Graduate Teaching Consultant Program

Program Overview

The Graduate Teaching Consultant Program supports the professional development in teaching of graduate students, and includes opportunities that support enhanced teaching experiences, as outlined in the Model of Graduate Student Professional Development in Teaching. GTCs are graduate students exhibiting pedagogical skills and knowledge within their disciplines. GTCs, under the supervision of the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE), serve as instructional coaches and peer mentors to TAs across campus. GTCs are available to conduct classroom observations upon request. 

Learning Outcomes – Instructional Practice

Participants will…

• Demonstrate a variety of evidence-based teaching strategies
• Recognize the influence of situational factors (e.g., specific course context; learner and instructor characteristics) on course and lesson design decisions
• Discuss personal teaching philosophies (e.g., beliefs, formative experiences, and assumptions) and how philosophies influence
• Describe and recognize the value of learning communities, and how they impact student learning

 

Essential and Transferable Skills Development

Leadership; Teamwork; Critical and Creative thinking; Written and Oral Communication; Interpersonal and Intercultural Knowledge and Competence; Mentorship; and Management 

Nomination Process

The 2024 Call for GTC Nominations is open. To nominate an outstanding current or former teaching assistant in your department/college for the Graduate Teaching Consultant (GTC) program, please email the following to cte@tamu.edu.

• Student name (first and last)
• Student email address
• College, Department
• Brief statement specifying why you believe the nominee is qualified to be a GTC (100 words or less)

Up to 3 students from a department can be nominated! Following our receipt of your nomination email, the Center will email the nominees and provide them with a formal application for the GTC Program.

For more details, please click here: Overview and Eligibility.

GTC Support

Ana Emilia Nava

Department: Food Science and Technology
Degree: Ph.D. Student
Research Interests: New product development; nutraceuticals; sensory evaluation.
Favorite Educational Quote: "The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." – Dr. Seuss

Graduate Teaching Consultants

Andrew Eberlein

Department: Physics and Astronomy
Degree: Ph.D. student
Research Interests: Higher-dimensional rotating black hole spacetimes
Favorite Educational Quote: "The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts." - CS Lewis

Fariha Irshad

Department: Food Science and Technology
Degree: Ph.D. student
Research Interests: Auditing and certification of foods and supply chain management to enhance Human Health and Quality of Life · Developing Functional Foods and Packaging 
Favorite Educational Quote: "The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it from you" by B.B king

Jean Ferguson

Department: Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences
Degree: Ph.D. student
Research Interests: Motivation and Volunteerism in Youth-Serving Organizations
Favorite Educational Quote: "The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled." Plutarch

Kelly Shipman

Department: Hispanic Studies Program
Degree: Ph.D. student
Research Interests: Hispanic and Latinx Film, Women in War/the Military and Visual Culture of the Spanish-speaking world.
Favorite Educational Quote:"One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world." -Malala Yousafzai

Madison Weinrich

Department: Kinesiology and Sport Management
Degree: Ph.D. student
Research Interests: Bimanual coordination for special populations & neurophysiological mechanisms for motor control and learning
Favorite Educational Quote: "Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn" - Benjamin Franklin

Magda Rodriguez

Department: Global Languages and Cultures
Degree: Ph.D. student  in Hispanic Studies
Research Interests: Latinx Literature, Chicanx Literature, Borderlands Narratives of the U.S.-Mexico Border, Bilingualism
Favorite Educational Quote: "Education is not the filling of the pail but the lighting of a fire." - William Butler Yeates

Paige Williams

Department: Educational Psychology, Developmental Sciences emphasis
Degree: Ph.D. student
Research Interests: Risky play behaviors and emotional regulation during early childhood
Favorite Educational Quote: "We can do this. We're educators. We're born to make a difference." –Rita Pierson

Rachelle Pedersen

Department: Teaching, Learning, and Culture
Degree: Ph.D. student in Curriculum & Instruction, Emphasis in Science and Engineering Education
Research Interests: Motivation and Social Influence; Identity Development; Broadening Participation in STEM
Favorite Educational Quote: "Through others we become ourselves" - Lev Vigotsky 

Ruth Ghosh

Department: Nutrition 
Degree: Ph.D. student
Research Interests:  Evidence-based practice in nutrition; applied research methodology.
Favorite Educational Quote: “I hear, and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand.” – Chinese Proverb

Sungjun Yoon

Department: Electrical and Computer Engineering
Degree: Ph.D. student
Research Interests:  High performance analog-to-digital converters for next generation wireless communication systems
Favorite Educational Quote: "The purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows" - Sydney J. Harris