Senior Fellows

group photo of STEM Fellows program participants at the completion of the fellowship with lake in background and reflecting pool in foreground

Building upon the foundation developed through their completion the STEM Teaching Fellowship, Senior Fellows are invited to deepen their expertise as STEM teacher leaders and to participate in advancing the broader field of STEM education alongside the Center for STEM Education.

Goals

Senior Fellows form a widening national network of master teachers who share a common foundation based on their formation through the STEM Teaching Fellowship. Senior Fellows programming and professional development focus on activing this network in order to:

  1. Offer professional growth for Senior Fellows together through community,
  2. Support and elevate the work of the STEM Teaching Fellowship, and
  3. Measure, communicate, and celebrate the impact of STEM education on students and communities.

Senior Fellows Opportunities

The suite of opportunities for continued engagement as Senior Fellows are intended to deepening skills, knowledge, and dispositions of STEM teacher leadership in all four domains of our STEM Teacher Leadership Framework [PDF, 8MB]. Namely, they support Senior Fellows in advancing personal expertise in teaching (Domain 1), advancing STEM teaching practice among colleagues (Domain 2), advancing institutional STEM approaches (Domain 3), and advancing the field of STEM education (Domain 4).

Collaborative Learning Communities

Senior Fellows Collaborative Learning Communities (CLCs) are a structured opportunity to convene groups of Senior Fellows to work towards specific products or deliverables to be shared for the betterment of students, teachers, and school communities. CLCs will be organized by topic and take place over the course of a semester or an academic year. Application cycles take place each June.

STEM Teacher Residencies

In partnership with Notre Dame's Center for Broader Impacts, the STEM Teacher Residency program provides Senior Fellows with a professional development opportunity to research in a faculty STEM lab for one week during the summer and then develop curricula during the academic year that translate their research experiences into meaningful materials for their classrooms.

Virtual Unconferences

Senior Fellows are invited each May to convene for a purposefully informal, annual (un)conference via Zoom to share successes, demonstrate strategies, and seek input from one another. Senior Fellows can participate either as a presenter or as audience member to engage in conversation, deepen their knowledge, and share their practice, all within a celebratory spirit.

Recruitment Networking

Senior Fellows serve as ambassadors for the program, leveraging their professional networks to nominate or encourage prospective applicants. Senior Fellows can support recruitment efforts through participating in recruitment webinars, as well as in-person venues (e.g. national conferences and school visits).