Context at a Glance:

• Institution Description: The University of Colorado Denver (UC Denver) is a publicly supported university with two campuses -- the Denver Campus (DC) and the Anschutz Medical Campus (AMC). The AMC is a premier health sciences research and clinical care facility with a massive biomedical research presence and few undergraduate programs. The DC is a vibrant urban campus with a high proportion of minority students, excellent comprehensive undergraduate and graduate research programs, selective admission standards and a smaller but active research faculty. The DC offers baccalaureate, masters, and a growing number of doctoral programs, with many of these programs specifically serving the needs of the Denver metropolitan area. Enrollment is typically around was 14,500 undergraduate students and 4,500 graduate students. About 38% of students are first-generation college attendees, 69% are transfer student, 50% are racial/ethnic minority students.

• LA Program Started in Spring 2012

  • 2 Departments - Biology, Chemistry

  • 3 courses

  • 15 LAs

• Current LA Program (as of Fall 2018)

  • 4 Departments – Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Math

  • ~ 21 Courses, ~16 faculty per semester

  • ~ 60 LAs per semester

LA Program Description

• How was the program started?

  • We began our program with seed money from small internal grants from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at CU Denver and by incorporating the Learning Assistant experience as an early internship in an NSF Noyce Scholarship grant to CU Denver.

• How is the program administered ?

  • The program is directed by two tenured faculty members, one in the College of Liberal Arts and Science where all LA supported courses are offered and the other in the School of Education and Human Development, which offer the Learning Assistant Pedagogy course.

  • The program also has two part-time coordinators who handle faculty and learning assistant applications, LA-course matching, the hiring process, and orientations.

• How is the program funded?

  • The program began with grant funding, but is now funded by the institution at the level of the Provost.

• Future plans for expansion?

  • We plan to expand so that there are LA supported sections in all large-enrollment introductory STEM courses. There is also interest in expanding into the humanities.