In collaboration with The Graduate School, the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation (CTLI) offers a fellowship opportunity for graduate students at Michigan State University. Fellows can expect to join a welcoming community, with opportunities to learn, influence educator development at the university, and further develop as scholars and practitioners.
Leading Innovation in Higher Education
CTLI, with support from The Graduate School at MSU, invites applicants for the 2026-2027 Graduate Fellowship cohort. This fellowship serves as a professional residency within CTLI — MSU’s centralized service unit of experts in educational development. We define “educator” in the broadest sense, as anyone who contributes to the teaching and learning, outreach, and/or student success mission of the university.
By supporting educator professional development, we're helping to innovate and improve teaching, learning, and student success at MSU. Fellows will join a welcoming community to influence the future of higher education, developing as leaders and public scholars by contributing to real-world outcomes that impact our campus community.
The 2026-2027 program is structured to provide fellows with a deep understanding of how a large university supports its educators and thus its students. The year is divided into two intentional phases:
The first half of the fellowship focuses on the foundations of educational development. Fellows will participate in a structured book study designed to explore the intersection of pedagogy, leadership, and institutional change.
In the spring, the fellowship moves from theory to systemic application. The entire cohort will function as an interdisciplinary project team to address a high-priority educator need identified by our team.
The capstone of the fellowship is the creation of a single, high-impact educator development artifact produced by the entire cohort. This interdisciplinary, team-based deliverable is aimed at solving a specific, identified educator need at MSU. By pooling their diverse disciplinary backgrounds, the cohort will deliver a polished “product” or resource — such as a university-wide toolkit, a new peer-mentorship framework, or a specialized professional development pathway — that addresses a real-world campus challenge.
Fellows will cultivate a specialized skill set applicable to careers in administration, faculty development, and academic leadership:
In addition to the cohort artifact, fellows will:
We are interested in building a cohort of fellows who are: interested in teaching and learning and educator professional development; excited about interdisciplinary collaboration, driven to improve their skills (e.g., program design, project management, systems-level collaboration, facilitation) and perspectives on curriculum and pedagogy; flexible and adaptable, motivated to make an impact on campus and beyond. If working with our team aligns with your personal and professional goals, we hope you will apply.
Applicants must be MSU students enrolled full-time in a program leading to a Ph.D. or Ed.D., in good academic standing, and making progress on their degrees. This fellowship is open to applicants who have not previously held a MSU Graduate School cohort fellowship and will not concurrently hold another MSU Graduate School cohort fellowship. Note: This opportunity is a rare one that is open to international students/non-US citizens.
To complete the application form, you will be asked to upload the follow in addition to your responses to the three aforementioned questions:
Applications will be reviewed by a committee of representatives from both The Graduate School and the Center for Teaching & Learning Innovation.
For questions, please reach out to Makena Neal or Ellie Louson, the CTLI Grad Fellowship Directors.
Please visit our Meet Our Fellows page to browse the blurbs of current and past grad fellows.