UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Graduate School at Penn State and Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence have partnered to provide a new teaching certificate open to all graduate students modeled after the framework developed by the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL).
Penn State’s CIRTL program is unique and designed to allow graduate students to meet certificate objectives in the way that best suits their teaching goals. Certification can be achieved by participating in activities offered by the CIRTL Network, a Penn State department or college, the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence, or programs from other Penn State units focused on teaching.
This certificate program will replace the previous Graduate School teaching certificate. Graduate students that have already started the previous certificate program will be allowed to complete it.
“This new teaching certificate partnership will provide another great resource to Penn State graduate students looking to take the next steps in pursuing their professional careers, whether as future faculty members or in a career outside of academia,” said Stephanie Danette Preston, associate dean for Graduate Educational Equity and chief diversity officer for graduate education.
“We purposely built Penn State CIRTL to be flexible so that graduate students can select programming that aligns with expectations for teaching in their discipline and support their future goals,” said Angela Linse, associate dean and executive director of the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence
The program will have three possible levels of CIRTL certification, and students can choose a level based on their interests and available time. The three levels will be introductory Associate level, followed by the Practitioner and Scholar levels.
"This new program is aimed at cultivating teaching skills and enhancing graduate students and postdoc’s professional portfolios,” said Rainamei Luna, graduate instructional consultant with the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence. “Starting with the Associate level certification not only highlights students’ commitment to educational excellence, but also integrates them into CIRTL’s extensive network, recognized by academic institutions nationwide.”
The CIRTL Network is an association of 45 universities around the United States and Canada dedicated to advancing effective teaching practices for diverse learners through professional development for future faculty. Penn State is a member of the network, which gives all graduate students, postdocs and faculty members free access to CIRTL programming.
For more information, visit the Graduate School website or reach out to cirtl@psu.edu.