The Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education (OML) at the University of Southern Maine (USM) is pleased to announce the availability of a limited number of $1,000 “Teaching with Maps” Faculty Fellowships for the spring 2024 semester.
Applications are due no later than Monday, December 4, 2023.
[Applications received after the deadline will be considered on a rolling basis if fellowship funds remain].
This opportunity is open to all University of Southern Maine faculty: full or part time; undergraduate or graduate; all ranks (including lecturers); any program or college, as well as faculty from other colleges and universities in Maine
Fellowship Requirements:
- Identify a course (existing or new) that you will teach in spring 2024. The course can be taught in any format–face to face, synchronous or asynchronous online, Blended/Hybrid, etc.
- Create at least one unit/module and assignment/project within your course that requires students to engage with OML collections (maps dating back to 1475, atlases, globes, travel literature, rare books, board games, prints, etc.).
- Incorporate a minimum of two class visits with your students to the Osher Map Library over the course of the semester. [Note: We are very flexible on what a “class visit,” looks like: this can be a physical class visit to the OML on USM’s Portland campus, or a digital visit via Zoom, a Brightspace/LMS module, a recorded video, us visiting your classroom with digital materials, etc. (all from the map library teaching staff, which includes our faculty scholar, Dr. Matthew Edney, our Executive Director, Libby Bischof, and our Cartographic Reference and Teaching Librarian, Louie Miller).
If your application is selected, in order to receive the fellowship funds, you must:
- Attend a 90 minute Osher Map Library orientation and tour with the Executive Director (Libby Bischof) and/or the Cartographic Reference and Teaching Librarian (Louie Miller) prior to your first class visit. [These visits will be conducted via Zoom or in person prior to the start of the spring semester].
- At the end of the semester, when you have completed your orientation and two class visits, and submitted your syllabus, class assignment, and a brief 1-2 page reflection on your teaching with maps experience, you will receive the fellowship funds as an “add comp” in your May or June paychecks (UMS faculty) or a stipend (external to UMS faculty).
To apply, please fill out this brief online application form, which includes a 250–500 word proposal describing your course, its current learning outcomes, and how you are thinking about incorporating Osher Map Library collections into your course.
Many of OML’s items have been cataloged in URSUS (it helps to do an advanced search and to limit the search to the Osher Map Library). We also have more than 80,000 items from our vast collections digitized and available on our website. Simply go to https://www.oshermaps.org and search away!
The 2023-2024 Teaching with Maps Faculty Fellowships are generously sponsored by the Friends of the Osher Map Library.
Note: Faculty who have previously held OML Teaching with Maps Fellowships (prior to the 2023-2024 cycle) are welcome to apply again for a different course, but priority will be given to those who have not yet had a fellowship. Faculty who had fellowships in fall 2023 are not eligible to apply this round.
Questions? Don’t hesitate to contact me directly, or reach out to Louie Miller, our Cartographic Reference and Teaching Librarian: louis.miller@maine.edu
Please feel free to share this call for applications with a colleague you think might be interested. And please remember, we welcome all faculty to incorporate the OML into your classes; you don’t need to be a fellow to bring your class to the OML. We see nearly 200 classes/year.
