Todd Cleveland
Todd Cleveland has always been interested in history, but it was not until he was a student visiting his sister in Africa that he became interested in studying the continent and the impact of colonialism on Africans. This work recently resulted in a book about Africans and the Olympic Games.
Now he helps other graduate students hone their teaching skills and discover their passions through the Graduate Student Teaching Enhancement Project (G-STEP). Offered through the Graduate School and International Education, this program helps graduate students transition to teaching assistants and, eventually, instructors teaching their own courses.
Through G-STEP, Cleveland will conduct 10 online workshops and trainings throughout the school year on pedagogy, course design, educational technology, communication, classroom management, and best teaching practices. The program is free to all teaching and research assistant graduates, and interested students can register by completing an online form.
This school year is the program’s second year, and Cleveland is participating in it. When he met with Umer Rahman, the assistant director of graduate student supervision, to discuss being a faculty member for the program, he was immediately drawn to it and the impact it could have on students.
“Umer explained the goals and purposes to me and I thought it was a wonderful initiative,” Cleveland said. “Too many graduate students are thrown into the classroom and expected to teach because they’ve been in the classroom before, but there’s so much that goes into a class or even a single lecture. It can be tough.”
Cleveland, who earned his doctorate in African history at the University of Minnesota after visiting his sister, remembers the challenges of studying there and finds it rewarding to help others overcome any obstacles.
“Working with them is very rewarding,” he said. “You can’t help but constantly remember being in the exact same situation yourself and the fears and tremendous challenges you experienced. Hopefully I can serve as an example to someone who was able to overcome all of those hurdles.”
But Cleveland isn’t the only place helping its students. The workshops also provided students with an opportunity to share best practices and strategies to improve their teaching.
“I even took notes during some of the sessions,” Cleveland said. “It’s nice that everyone in this forum is sharing ideas that transcend individual disciplines. This type of student interaction brings together students from different disciplines who would otherwise never come into contact with each other.”
“We in the Graduate School and International Education developed G-STEP as part of our ongoing commitment to provide graduate students with the resources they need to succeed here at the University of Arkansas,” said Rahman. “Dr. Todd Cleveland, based on his own experience as a graduate student and teaching assistant, is critical to the development of our graduate students, teaching and research assistants into faculty of distinction. He has left nothing out in life on his path to becoming a professor. His authenticity is what makes G-STEP such an amazing experience for our graduate students.”
For Cleveland, leading the program is the same reward that drives him to teach.
“It’s a satisfying feeling to witness a student’s development – even if it’s only for 60 minutes – when you see the light,” he said.
