CIRTL Alumni: Dr. Morgan Carter

Name: Morgan Carter

Year(s) in CIRTL: 1 year as a participant, 1 year on the steering committee

Current Position: Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte

How did your CIRTL experience impact your job search or current position?

Participating in CIRTL gave me context and language for the ideas and opinions I had from my own education, so I could improve on them and communicate them effectively. Not only was it immensely informative for crafting teaching statements, but it also gave me the credentials to show that I was passionate about teaching and saw it as a valuable component of a faculty job.

What is your favorite teaching practice or tip?

Designing activities where students work through activities in pairs/small groups to discover something then teach their findings to the rest of the class. Watching their excitement about their piece of the class is so fun! 

Is there anything you want graduate students or post-doctoral fellow considering  CIRTL program to know?

During my postdoc, my CIRTL activities gave me a needed break from research that used my brain in a different way and improved my in-lab mentoring as well. I'm so glad I made time during my postdoctoral position for the CIRTL program because it would be really hard to fit in these teaching trainings as new faculty. Not only did it help with my job search, but I'm now really excited to get back into the classroom and use the things I learned.

See more about Morgan's work and her lab: https://cipher.charlotte.edu/directory/morgan-carter-phd/