Teaching Certificates
***The Bok Teaching Certificate is no longer offered effective Fall 2025. The last day to submit materials is November 1, 2025.***
GSAS PhD students who would like to demonstrate their commitment to developing as teachers in higher education may pursue one of the Bok Center’s Teaching Certificates. Our Certificates provide an opportunity for PhD students to structure their teaching development over time, in community with peers. Click on the tiles below to view the details of each certificate:
Certificate in Teaching Language and Culture
This Certificate is now hosted by the Harvard Language Center.
The Bok Teaching Certificate
GSAS PhD students may pursue a Bok Teaching Certificate through a variety of different avenues, depending on the pedagogical training offered in their respective departments and their own interests. Participants can join the Certificate program at any time, but we recommend that you begin early in your teaching, so that you have a chance to reflect on your progress over time.
Please plan ahead to make the most of each component of the Certificate. Completing the Bok Teaching Certificate typically takes at least 2 semesters and requires you to record a section while you are teaching at Harvard. Requirements may be completed in any order, and there is no deadline for completion. Certificates are awarded on a rolling basis.
To complete the Certificate, participants must fulfill requirements in three areas:
Learn
Take three seminars that cover a range of topics in pedagogy and classroom practice:
- One seminar must cover core principles in pedagogy and classroom practice. This may be satisfied by either:
- A department's or program's pedagogy course (view a current list); or
- At least one Bok Seminar tagged as CORE. Seminars that fulfill this requirement will be marked as *CORE on the Bok Seminars page.
- Take ANY two additional Bok Seminars.
Bok Seminars are organized into categories based on target audience and topic: Foundations, Methods & Classroom Practice, Equity & Inclusion, Communication & Language, and Professional Development (for experienced TFs). Candidates should be intentional in assembling meaningful electives that will allow them to tell a coherent story about their progress through the Certificate.
Practice
Complete a classroom video consultation. For this requirement, you will record a section or class you are teaching at Harvard and meet with a consultant from the Bok Center to reflect on and discuss the recording. Use the form on our website to request a video consultation. Some departmental pedagogy courses (e.g. History, Music, Government) require participants to record their section and have a consultation with their Pedagogy Fellow, which fulfills this requirement. See the FAQ below for additional information. Please plan ahead to ensure you can meet this requirement.
The video consultation allows you to intentionally plan a class and have the experience of reflecting on it and discussing it with a consultant. What do you notice about your class when you take on the role of student or observer? What are other ways of approaching the course material or strategies to engage students? Use these questions in conjunction with your teaching goals to guide your conversation with your consultant.
Reflect
Create three products that capture your critical reflections on teaching and learning:
- A teaching statement similar to one which might be included in a Teaching Portfolio.
An original syllabus for a course you might propose to teach, whether at Harvard or at another university.
A reflective piece of approximately 1000 words which integrates what you have learned from the experience of pursuing the teaching certificate. Candidates should write a reflective narrative on their trajectory through the certificate, incorporating any or all of the following: the connections (or disconnections) between the seminars they took, what the experience has meant to them, particularly noteworthy takeaways that they will use in their future teaching or scholarship, and ideas or suggestions to inform future iterations of the Bok Teaching Certificate.
The Teaching and the Job Market Module on the Hit the Ground Running Canvas site offers guidance on creating and refining these materials.
Bok Teaching Certificate Recipients
2024-2025
Lorena Alessandrini, Celtic Languages and Literatures
Masoud Ariankhoo, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
Easun Arunachalam, Molecular and Cellular Biology
Bes Bajraktarević, Comparative Literature
Ellie Beaudry, Environmental Science and Engineering
David Beavers, Government
Julia Book Motzkin, Physics
Samuel Bozoukov, English
Mary Bradford, Comparative Literature
Rhonelle Bruder, Program in General Education
Samuel Budnyk, Music
Jordan Cannon, History
Mara Casebeer, Biophysics
Minjin Chae, Sociology
Joan Chaker, History
Kaylin Chong, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
Aidan Connaughton, Government
Alyssa Cottle, Music
Erin Crawley, Physics
Matthew Dardet, Government
Drew Dates, Chemical Biology
Ri Dresser, Physics
Celia Eckert, Government
Stephan Foianini, Molecular and Cellular Biology
Sarah Gonzalez, Classics
Ziqiang Guan, Physics
Harry Hall, Religion
Sarah Hancock, Environmental Science and Engineering
Zhe He, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
Haley Heinricks, Music
Elinor Hitt, English
Joseph Hnath, Health Policy
Uma Ilavarasan, Government
Kelsey Kinderknecht, Population Health Sciences
Richard Knecht, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
Shraddha Lall, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
Phoebe Lakin, Classics
Bastian Lasse, Germanic Languages and Literatures
Danylo Lavrentovich, Systems, Synthetic, and Quantitative Biology
Sofia Lima da Silva Soares, Molecular and Cellular Biology
Sarah Lund, History of Art and Architecture
Joaquim Machado Meira, Government
Marc Mapalo, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
Linda Mueller, History of Art and Architecture
Aina Obis Monné, Romance Languages and Literatures
Omar Olivarez, Business Administration
MJ Park, Astronomy
Jessica Patey, Religion
Drew Pendergrass, Environmental Science and Engineering
Bailey Plaman, Chemical Biology
Joshua Price, Bioengineering
Adán Ramírez-Figueroa, Romance Languages and Literatures
Engy Said, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs
Leo Sarbanes, Music
Benjamin Schiffer, Statistics
Ryan Schmidt, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
Jocelyn Sears, English
Priyanka Sethy, Government
Denys Shay, Population Health Sciences
Walter Shen, Earth and Planetary Sciences
Alexia Simon, Astronomy
Rachel Slutsky, Religion
Haden Smiley, Anthropology
Mackenzie Smith, Molecular and Cellular Biology
Alexandra Stanton, Virology
Julius Tabin, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
Clio-Ragna Takas, Comparative Literature
Weiwen Tian, Bioengineering
Yuan Tian, Philosophy
Breanna Titchen, Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Ruth Tweedy, Earth and Planetary Sciences
Ana Sofia Uzsoy, Astronomy
Wendy Andrea Valencia Montoya, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
Michael Vázquez, Education
Emily Venable, Human Evolutionary Biology
Sarah Weidman, Earth and Planetary Sciences
Robert Welch, Earth and Planetary Sciences
Valerie Werder, Art, Film, and Visual Studies
Sophia Wiesenfeld, Systems, Synthetic, and Quantitative Biology
Anca Wilkening, Religion
Dalia Wolfson, Comparative Literature
Amelia Woo, Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Maya Woolfolk, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
Yang Xiang, Psychology
Clare Yijia Xie, Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering
Jiayu Yang, Applied Physics
Justina Yang, Physics
Haiyang Zhang, Business Administration
Shirley Zhang, Computer Science
Kristen Zipperer, Anthropology
Louis Zweig, Classics
View Bok Teaching Certificate Recipients from Previous Academic Years
Graduate Student News
Hebrew Students Build Custom AI Practice Tools in Bok Workshop
Prompt Engineering Workshop Supports AI Poetry Analysis in COMPLIT 126X/HUM5: Literature and/as Artificial Intelligence
Becca Nesson Named Executive Director of the Bok Center
