MTA Program Description:
The primary feature of this award is an unique opportunity to advance the quality and scope of postdoctoral research training experiences received at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA). This will be accomplished via training in teaching undergraduate science classes at local colleges and universities. Awardees will be paired with an experienced faculty and spend one day per week observing, assisting, and learning essential skills in effective teaching. Trainees will simultaneously maintain a primary focus on science career development. The outcome of this focused effort in mentored teaching will advance excellence in teaching and further the balanced career development of UTHSCSA postdoctoral researchers.

Program Eligibility:
Postdoctoral research fellows eligible to apply for an UTHSCSA MTA must:

  • be highly motivated and committed to excellence in teaching
  • have institutional status as a postdoctoral research training fellow
  • have less than five (5) cumulative years experience as a postdoctoral research fellow
  • be endorsed for this award by the primary research mentor
  • be able to commit twenty (20) percent time to learning teaching

*Postdoctoral research trainees who hold a non-immigrant visa (J-1, H-1B, or F-1) will require review by the Office of International Services prior to the commencement of the award.

Mentored Teaching Award:
Awardees, selected as Postdoctoral Research Scholar Mentored Teaching Awardees at the UTHSCSA, will work with an assigned faculty at a San Antonio college or university to develop individualized programs that will facilitate their acquisition of essential skills and knowledge of effective college level teaching. These individualized programs will include observation of classroom and laboratory sessions throughout a full semester, the development and delivery of lectures, grading homework and laboratory assignments, feedback from students and mentoring faculty. Each awardee will gain a firsthand appreciation of the relationship of curriculum development, student learning outcomes, and assessment. Additionally, they will gain important skills required to effectively communicate advanced scientific observations to undergraduate health career students. The MTA Program is made possible through the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, an office of the UTHSCSA Vice President for Research. Each semester, MTA Scholars will be selected on a competitive basis. Awards will include up to 20% in stipend. Scholars will be encouraged to take advantage of other teaching skills programs offered at UTHSCSA.

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