Affiliated Programs

The Excellence in Pedagogy and Innovative Classrooms (EPIC) Program is poised to establish new paradigms for teaching pedagogy and study in the Humanities for both faculty and graduate students at UCLA. Made possible by the generosity of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, EPIC aims to achieve the following long-term goals:

• Create an infrastructure that drives continual pedagogical improvement among faculty
• Prepare graduate students to leverage humanities training for greater career success within and beyond academia
• Engage undergraduates in innovative learning environments that demonstrate the value of a humanities education

To achieve these goals within the five-year span of the program, EPIC seeks to collaborate with the departments and programs within the Division of Humanities to develop pedagogical resources that address the dynamic needs of 21st century students and provide faculty and graduate students tools and resources for sustained excellence in teaching.

Seminars in Teaching Excellence (STE)

The largest component of the EPIC Program is the Seminars in Teaching and Excellence (STE). Each seminar will be facilitated by two faculty leads, and enroll eight faculty members and ten graduate students as MellonN-EPIC Fellows. There will also be two spaces reserved in each seminar for Santa Monica College (SMC) faculty as part of the effort to strengthen the community college transfer pipeline towards the studies in the Humanities at UCLA.

Comprised of twelve individual seminars, the STE will explore specific topics that are fundamental to teaching and learning in the Humanities, forge innovative approaches to humanities curricula, and open spaces for productive discussion and collaboration between faculty and graduate students.

To learn more about the EPIC Program, or to apply, please visit www.epic.ucla.edu.

The UCLA Program in Experimental Critical Theory is meant to galvanize, coordinate, and expand research and teaching in critical theory across departments and disciplines at UCLA. ECT is generously sponsored by the Deans of the Humanities and Social Sciences.

2021-2022 Program Application

Applications have closed for the 2022 winter-spring seminar in Experimental Critical Theory. Please visit the ECT website later this fall for information on the 2023 seminar topic and application.