Eberly Center

Eberly Center Student Partners (ESPs) Co-Creator Program

…integrates the voices and perspectives of diverse CMU students into GAITAR and PITF Fellowships, centers diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, provides collaborative support for instructors of record, and exposes student co-creators to high impact educational experiences.

What is it?

The Eberly Center is committed to values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) and student-centered support for CMU instructors in their teaching. To increase our own DEIB, we are launching a new program to integrate the perspectives and talents of student partners into our 1-on-1 work with instructors. 

Eberly Center Student Partners are paid undergraduate and graduate students who work in partnership with CMU instructors receiving Eberly Center fellowships to help design, implement, and assess a teaching innovation. ESPs collaborate closely with Eberly Center consultants. An ESP’s role is to bring their perspective and lived experience to the table to help design meaningful, student- and DEIB-centered, learning experiences. Student partnerships have existed at other institutions for decades and rich scholarship informs their implementation and describes their positive impacts (Cook-Sather, Salmeron, and Smith 2023; Addy et al. 2023; Cook-Sather et al. 2021). Some scholars consider co-creation a High Impact Practice (POD Conference 2023) that is central to increasing equity for students on campus (Bie et al. 2023). 

What is happening?

The Eberly Center will recruit and train up to 20 student partners per year for three years, starting in Spring 2024. Starting in May 2024, Eberly Center consultants will match student co-creators with GAITAR Fellows and/or Provost’s Inclusive Teaching Fellows who volunteer. In parallel, the Eberly Center will conduct research on this co-creation program itself, contributing to the rapidly growing scholarship on this high impact, DEIB practice.

How can CMU students participate?

• What do Eberly Student Partners do?
• What will you gain as an Eberly Student Partner?
• How to apply?