By Irene Hsiao
Congratulations to graduate student Rebecca Thompson, a fifth year in the Sibener lab, who has been named the inaugural Otto H. & Valerie Windt Memorial TA Training Teaching Fellow in the Department of Chemistry for her outstanding achievements in teaching and her proven leadership skills. Thompson will develop and present two or three course modules in the Graduate Training Course, the yearlong pedagogy course for first-year students developed by Director of Graduate Studies Vera Dragisich. She will also help to formalize the role of the Windt TA Training Teaching Fellow, as well as a selection process for future fellows.
Thompson, who has served as student ombudsperson, president of Women in Chemistry, and PSD liaison to GRIT, developed an interest in teaching as an undergraduate studying chemistry at Amherst College. The experience of observing a new member of the faculty teach physical chemistry for the first time prompted her to focus on the mechanics of course design. “I came to graduate school because I wanted to teach at a primarily undergraduate institution,” she says, noting that others in her group have historically obtained such positions. At Chicago, Thompson has not only acted as a TA in the general chemistry sequence but also served as a teaching consultant for several years at the Chicago Center for Teaching.
“A lot of programming offered by the CCT is geared towards people who are designing a standalone course,” says Thompson, noting that most chemistry graduate students teach lab sections for faculty lectures. “Lesson planning looks different when [the focus is] not your goals, objectives, and assignments.” She also anticipates developing topics such as active learning and STEM-specific approaches to inclusive teaching.
In response to a growing awareness for careers outside of academic research institutions—including high school teaching, consulting, and other STEM-adjacent positions, opportunities for graduate student teaching in the Department of Chemistry are increasing. “There is a greater emphasis from grad students to expand the range of career options that are considered ‘normal,’” Thompson says. “The Graduate Training Course is a great place to plant those seeds early, and in addition to working on their transition to graduate school, I am excited to work with next year’s cohort on teaching, leadership, and peer mentorship skills that will be transferrable to a variety of fields.”