Teaching on Purpose is a fellowship program that prepares doctoral students as educators who are committed to helping today’s undergraduates lead lives of meaning and purpose.
Teaching on Purpose brings doctoral students and faculty together to explore what it means to be a good teacher of undergraduates and to learn educational practices that will help their students flourish. Today’s college students are grappling with questions of meaning and purpose — questions about how to make sense of life and about who they are and want to become — amidst the pressures of college and the increasing uncertainty and complexity of the world. Professors (and graduate students who teach) are uniquely positioned to help students explore how they understand themselves and the world during this pivotal time in their lives.
Teaching on Purpose is an opportunity for graduate students to cultivate their own sense of purpose as aspiring teachers who soon will be (and maybe already are) playing a vital role in the flourishing of undergraduates.
Questions we’ll explore include:
What’s the purpose and value of college, and how might that inform one’s purpose as an educator?
What are the challenges college students face as emerging adults, and how do we meet them where they are to help them flourish not only as students but as human beings?
How do we connect our subject matter to the “big questions” that undergraduates are grappling with?
What kind of teacher-student relationship and assignments support meaningful learning?
What is our responsibility in responding to students’ anxiety and other mental health issues?
How do we create a welcoming classroom community that fosters a sense of belonging and supports genuine learning?
What is grading for, and how can we approach assessment to promote genuine learning?
Benefits
This fellowship will benefit any doctoral student with a heart for teaching undergraduates, regardless of discipline or teaching experience.
If you have taught previously, you’ll be able to reflect on your teaching experience in concrete ways and gain a deeper and broader understanding of your practices.
If you are currently teaching, you’ll have the opportunity to discuss some of the challenges you are encountering and immediately try out some new classroom practices.
If you don’t have experience teaching yet, you can develop a foundation for your teaching practice that will enable you to be intentional in your role as an educator.
Fellows can also earn course credit for ETHICS 890S, which counts for the Certificate in College Teaching.
Overall, Teaching on Purpose will help you develop a robust teaching philosophy, create compelling courses, and incorporate pedagogical approaches that will enliven students’ intellects and shape the lives they lead. Moreover, as a Teaching on Purpose Fellow, you will be part of a dynamic interdisciplinary community of doctoral students and engage with faculty who care deeply about teaching.
Commitment
Weekly 2.5-hour sessions (Thursdays, 12-2:30PM, lunch provided), January 11-April 11 (no session March 14)
Final dinner on Thursday, April 18, time TBD
Must be able to attend most sessions, with no more than 2 absences due to prior engagements (prior notification required).
Weekly readings, written reflections, and practical assignments (3-4 hours/week)
What Teaching on Purpose alums say about the program
Teaching on Purpose was the most helpful and engaging professional development program I have ever participated in. I particularly enjoyed the variety of speakers and structure, as well as the dialogue with and the insight gained from those in other disciplines. In addition to the brainstorming that came about from discussions, I learned tangible strategies to implement in the classroom. ~ Adam Soliman, Economics
The Teaching on Purpose meetings were my favorite of the entire week. Every week I left feeling elevated, with food for thought — and I know for a fact that I wasn’t the only one. The program will connect to your personal journey in higher education. You’ll receive feedback tailored to your curricular design and reflect on how your own educational experiences have influenced how you teach and what you value as an instructor. Lessons that reach you personally are the most valuable. Teaching on Purpose achieves exactly that. ~ Sinja Küppers, Classics
Teaching on Purpose shows how teaching is more than clear syllabi and engaging homework. It allowed me to engage with peers and faculty from a wide range of disciplines and wrestle with questions often left unaddressed. (Should a teacher seek to be a student’s friend? Counselor? Coach? All of the above?). When I started working as a lecturer of mechanical engineering, what I learned from Teaching on Purpose helped me navigate the transition from grad school to faculty life. ~ Richard Hall, Mechanical Engineering
I’d recommend Teaching on Purpose to any graduate student who is considering teaching, regardless of discipline and where they think they’ll end up. The activities, discussions with guests, and reflections expanded my teaching and mentoring skills, and helped develop my teaching philosophy. As a result of participating in the program, I see myself as a more well-rounded educator. Teaching is not just something I do and love, but one of the many expressions of my aims for undergraduate students’ academic, civic, and personal growth. ~ Fernanda Andrade, Psychology and Neuroscience
How To Apply
Please note that Teaching on Purpose will not be offered in Spring 2025.
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Applications for spring 2024 are due December 1, 2023. Please review eligibility requirements and commitment before applying.
Faculty are also invited to nominate graduate students from their departments whom they believe are excellent candidates for this fellowship. To do so, please email Katherine Jo at katherine.jo@duke.edu.
Eligibility
Discipline: Ph.D. student in any discipline taught at the undergraduate level (at Duke or other institutions)
Status: Must have passed preliminary exams
No conflicts with other funding: Participation in this program must not conflict with policies of departmental or external funding sources.
Approval of DGS: Applicants must confirm at the time of application that their DGS is aware that they are applying. The Purpose Project team will reach out to the DGSs of selected applicants to confirm approval of participation.
Application requirements
Three short essays
What would you say counts as successful teaching in college? How has your own undergraduate education informed your idea of what successful teaching is? What do you most want to learn in order to succeed as a college teacher? (500 words max)
How did you come to care about your discipline and the research you are pursuing? Why do you believe study of your discipline is worth pursuing? (250 words max)
If you could develop your own courses on any two topics, what would you love to teach? Write a brief but compelling description of each that not only informs students about what they will learn but also suggests why the subject is worth their attention. (150 words max each)
Congratulations to our Spring 2024 Teaching with Purpose Fellows!
Wanyi Chen
Wanyi Chen is a Ph.D. candidate in computer science. She is from China and received a B.A. in computer science and cultural studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2019. She worked as a software engineer at Audible before joining graduate school. Her current research centers around Human-AI interaction. She investigates the subjectivities involved in machine learning model creation and aims to build tools to help fellow computer scientists think more critically about the models they are training. At Duke, she served as a teaching assistant for the “Race, Gender, Class, and Computing” class.
Jonathan Colen
Jonathan Colen is a Ph.D. candidate in the University Program in Ecology. His research interests focus on how species may stay distinct despite the homogenizing effects of hybridization. As an educator, Jonathan believes that teaching is an act of empathy and that the best teachers are those that foster kindness and compassion in the students that they instruct. His prior teaching experience includes teaching labs as a Teaching Assistant in introductory biology courses (Bio 201 and 203) and leading guest lectures for Bio 263. Prior to graduate school, Jonathan served as a tutor for UNC-Chapel Hill’s Academic Support for Student Athletes Program. He graduated from Stanford University with a B.S.H. in Biology in 2016.
Adrienne Duke
Adrienne Duke is a Ph.D. candidate in the Philosophy department at Duke. Her work is on moods and mood disorders, and she is interested in questions about well-being as it relates to psychiatry. She holds a B.S. in Philosophy from the United States Military Academy at West Point. She is an Army veteran and considers teaching undergraduates the next phase of a life devoted to service to others.
Ivy Flessen
Ivy Flessen is in her third year in the Political Science Ph.D. program. She is a budding political theorist whose work lies at the intersection of the history of political thought and moral psychology. She writes primarily on ancient Greek and early modern political thought, with a focus on the political mechanization of “sub-rational” passions. She has many working papers at the submission stage, including a piece on the rhetoric of Plato's Republic, co-authored with Michael Gillespie and Mike Hawley. While, administratively, she is spending this year leading a funded Franklin Humanities reading group and running the Duke Political Theory Graduate Conference, she is also developing her dissertation topic. Her project will explore the political value of indignation in the history of political thought.
Kiersten Hasenour
Kiersten Hasenour is a Ph.D candidate in Sociology at Duke University. She received a B.A in Sociology and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Evansville in 2018. Through her research, she seeks to better understand how others’ identities impact our understanding and response to interaction with them. Her work primarily focuses on gender identity and often takes place in the legal sphere.
Lexi Holloway
Alexis Ligon Holloway is a Cultural Anthropology Ph.D. candidate and Dean’s Graduate Fellow at Duke University. Stemming from personal experience, her research explores how the mechanisms of white supremacy operate in classical music performance, examining how racial and aesthetic hierarchies position Black bodies as aberrant in these spaces. Specifically, Alexis's research centers on the resilience and resistance that Black musicians display in the face of racism in classical music pedagogy and performance. As a filmmaker, Alexis hopes to produce a multi-modal dissertation, consisting of a written portion and an accompanying documentary that attends to the aural and performative aspects of her research.
Christopher Kaminsky
Christopher Kaminski is a second-year Ph.D. student in the MEMS department at Duke University. Christopher studies in the Aeroelasticity group under the leadership of Dr. Kenneth Hall. Christopher works on harmonic balance analysis for unsteady aerodynamic phenomena in turbomachinery. He hopes that this research will lead to a greater theoretical and practical understanding of phenomena such as Non-Synchronous Vibration for turbomachinery blades, leading to longer turbofan engine lifespans and greater reliability. Christopher previously received a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Central Florida and worked briefly in the aerospace industry on Florida’s Space Coast.
Jacob Little
Jacob Little is a Ph.D. candidate in Duke’s Political Science department with a specialization in political theory. He earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Houston. He studies the history of political thought broadly, with particular interest in ancient, early modern, and American political thought. His dissertation is on how regimes can manage the promise and the peril of political ambition.
Evan Pabesma
Evan Pebesma is a Ph.D. candidate in the Program in Literature at Duke University. His research interests include U.S. literature, American studies, political theory, and comedy studies. He is currently serving as the Academic Affairs Intern at The Graduate School. Evan specializes in literature and language arts education, with an emphasis on teaching writing skills. He has undertaken extensive pedagogical training through the Certificate in Teaching Writing in the Disciplines, the Certificate in College Teaching, and the Humanities Teaching as Leadership Training Workshop.
Kayla Page
Kaylie Page is a candidate in the Graduate Program in Religion, concentrating in Christian Theological Studies. Her dissertation research compares four pre-modern theologians on the theme of Christ as the Mediator between God and Man, considering how this theme speaks to modern debates about Trinitarian theology and how theological language signifies; her broader research interests are Trinity, Christology, and pre-modern interpretation of Scripture. Kaylie grew up homeschooled along with her nine younger siblings, and she maintains a keen interest in the philosophy of education broadly conceived. In addition to her teaching roles at the Divinity School, she has led reading groups for undergraduates and Bible studies for various populations.
Jessica Reif
Jessica Reif is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Management + Organizations area at Fuqua. Her research explores social networks and social influence at work, as well as the role of technology in shaping the future of work. Prior to starting her Ph.D., Jess was the Director of Research & Development for a consulting firm in Washington, DC.
Claire Rostov
Claire Rostov is a Ph.D. candidate in the Graduate Program in Religion. Her research primarily focuses on the intersection of religion, consumption, media, and waste in the context of the United States. Claire considers teaching to be her top priority. In the classroom, she encourages students to consider how religion operates outside of religious institutions and is often found in unexpected places. Towards this end, she draws from a host of interdisciplinary theories and methods, including anthropology, visual and material culture, and history. Claire holds an M.T.S. from Harvard Divinity School and a B.A. from Carleton College.
Brittany Smith
Brittany Smith is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering. A Connecticut native, she received her B.S. in Electrical Engineering at the University of Connecticut in 2020 before coming to Duke. As a member of the Franklin group, Brittany works on developing environmentally sustainable printed electronics with a focus on transistor and sensor applications. Brittany enjoys mentoring students in the lab and volunteering at outreach events to engage people of all ages through hands-on engineering and science activities. After holding seven teaching assistant positions (two at Duke and five at UCONN), Brittany has developed a passion for teaching and looks forward to teaching and mentoring students for years to come.
Eric Tuttle
Eric is a Ph.D. candidate in the Theology Department at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he studies constructive and political theologies. His dissertation offers a constructive account of Christian eschatology that is attentive to political and ethical concerns. Elsewhere, his work focuses on democratic organizing, responses to historic injustice, apocalyptic theology, and doctrines of God.
Stephen Zaksewicz
Stephen is a Ph.D. candidate in the joint Carolina-Duke Graduate Program in German Studies. His dissertation examines the relationship between conceptions of nature and models of worldhood in contemporary Austrian prose, from global to planetary existences in the Anthropocene, against a history of nature writing and the cultural and political significance of nature in the Austrian contexts. He is also an “Austrophile,” having spent two years as an English Teaching Assistant in Linz and a year conducting dissertation research in Vienna through Fulbright Austria. He is most likely to be found hiking a mountain, at the opera, playing volleyball, at his cello, hunched over a board game, or studying a new language.
