Search Underway for Director of New Center for Teaching & Learning Excellence

A critical element of the Academic Strategic Plan is the development of innovative programs to enhance teaching excellence and the learning experience.  Moving forward with the implementation of the Academic Strategic Plan, a search is currently underway for a director of the newly created Center for Teaching & Learning Excellence.  The director will be responsible for promoting scholarship of teaching and learning and connecting pedagogical practices for faculty across the campus to enhance the student experience and ensure that teaching methodology is effective across a diverse student body.

The position will report to LaVonda Reed, associate provost for faculty affairs. “The Academic Strategic Plan and our leadership recognize the many challenges and opportunities presented by teaching in an evolving world, and the need to support and equip our faculty with the tools and competencies needed to deliver the highest quality instruction to all of our students,” says Reed. “By creating this new center, we are advancing one of our primary goals, which is to rigorously advance a Universitywide culture of teaching excellence that prizes innovation and drives successful student outcomes in an inclusive and welcoming environment.”

The search committee for the new position is chaired by Provost Faculty Fellow Rochelle Ford, professor and chair of the Department of Public Relations in the Newhouse School.

“We hope to have a new director in place by the end of this fiscal year, so that the center can begin its important work by the start of the 2018-19 academic year,” says Ford. “Many stakeholders have been instrumental in shaping the position description and understanding the resources that already exist on campus.  They have been invited to hear the finalist candidates present their vision for the pedagogical development for faculty at all levels and using new technologies to advance student success.”

Search committee members include faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, staff and administrators:

• Rochelle Ford, committee chair
• LaVonda Reed, associate provost for faculty affairs
• Marie Garland, executive director, Center for Faculty Leadership and Professional Development
• Vincent Ball, undergraduate student, Newhouse School
• Sule Aksoy, graduate student, Future Professoriate Program, Science Teaching
• Kathy Hinchman, senior associate dean, School of Education
• Robert Doyle, Meredith Professor, College of Arts and Sciences
• David Seaman, Dean of Libraries
• Rachana Gopidesi, graduate student, Maxwell School, and graduate assistant, Academic Affairs

The new Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence will promote scholarship of teaching and learning through learning science, support the career development of faculty and instructional staff, and enhance student-centered teaching, course design and engaged learning. The new director will, among other responsibilities, oversee the design and execution of teaching support initiatives, including mentoring programs and coaching for faculty, attention to the needs of diverse and marginalized populations and the creation of a faculty professional development plan that enhances and supports teaching excellence.