The University of Georgia Libraries and the Center for Teaching and Learning invite full-time UGA faculty from all disciplines to apply to participate in the 2025 Special Collections Libraries Faculty Teaching Fellows program. The deadline to apply is 5 p.m., January 14, 2025.
Now in its eleventh year, the program brings together a select group of UGA faculty to explore archives-based learning as a high-impact active learning practice through intensive workshops with specialists from the University’s three special collections units and representatives from the Center for Teaching and Learning. Eighty-four faculty from across campus have completed the program.
The Special Collections Fellows program is ideal for faculty interested in developing innovative approaches to teaching and who are interested in experimenting with using archival collections to amplify or complement course content in significant and novel ways. The archives-centered pedagogy is a wonderful way to incorporate active learning into existing teaching practices.
Although archives are often thought to be the province of those working in humanities, the holdings of the special collections at UGA support research and learning in fine arts, social sciences, professional programs, and STEM fields too. In addition to serving as source material for historical inquiry, special collections materials can become novel datasets for analysis; serve as object lessons in chemical and physical processes; and serve as inspiration for new creative works.
Previous participants in the program represent a wide range of disciplines and professional fields including: Academic Enhancement, Advertising, Animal and Dairy Science, Art, Art Education, Art History, Business, Communication Studies, Ecology, Economics, English, Geography, Graphic Design, Disaster Management, Historic Preservation, History, Journalism, International Affairs, Landscape Architecture, Music, Music Education, Ethnomusicology, Political Science, Public Health, Population Health, Science Education, Theater, Entertainment and Media Studies, Qualitative Studies, Women’s Studies, and Sports Management. To learn more about the past program participants and their projects, visit the Special Collections Faculty Teaching Fellows Web page.
The program kicks-off on Tuesday, April 29, 2025 (Reading Day) with an introductory workshop, reception, and dinner from 1-7 p.m. Beginning on Tuesday, May 13, the rest of the SCL Faculty Teaching Fellows program will unfold over the four-week period of Maymester 2025.
- During the first two weeks, the group will meet from 8:30-1 p.m. on Tuesday-Friday May 13-16 and Tuesday-Friday May 21-24
-
During the third week (May 27-May 30) Fellows will work independently conducting archival research for their courses and meeting with SCL instructors to discuss course design.
-
During the fourth and final week of the program, the formal instructional phase of the Fellows Program will conclude with an intensive, four-day institute from Monday, June 2-Thursday, June 5. Each day, from 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. fellows will present their course designs and demonstrate archives-centered encounters for each other.
-
The SCL Faculty Teaching Fellows Program will close with a luncheon from 12-1 p.m. on Thursday, June 5.
-
Check out the full schedule.
Throughout, fellows will have unparalleled access to the diverse and extensive holdings of the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, and Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection as they adapt an existing course or develop a new course to include an archives-focused approach to the pedagogy and the course content.
To learn more about the program, please contact SCL Fellows Program Coordinator, Jill Severn at 706-542-5766 or jsevern@uga.edu
To apply, please complete the application by 5 p.m., January 14, 2025.