2020 Presidential Transformational Teaching Grant

October 12, 2020

Dear Faculty,

I encourage you to participate in the next round of the Presidential Transformational Teaching Grant (PTTG), a seed-grant program supported by the Presidential Excellence Fund. PTTG is designed to further the Texas A&M University commitments to the four pillars of advancing transformational learning; enhancing discovery and innovation; university as a community; and expanding impact on the state, nation, and world. PTTG facilitates innovation within courses, curricula, or learning experiences and to promote faculty creativity in the pursuit of teaching excellence. An integrated aspect of PTTG is faculty development in teaching and learning with an emphasis on either innovation and creativity; interdisciplinarity; diversity, equity, and inclusion; or Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). PTTG funds 30 two-year projects per year: 20 projects by individual faculty at $20,000 and 10 team projects for $60,000 each.

This year we wish to encourage collaborative projects with Prairie View A&M University, therefore, any team proposals including a PVAMU faculty member will have a 10% higher chance of selection in the algorithm. PVAMU faculty may only participate in team proposals led by TAMU faculty and any faculty member may only participate in one proposal.

AMU and PVAMU Faculty are encouraged to post both a teaching profile and also, their teaching interests, which are searchable by others, as are the PTTG proposals posted by individuals or teams. All full-time Texas A&M University faculty from all ranks are eligible for both individual and team grants. Academic Professional Track faculty are especially encouraged to apply. Any faculty member may only participate in one PTTG proposal, either individual or team, not both. Further, in future rounds faculty with currently funded PTTG proposals are not eligible in that round.

Selection of proposals will be semi-random wherein undergraduate teaching and graduate/professional teaching projects will be funded proportionally to the population served (75% undergraduate and 25% graduate), and, so long as there is sufficient diversity among submitted proposals, awards of each type of proposal (individual or team) will not exceed three per TAMU college.

The project posting period will take place from October 12, 2020, to November 22, 2020. Funded proposals will be announced on December 21, 2020. Funding will start during the week of January 11, 2021. Funded faculty are required to present their well- elaborated proposal plan during a gallery exhibition of infographics at the Transformation Teaching and Learning Conference in Spring 2021 (time TBD). Final reports will be due at the end of the funding period, end of Fall 2022.

If you have any questions, please contact the Center for Teaching Excellence at pttg@tamu.edu.

Sincerely,
Blanca Lupiani, PhD
Dean of Faculties and Associate Provost Professor, Veterinary Pathobiology