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The updated teaching fellow programme was launched two years ago. The educational tenure track leads up to a professorship with a focus on education. One of the selected teachers that was selected in the first round is Christel Lutz. During five years she will contribute to educational innovation and develop herself as an educational scientist. An extraordinary opportunity – time to get to know Christel better!

Christel’s career is rooted in the United States of America, where she obtained a PhD in cognitive psychology. As a physicist she became a teaching assistant at psychology – she learned by doing. “It was a Liberal Arts programme, where students could choose from a broad curriculum. It was a college that we did not know in the Netherlands back then: the justification of the college was education instead of research and where the education was taken care of by College Professors.”

Dreamjob at ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� College Utrecht

She was living the dream, which prevented her from returning to the Netherlands. Until she heard Hans Adriaansens on internet radio, announcing the foundation of a ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� College Utrecht. “That was a perfect fit for me: working within liberal arts with education as the first matter of importance. That was something I wanted to contribute to!” No sooner said than done. Christel became a teacher in psychology in 2003 and subsequently mentor and coach. In 2004 she became responsible for the psychology education in the Social Science Department as a Fellow. “More and more I focussed on the design of the programmes and the development of academic teachers by initiating educational innovation projects and by thinking along with the design of the Utrecht Education Incentive Fund (USO). With the USO projects, it is not always certain what the outcomes will be, but you always see the teachers involved develop.” Christel adds proudly: “The Comenius Programme took USO as a source for inspiration!”

After joining ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� College Utrecht, Christel took two important steps in her career: completing the educational management programme and co-founding the Teaching Academy (TAUU). The idea for the latter was initiated during the programme, the participants wanted to create a teacher community. “The programme and the TAUU community made me think differently about education. What are important elements for organizing education? I started to look further than my comfort zone.” Commitment is a key element of teaching and designing education for Christel. “The teacher knows best what the developments in a certain discipline are and what is important for students.” Her own commitment and critical thinking lead to her appointment as Senior Fellow, formerly known as the Teaching Fellow programme. Since this appointment, she spends two days a week at the Centre for Academic Teaching on her educational research project.

Senior Fellow project

Her background in psychology stimulates her interest in how teaching contributes to the development of teachers. “How does teaching influence your opinions on research or your discipline?” In short, what makes education reciprocal? How can you design education that contributes to the development of both students and teachers? “That is my sweet spot: finding that reciprocity. I want to find what contextual factors contribute to that and if that depends on the development stadium of the teacher and the student. My aim is to know how we can make education even better, and how we can enhance the intertwining of education and research.” Besides the research project, the Senior Fellow programme consists of several trainings, meetings and peer feedback sessions, that combined strengthen Christal as an educational leader.

Want to know more? Contact Christel! Or continue reading about the other Senior Fellows and the Senior Fellow programme.

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  Christel Lutz

  Senior Fellow Centre for Academic Teaching