Creating a community of physics teachers and an environment that rewards thoughtful innovative instruction

In Fall 2009 a small group of physics graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin founded a weekly seminar/discussion group known as the Physics Education Forum. The primary goals of the forum are to help establish a community of students and faculty with a particular interest in teaching and in physics education research, to promote discussions and collaborations on teaching throughout the department, and to explore ways to incorporate research-based teaching methods into our classrooms. In this talk I will describe the formation of the Physics Education Forum and how we were able to quickly establish the forum as a legitimate seminar series within the department. I will also highlight some of the difficulties and successes we faced during the first year of the forum as well as the forum's impact on the department as a whole and our current efforts to expand the Physics Education Forum.