Pedagogy Program
The Department of Philosophy Pedagogy Program is a non-credit program designed to enhance Philosophy PhD students’ pedagogical preparedness, specifically in the field of philosophy. The program involves a number of workshops, a few of which the PhD program requires students to attend. These workshops include teaching training discussions led by current departmental faculty and PhD alums, peer-to-peer course visitations and consultations, and teaching development programs run by the Chicago Center for Teaching. The Pedagogy Program is run each year by a graduate student coordinator with the assistance of the Department Administrator. In 2018-19, the graduate student coordinator will be Katie Howe. Students who fulfill the required elements will receive a departmental certificate (which can be noted on their CV) stating that they have officially completed the Pedagogy Program.
Teaching Development Programs through Chicago Center for Teaching
The Chicago Center for Teaching (CCT) trains University of Chicago graduate students to be better teachers. It runs numerous pedagogical workshops and seminars for graduate students (e.g., “Creating an Enabling Classroom Environment,” “Seminar on Course Design,” and their course assistant and lecturer training “Teaching@Chicago”) and selects a number of graduate students to be teaching fellows and consultants, who then do one-on-one consultations with other student teachers about their sections, tutorials, and stand-alone classes. Several Philosophy PhD students have become CCT fellows, and some of those fellows helped develop the department’s own Pedagogy Program.
Teaching Awards
Graduate Teaching Prize
Each year, the Department of Philosophy awards the Graduate Student Prize for Excellence in Teaching Philosophy to a graduate student with the most outstanding track record of teaching excellence over their graduate student career. Undergraduates may nominate a graduate student for the award here. Recent winners include:
- 2017-18: Nethanel Lipshitz
- 2016-17: Amichai Amit
- 2014-15: David Holiday
Dean’s Graduate Student Teaching Excellence Award
Starting in 2018, the Division of Humanities has awarded the Dean’s Graduate Student Teaching Excellence Award, which goes to the PhD student with the strongest record of teaching excellence in the Division. In the award's inaugural year, Department of Philosophy student Arnold Brooks won this award.