Chellgren Center soliciting applications for appointment of Chellgren Endowed Professors

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 21, 2022) — The University of Kentucky Chellgren Center for Undergraduate Excellence endowment will fund five new professorships that will commence at the beginning of either the 2023 spring or fall semesters. Each professorship will be filled for a three-year, non-renewable term. The Chellgren Endowed Professorships are reserved for tenured UK faculty members who exhibit outstanding credentials as teachers and researchers with a deep interest in undergraduate excellence. 

The mission of the Chellgren Center for Undergraduate Excellence is to advance UK's commitment to three broad areas: student excellence, teaching excellence and program excellence. The objective is for the university to be nationally recognized as a beacon of undergraduate excellence. The Chellgren Center’s mission contributes to that objective by raising aspirations of UK students; assisting students in realizing their highest academic potential; inspiring progressive reform and innovation in teaching, learning and curriculum development; and fostering creative and productive collaborations across the many programs and departments engaged in the undergraduate mission.

To be named a Chellgren Endowed Professor, a faculty member must (1) assume a leadership assignment for a campuswide initiative or program of undergraduate excellence, or (2) propose an independent project that broadly addresses at least one of the following areas of emphasis that can enhance undergraduate education as reflected, in part, by improving retention and graduation rates:             

• Development of new courses which may include those that incorporate cultural competency, collaborative learning, problem-solving, creative thinking and team building to enhance students’ skills and help prepare them for an ever-changing workplace.
• Identify and/or develop new undergraduate programs (including certificates, dual degrees, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary offerings) that will broaden student preparation and prepare students to be leaders and scholars in a diverse, global society.
• Revision of existing courses.
• Curricular reform which may include the integration of curricular and cocurricular activities designed to promote student engagement, diversity and retention.
• Creation of pedagogical innovations.
• Design and implementation of new assessment procedures which may include the assessment of student academic success, well-being and belonging. 
• Identify, integrate and propose strategies to integrate high-impact practices throughout academic curricula and majors.
• Creation of new programs that strengthen collaboration between college-based programs and units in the Office for Student Success.

Each Chellgren Endowed Professor assumes responsibility for the following: 

• conducting an educational project or accepting a leadership assignment for a program or initiative affiliated with the Chellgren Center;
• serving as an active member of the Chellgren Center faculty team by participating in regular discussions concerning educational excellence at UK;
• participating in candidate review committees for external scholarships; and
• presenting a public lecture that either describes the research project pursued during the tenure of the professorship or engages a topic pertinent to improving the UK undergraduate experience.     

Eligibility: Any tenured faculty member at UK may apply with records of deep and sustained commitment to undergraduate education. 

Application:  A completed application must be submitted electronically to the Chellgren Endowed Professor Selection Committee via email to chellgrencenter@uky.edu no later than Nov. 1, 2022. The application must include the following:

• a letter of interest; 
• an up-to-date brief academic resume or curriculum vitae (maximum three pages);
• a proposal for a project that clearly addresses one or more points of emphasis identified above (maximum three pages), or a description of a leadership assignment appropriate to the mission of the Chellgren Center (maximum two pages);
• the most recent teaching portfolio (which may be updated at the applicant’s discretion); and
• a letter of support from the applicant’s dean.

Selection of Endowed Professors: In consultation with the senior associate provost for administration and academic affairs, the provost shall appoint the Chellgren Endowed Professors from a list of finalists forwarded by the Chellgren Endowed Professor Search Committee.

Compensation: Each Chellgren Endowed Professorship carries a stipend of $5,000 annually during the term of the appointment, which may be used in any proportion for salary or research support. The preferred strategy is to fund professorships as overload assignments, but alternative strategies can be proposed in consultation with deans. With overload assignments additional compensation/research support is possible.

Announcement: New Chellgren Endowed Professors will be announced no later than Dec, 10, 2022. 

Should you have any questions about the application process, please direct them to Isabel C. Escobar (Chellgren Endowed Chair): Isabel.Escobar@uky.edu.

The Chellgren Center will be hosting an open house on Tuesday, Sept. 27, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the second floor of Funkhouser Building (Rooms 224, 211 and 219/221). Stop by to welcome our new class of fellows, meet Chair Escobar and learn more about the Chellgren Center, Office of Nationally Competitive Awards and campus partner — the Office of Undergraduate Research.

The Chellgren Student Fellows Program is supported by the Chellgren Center for Undergraduate Excellence within the Office of the Provost. To learn more about the Chellgren Center for Undergraduate Excellence, please visit www.uky.edu/chellgren/.