General Information

The main purpose of the center is to promote excellence in teaching and learning in the College of Chemical and Life Sciences. Towards this end we organize conversations on Teaching and Learning for faculty, postdoctoral scholars and graduate students (in coordination with campus CTE), share teaching innovations and discuss pressing issues in undergraduate science education.
We design programs to meet the needs of new instructors and new TA’s as they begin their teaching and research responsibilities. We encourage coordination among departmental 701 courses and other courses dealing with university teaching.

One of our initiatives is a visiting speaker series in which respected scientists who have also made significant contributions to undergraduate science education are invited to speak about teaching and learning. Our aim is to provide role models for current and future faculty (i.e., graduate students and post-docs) so that they can aspire to excellence in both teaching and research.

Our goal is to facilitate the implementation of recent nationally recommended approaches for teaching and learning. Such approaches include: student-centered learning (active learning and collaborative techniques); research oriented learning, computer-based learning, and applying innovative learning techniques and methodologies to curriculum redesign.

We encourage faculty to participate and present their teaching innovations in science education annual meetings and publish their work in science education journals.