The Active Learning, Inquiry Teaching (ALIT) certificate program is designed to support faculty in adopting teaching approaches that foster the retention of students in STEM majors and support the development of their students as STEM professionals. These approaches, informed by the extensive body of research on learning, help faculty provide all students with deliberate practice in the skills and habits of mind necessary for learning, inquiry, and research. This program is open to all instructional faculty – tenured/tenure-track, lecturers, and adjuncts – who teach courses in the College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences or the College of Engineering and Information Technology and is funded by those Colleges, the FDC, and the NIH-funded STEM BUILD at UMBC initiative.
Requirements | Applying | Completers
ALIT Certificate Program Requirements
- Attendance at a minimum of 8 programs during the first year and 4 programs during the second year, including a kickoff. Programs may be chosen from designated FDC sessions, the Biology teaching circle, the Mathematics and Statistics teaching circle, or other campus pedagogy discussion events (with approval). No more than 4 such programs outside of those offered through the FDC (e.g., teaching circles; other pedagogy discussions) may count for the certificate.
- Participation in the first year in the FDC CATALyst program for gathering course midterm feedback from students.
- Participation in the second year in a class observation cycle to gather feedback on your teaching from FDC staff.
- Completion of a survey provided by the FDC at the beginning and end of the program that fosters participants’ reflection on the effect of the program on their teaching choices.
Faculty in their first three years of teaching may choose to participate in the new faculty cohort track. Requirements are the same, except that in the first year, 3 of the 8 required programs are fulfilled by participating in a discussion of the book, Teaching and Learning STEM: A Practical Guide, by Felder and Brent, Jossey-Bass, 2016 (provided to participants).
The Faculty Development Center will track participants’ progress toward the ALIT Certificate requirements and send progress updates at the end of each semester. Participants may also choose to use the ALIT Certificate Program Requirement Checklist to track their progress and for more detailed information about the program requirements.
Faculty who complete the ALIT Certificate program will receive a letter copied to the department chair and Dean documenting their accomplishment for purposes of promotion or tenure.
Applying to the ALIT Certificate Program
A new cohort of faculty members begins the ALIT Certificate each fall. The call for applications for the ALIT Certificate is sent out to the FDC email list each August. Please contact the FDC at fdc@umbc.edu if you are interested in pursuing the ALIT Certificate and would like to be notified when the application is open.
Faculty who have Completed the ALIT Certificate
May 2023
Bindu Abraham (CHEM)
Nick Allgood (CSEE)
Seungchul Baek (STAT)
Henrique de Melo Jorge Barbosa (PHYS)
Ankit Goel (ENME)
Yehenew Kifle (STAT)
Tera Reynolds (IS)
Jeffrey Robinson (TLST USG)
TseHuai Wu (ENME)
Richard Zak (CSEE)
May 2022
Karen Chen (IS)
Don Engel (CSEE)
Elizabeth Friar (TLST USG)
Matthias Gobbert (MATH)
Murat Guner (CSEE)
Yi Huang (STAT)
Anita Komlodi (IS)
Jeffery Leips (BIOL)
Sreedevi Sampath (IS)
Roberto Yus (CSEE)
May 2021
Joseph Bennett (CHEM)
Maria Cambraia Guimaro Diniz (CNMS)
Steven Caruso (BIOL)
C. Augusto Casas (IS)
Zhiyuan Chen (IS)
Kash Donyaee (CSEE)
Abhijit Dutt (CSEE)
Md Osman Gani (IS)
Foad Hamidi (IS)
Ravi Kuber (IS)
Costas Likakis (CSEE)
Tabassum Majid (ERICKSON)
Adriana Rocha Lima (PHYS)
William Ryan (IS)
Fereydoon Vafaei (CSEE)
Caitlin Varisco (CNMS)
Marcella Wilson (CSEE)
May 2020
Can Ataca (PHYS)
Mark Berczynski (ECEP)
Sisi Duan (IS)
Ben Johnson (CSEE)
Sanjay Purushotham (IS)
Justin Webster (MATH)
Haibin Zhang (CSEE)
May 2019
Sarah Bass (CHEM)
Fow-Sen Choa (CSEE)
Gautom Das (CBEE)
James Foulds (IS)
Tiffany Gierasch (CHEM)
Jiaqi Gong (IS)
Cody Goolsby-Cole (PHYS)
Jamie Gurganus (ENME)
Karuna Joshi (IS)
Aaron Massey (IS)
Maria Sanchez (COEIT)
Marie van Staveren (CHEM)
Jianwu Wang (IS)
Tory Williams (EDUC/BIOL)
May 2018
Raji Baradwaj (MATH)
Mariajosé Castellanos (CBEE)
Jeremy Dixon (CSEE)
Katherine Gibson (CSEE)
Sarah Leupen (BIOL)
Suzann Medicus (ECON)
Neha Raikar (CBEE)
Nirmalya Roy (IS)
May 2017
Songon An (CHEM)
Tara Carpenter (CHEM)
Elizabeth Feeser (BIOL)
Jennifer Hughes (BIOL)
Minjoung Kim (CHEM)
Shawn Lupoli (CSEE)
Eileen Meyer (PHYS)
Kalman Nanes (MATH)
Laura Ott (CNMS)
Brad Peercy (MATH)
Liz Stanwyck (STAT)
Cynthia Wagner (BIOL)
Pengwang Zhai (PHYS)
Ting Zhu (CSEE)