The MCC Faculty Fellows Cohort Program.

Program Overview: The Malate Dehydrogenase CUREs Community (MCC) Faculty Fellows Program is focused on providing support to faculty without experience  who are interested in developing and teaching their undergraduate laboratory courses as an MDH CURE.  As part of this program, we offer the MCC Faculty Fellows Cohort program as part of an NSF-funded initiative, to support faculty who want to teach labs in a CURE-format based on the enzyme malate dehydrogenase.  We are particularly focused on supporting faculty from under-resourced institutions and/or those who work with large populations of students from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in higher education. 


Each year we will host virtual and in-person workshops for the incoming MCC Faculty Fellows Cohort.  The Cohort of new MCC Faculty Fellows will include faculty from a range of different types of institutions (community colleges, MSIs, PUIs, regional comprehensives, research intensives), teaching different types of courses (introductory, advanced, interdisciplinary, remote/online), and different stages in their careers (new faculty members, experienced faculty members interested in changing pedagogical approaches). Priority will be given to faculty who have not yet taught a CURE. 


Faculty chosen to be in the Cohort will be funded to travel and participate in a summer in-person workshop, will receive  a stipend for developing an MDH CURE, provided with funds for supplies for the first year teaching an MDH CURE and may apply for  funds for small equipment. In addition, each MCC Faculty Fellow Cohort member will be part of a regional hub of local faculty teaching MDH CURES. Opportunities to teach well developed MDH CURES or to design new MDH CURES exist, as do opportunities to collaborate on particular MDH CUREs with faculty at different institutions.


The in-person and virtual workshop provide those new to MDH CUREs an insight into the planning, logistical needs and execution of an MDH CURE. The Cohort will participate in a two-day in-person workshop to gain experience with hands-on aspects of an MDH CURE including protein expression, purification, MDH enzymatic assays, opportunities to build new ideas and form collaborations.

Benefits of MCC-FF Cohort Membership: Members of each MCC-Faculty Fellows Cohort will be provided with two years of professional development opportunities, including an individual mentored experience to get your CURE up and running. These experiences include both virtual and hands-on professional development during the first summer (a one-day virtual workshop, a 2-day hands-on workshop, and a flexibly scheduled access to their mentors and Hub Leaders as they adapt techniques/protocols to their home institutions). In the second year of each Cohort, Faculty Fellows will begin to provide mentorship to the  new cohort of faculty fellows.

MCC Faculty Fellows Cohort Expectation: An expectation of cohort membership is that 1) each fellow will endeavor to get an MDH CURE up and running as part of their teaching load within two years, 2) they will become part of a national group of supportive faculty working together to provide research opportunities to their students within the context of the labs they teach, 3) and each faculty fellow will be part of a regional hub of local faculty teaching MDH CUREs.


MCC Faculty Fellows Cohort Eligibility:  Our goal is to support Faculty members teaching at an under-resourced institution (community college, primarily undergraduate liberal arts institution, regional comprehensive institution, R1 institution) and/or faculty serving large populations of students from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in higher education as well as faculty who identify with populations historically underrepresented in STEM.

  • Faculty members wishing to apply should indicate their plans to be listed as instructor of record for a lab-based course they can teach as an MDH CURE no later than Spring semester of the second year of their Cohort. A letter from the applicant’s chair supporting future teaching assignments to such a lab course (introductory, upper division, interdisciplinary, etc.)  is required as part of the application. 

  • Applicants need not have prior experience teaching a CURE nor working with MDH, and priority will be given to those who have not previously taught a CURE.

  • Graduate students and postdoctoral scientists without a teaching responsibility are not eligible for the cohort program but are encouraged to engage with their Hub director for learning opportunities.

Others who wish to participate in the virtual and in-person hands-on workshop are invited to attend – see your Hub leader for details and information.


Timeline:

·         Application due date: April 30, 2023

·         MCC Faculty Fellow Cohort-2023 selected/notified: Early May 2023

·         Summer professional development:

o   A two half-day virtual meeting (July 18 & 19 from 1-4 PM CST 2023) focusing on CURE pedagogy and syllabus development.


o   A two day hands-on lab-based workshop at Boston arrive Sunday July 30th, depart Wed August 2nd.  The Cohort workshop follows the ASBMB Education meeting.

o   Flexible, virtual working time to adapt techniques learned at the workshop to your own equipment and instrumentation, with access to your mentors (late July-early Aug). 

Awards: From the applicants, nine MCC-FF Cohort-2023 fellows will be selected and will receive:

●        Two years of individually mentored experience to get an MDH CURE up and running

●        Travel funds to participate in a hands-on workshop in the first summer of award

●        Invitations to virtual workshops in the first summer (before and after the workshop), and in subsequent summers

●        Possible funding for small equipment/instrumentation necessary to teach MDH CUREs

●        Access to all plasmids, protocols, sample syllabi needed to teach a well-developed MDH CURE or to design a new one

●        Membership in an MCC Region and a local MCC Hub that will provide support and opportunities to collaborate with other local faculty teaching MCC CUREs

●        Access to professional development for graduate TAs or postdoctoral fellows who teach the course with you