UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence announced the 2025-26 cohort of Curriculum and Instruction Renewal Program (CIRP) faculty fellows. This faculty-driven program aims to empower academic units to facilitate curricular changes that enrich undergraduate instruction, compensate labor associated with curriculum and instructional redesign, and prepare instructors to teach the revised curriculum.
This program supports projects that focus on:
- Redesigning curriculum and instruction to reduce barriers to learning and enable all students to achieve their learning potential.
- Aligning curriculum with current, evidence-based instructional practices.
- Revising curriculum and instruction to address significant changes or challenges to teaching and learning.
CIRP grants include supplemental compensation for CIRP fellows who lead the planning and oversee their unit’s curriculum and instruction renewal project, and units may request support for activities that prepare faculty to teach in the revised curriculum. The Schreyer Institute also provides CIRP fellows with access to instructional expertise through consultations with institute consultants and supports faculty development programs in their unit. At cohort meetings, fellows receive support for curricular visioning, design and review.
Below are the 2025-26 cohort of CIRP faculty fellows.
Tim Kelsey, professor of agricultural economics; Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology and Education; College of Agricultural Sciences
The goal of the project is to revise the Community, Environment and Development (CED) program with a stronger focus on identifiable career outcomes, applied skills and evidence-based instruction.
Gabriel Kramer, assistant teaching professor of mathematics, School of Science, Penn State Behrend
The primary purpose of this project is to align course descriptions, outcomes and instruction of Math 210 and 211 with the current needs of the engineering technology programs.
Kirstin Purdy Drew, teaching professor of physics, Department of Physics, Eberly College of Science
The department aims to revise curriculum and instruction of the physics major to address the need for computation literacy, including artificial intelligence.
In addition, former CIRP cohort members Peter Aeschbacher, associate professor of architecture and landscape architecture; and Nicole Stokes, professor of sociology, Penn State Abington, are supporting the program as faculty consultants this year.
The call for 2026-27 CIRP proposals will open in late spring 2026. Interested faculty are encouraged to email site@psu.edu to learn more about how this program might be able to support curriculum and instruction renewal efforts in their academic units. The Schreyer Institute offers a portfolio of grant programs for Penn State instructors and academic units. Each grant includes support from Institute faculty consultants as well as funding. Learn more about the institute’s grants at schreyerinstitute.psu.edu.