A fellowship designed to enhance teaching methods and foster student flourishing will continue to expand during the 2025-26 academic year following resounding feedback from faculty fellows and students.
Launched in spring 2024, the Purposeful Teaching Fellowship, a joint effort from the Center for Faculty Development and Excellence (CFDE) and the Emory Purpose Project, guides faculty through a thoughtful process of redesigning their courses and teaching strategies with a focus on student well-being and growth.
During the fellowship, faculty attend six workshops that teach research-based methods for centering student learning and well-being in course design. Instructors learn to incorporate three core values — autonomy, competence and relatedness — into their curricula, which studies show boosts students' self-worth, intrinsic motivation and academic understanding. Program leaders provide ongoing support as faculty redesign courses for the upcoming semester, then conduct follow-up sessions throughout the academic year to assess effectiveness and offer feedback. "Faculty have emphasized that the revamped approaches do not diminish the academic rigor of their courses. Instead, the focus shifts to creating a more meaningful dialogue around the subject matter. Students have responded well to the changes, saying they have a better understanding of the material and themselves."
“The feedback we’ve received following the first two cohorts of fellows has been overwhelmingly positive, for both faculty and students,” says Liesl Wuest, director of learning design and technology for the Center for Faculty Development and Excellence. Wuest developed the program with support from Ira Bedzow, executive director of the Emory Purpose Project — housed in the Center for Ethics — and associate professor in the School of Medicine. “Faculty have emphasized that the revamped approaches do not diminish the academic rigor of their courses. Instead, the focus shifts to creating a more meaningful dialogue around the subject matter. Students have responded well to the changes, saying they have a better understanding of the material and themselves.”
Since the fellowship’s launch, 28 faculty from Emory College of Arts and Sciences, Oxford College, Candler School of Theology, the School of Medicine, Goizueta Business School and the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing have participated and reimagined nearly 30 courses. Faculty fellows say the program has provided opportunities for them to intentionally design courses centered on student flourishing and to expand their network of support resources at Emory.
“The fellowship has helped me develop a more integrated and transparent approach to teaching,” says Carolyn Yeag, associate professor and program director of the biomedical innovation and development graduate program. “I restructured the course to be more centered on the student rather than the content, which allowed students to engage with the content in ways that would meet their own goals. The fellowship introduced crucial concepts and helped connect me with resources at Emory, like the Teaching & Technology teams, Center for Student Wellbeing and the Purpose Project.”
With two semesters of redesigned courses completed, program coordinators are receiving favorable feedback from students.
“Through surveys of students enrolled in the redesigned classes, we’ve heard that students feel more comfortable at engaging, compelled to explore new topics and that faculty had their best interests in mind,” says Wuest. “This demonstrates how the purposeful approach to course design and teaching encourages critical thinking, adaptability and a genuine passion for learning.”
Building on this success, the CFDE plans to run two cohorts of fellows during the 2025-26 academic year and launch an ambassador position for fellowship alumni. Sarah Bogue, a 2025 Purposeful Teaching Fellow, associate professor in the practice of the history of Christianity and senior director of digital learning in Candler School of Theology, will have a vital role in helping run the next two cohorts as the program’s first ambassador. She will also introduce the teachings of the fellowship to departments in Candler, extending the impact of the program beyond those in the fellowship.
Applications are open for the fall 2025 and spring 2025 Purposeful Teaching Fellowship. For more information and how to apply, please visit the CFDE website.