Professional Development

The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition is dedicated to the investigation and dissemination of knowledge concerning slavery and its legacies across all borders and all time, from the distant past through the present day. The Center fosters improved understandings of the role of slavery, anti-slavery, and the lasting harms of slavery in the functioning of the modern world. Through fellowships, workshops, public programs, and digital resources including annotated teaching guides, the Gilder Lehrman Center supports scholarship, public history, and public education.

The Summer Teacher Institute offers practicing teachers an enriched understanding of how visual art can support their students’ reading, writing, and thinking. Workshops, discussions, and lectures by university faculty and museum educators demonstrate how “visual text” can be used to enhance literacy instruction. Institute sessions include hands-on experience with works of art and exploring ways to make the museum an extension of the classroom. Participants are given the tools they need to lead dynamic museum visits and to incorporate visual arts into classroom instruction.

The Comer School Development Program designs and delivers customized professional development experiences for pre-K to 12 educators at the school and district levels. Created by Yale professor James Comer, MD, MPH in 1968, the SDP's approach focuses on applying knowledge of the developmental and learning sciences and the Comer Process guiding principles to create a positive classroom community. SDP began in New Haven's two lowest income and lowest achieving elementary schools and increased their performance, attendance, and behavior to rival the city's highest income schools.

The Yale Teaching Fellowship aims to train high-quality teachers from diverse backgrounds, cover shortage areas, and promote long-term retention for New Haven Public Schools. In partnership with New Haven Public Schools, New Haven Promise, and Southern Connecticut State University, The Yale Teaching Fellowship supports graduate study for current and aspiring educators in exchange for at least three years of service in New Haven Public Schools. The first cohort will begin in May 2025.

Yale University has a wide array of podcasts available from faculty, alumni, and distinguished visitors. These are available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, all free of charge. You can download episodes one at a time or you can subscribe to the entire series. Topics include arts and humanities, science and engineering, health and medicine, and the environment, as well as other areas of interest.