIRTL Network spring and summer events at cirtl.net or by clicking on the image below:
Newsworthy
Resource: A favorite listserv for STEM education news, please subscribe  to STEM|PROF
Student Evaluations of Teaching are Not Valid | American Association of University Professors

In a review of the literature on student evaluations of teaching (SET), Philip B. Stark and Richard Freishtat—of the University of California, Berkeley, statistics department and the Center for Teaching and Learning, respectively—concluded, “The common practice of relying on averages of student teaching evaluation scores as the primary measure of teaching effectiveness for promotion and tenure decisions should be abandoned for substantive and statistical reasons: There is strong evidence that student responses to questions of ‘effectiveness’ do not measure teaching effectiveness.”
Shake-up in Teaching Evals | Inside Higher Ed

Most institutions say they value teaching. But how they assess it tells a different story. University of Southern California has stopped using student evaluations of teaching in promotion decisions in favor of peer-review model. Oregon seeks to end quantitative evaluations of teaching for holistic model.
Learning from the Opposite of Good Teaching | Inside Higher Ed

Instructors can learn something by looking at the inverse of attributes of good teaching, writes Paul F. Diehl.
Teaching Turned Out to be a Highlight of Graduate School | Science

Teaching may be full of unexpected rewards if approached with an open mind and a willingness to learn.
Why We're "Speaking Up" About Inclusive Teaching Strategies | ACUE Community

Here are some tools to empower faculty to make their courses more inclusive, starting with course design and classroom environment.
Undergraduates "Want to Be Awakened" | Chronicle of Higher Education

Inclusive teaching holds the key to reducing high failure and withdrawal rates in introductory science courses, particularly among minority students, explains Bryan Dewsbury, assistant professor at the University of Rhode Island.
Interactive Strategies for Engaging Large and Small Classes Alike | Faculty Focus

One of the best ways to cultivate interaction is to literally go to where the students are.
Five Ways to Promote a More Inclusive Classroom | Faculty Focus

The graduation gap continues to exist between traditional and nontraditional students. Although the classroom experience has not been the focus of most institutions’ retention and persistence efforts, faculty can and do play a major role for improving the retention and success of all students. It’s a topic covered extensively in Kathleen Gabriel's new book, Creating the Path to Success in the Classroom: Teaching to Close the Graduation Gap for Minority, First-Generation, and Academically Unprepared Students. In this book, she offers ideas that can be incorporated in, or modified to align with, faculty’s existing teaching methods
Chemistry Education Research—From Personal Empiricism to Evidence, Theory, and Informed Practice | Chemical Reviews

This Review of Chemistry Education Research (CER) provides an overview of the development of research in chemistry education from the early days, when ideas about how to teach chemistry and help students learn were guided by practitioner wisdom, to current research that is based on theories of learning and provides evidence from which to make arguments about improving teaching and learning.
National Events & Webinars
SABER West - Call for Talk and Workshop Abstracts & Save the Date

The third annual SABER West conference will be held on  January 19 and 20, 2019  at the campus of the University of California, Irvine. SABER is the Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research and was founded in 2010.

CEILS will be organizing a UCLA group to attend this conference together. We hope you will consider submitting a talk, workshop, and poster abstract for this year's conference. Please save the date and we will share updates as they become available.

For more information on SABER, please visit the SABER website.
Mathematical Association of America - MathFEST

August 1- 4, 2018
Denver

View the  event website to register and proposal/abstract submission deadlines.
2018 NABT Professional Development Conference
November 8-11, 2018
Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina

View the  event website for more information.
Early registration deadline: July 31, 2018

Submit a proposal to present at the 10th Annual Biology Education Research Symposium and/or the Undergraduate Biology Professional Development Summit at the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) 2018 Professional Development Conference. 
Featured Job Opportunities
Learning Experience Designer
University of Colorado, Boulder
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.

Associate Director, Center for Teaching and Learning
University of Pennsylvania
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.

Non-Tenure Track Assistant Professor of Instruction
University of Texas, Austin
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.

Director of First Year and Retention Programs in Science
University of Wisconsin-Madison
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.

Postdoctoral Position, Science Education (Biology)
Duke University
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.

Postdoctoral Associate for PhD Professional Development
Boston University
► Please see posting details and how to apply here.
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Connect with UCLA's Center for Education Innovation & Learning in the Sciences

For more information about CEILS events and resources, including a list of STEM education events from previous mailers, please visit the CEILS website at www.ceils.ucla.edu or stop by our CEILS offices in Hershey Hall (Rooms 122,126, 210 & 243).  If you wish to be added to the CEILS mailing list for future newsletters and special announcements, please send your request to  [email protected] .

Please note, this monthly newsletter is circulated through many departmental listservs. Most other CEILS correspondence, including special event announcements and reminders, are sent to CEILS mailing list recipients only. Thanks!