Teaching Support

In addition to our flagship Writing Fellows Program, the Center runs several programs designed to support teaching across the college. Our philosophy for faculty development mirrors our philosophy for student development. All workshops and discussions are faculty-centered: the faculty are the experts; our role is to facilitate thinking and discussion driven by that expertise.

Pedagogy Breakfasts

We recently began what we hope will become a tradition, hosting monthly, informal discussions on effective pedagogy open to all Cooper faculty. The breakfasts (curtailed for now by the pandemic) are held off-campus at a nearby diner. To keep the group at a good size for discussion, faculty spots are limited.

Faculty Development Workshops

The Center hosts a growing number of faculty development workshops each year (with at least eight planned for the 2020-21 academic year). The workshops attract faculty from the three schools and HSS, creating a vibrant, growing teaching community that stretches across the disciplines. Topics focus on strategies that promote effective teaching and better student learning. Watch here for the spring semester schedule.

The Fall 2020 workshop lineup included:

Essential Elements for More Effective Online Teaching  
Led by Susan Ko, Associate Director of Faculty Development and Instructional Technology in the Office of Online Education at Lehman College and co-author of Teaching Online: A Practical Guide, now in its 4th edition. 
 
Strategies for Syllabus Design  
Led by Bill Germano, HSS faculty member, and Kit Nicholls, Director of the Center for Writing. Bill and Kit recently collaborated on a book, Syllabus: The Remarkable, Unremarkable Document That Changes Everything (Princeton University Press, 2020). 
 
Reading Challenging Texts in your Discipline 
A collaborative workshop on guiding students in approaching dense and difficult texts, led by a panel of faculty members from across the schools and moderated by Pam Newton, Coordinator of the Writing Fellows Program.
 
Decolonial Approaches to Syllabus Design and Classroom Dynamics 
An interactive workshop on the concept of decolonization, with an eye toward thinking about it in the context of our own classes, led by Nada Ayad, Associate Dean of HSS.

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.