Embedded supervised teaching
One course in Fall 2026 and two in Spring 2027, with formative feedback on planning, instruction, assessment, and student engagement.
Preparing the next generation of engineering educators.
The Visiting Assistant Professor Engineering Education & Excellence (E3) Fellows Program is a nine-month, mentorship-driven professional development program led by the Department of Engineering Education at the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering in the University of Florida, that prepares recent Ph.D. recipients, postdoctoral scholars, and early-career faculty to excel as engineering educators, mentors, and scholars.
9
Months of structured mentorship
10
Fellows in the inaugural cohort
6
Departments and units represented
3
Courses taught per fellow
4
Integrated program components
Program overview
Teaching excellence, built deliberately.
Strong engineering researchers are not automatically strong engineering teachers — and few doctoral programs make room for the difference. The E3 Fellows Program closes that gap for Visiting Assistant Instructional Professors in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering.
Over one academic year, fellows teach real courses of record under the guidance of an experienced faculty mentor, complete a formal teaching development program through UF’s Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE), and design, implement, and evaluate a teaching innovation of their own — culminating in a scholarly teaching contribution they present publicly.
Program goals
- Cultivate effective teaching practices through supervised instructional experience, with formative feedback on course planning, instruction, assessment, and student engagement.
- Develop reflective teaching habits through sustained faculty mentorship and guided observation.
- Ground fellows in evidence-based, student-centered pedagogy and instructional technologies, connecting them to UF’s broader teaching-development ecosystem and community of practice.
- Build capacity to design, implement, and evaluate a teaching innovation within a course of record, culminating in a scholarly teaching contribution.
How it works
Four integrated components
Every fellow participates in all four. Together they connect day-to-day classroom practice to sustained mentorship, formal pedagogical training, and public scholarship.
Faculty mentorship
A paired faculty mentor meets biweekly ahead of and through the semester, then monthly — observing, advising, and giving feedback.
Structured professional development
A formal Center for Teaching Excellence track in Fall 2026 — Great Teaching for New Faculty or Pathways to Excellence.
Scholarly teaching & SoTL
Observe exemplary courses, propose an instructional innovation, evaluate it in a spring course, and present at the CTE Interface Conference.
Timeline
Nine months, two semesters, one arc.
Fall 2026 builds the foundation: teaching one course, completing the CTE track, observing exemplary engineering courses, and proposing an instructional innovation. Spring 2027 puts it to work: teaching two courses while implementing and evaluating that innovation.
The year closes with a scholarly teaching presentation at the CTE Interface Conference and a joint summative evaluation by the faculty mentor and department chair.
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August – December 2026
Fall: foundation
Teach one course. Begin biweekly mentoring. Complete a CTE teaching development track. Observe two exemplary class sessions.
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December 2026
Innovation proposal
Propose a pedagogy, technology, assessment strategy, or course redesign to implement in the spring.
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January – April 2027
Spring: implementation
Teach two courses. Implement and evaluate the instructional innovation in one of them.
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Spring 2027
CTE Interface Conference
Present the scholarly teaching contribution, then complete the joint summative evaluation.
The inaugural cohort
Ten fellows, six units, one college
The first E3 cohort spans the breadth of the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, from core disciplinary departments to engineering leadership and innovation.