MADISON – The University of Wisconsin System has been selected as a national leader to further strengthen teaching through the enhancement of learning.
The UW System will serve as one of 12 national leaders in the American Association of Higher Education Carnegie Academy Campus Program in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
As one of the selected participants, the UW System will be in a position to lead the nation in the advancement of teaching through scholarly inquiry into student learning, said UW System President Katharine C. Lyall.
“Through this initiative, faculty and staff from all of our institutions are building models, developing campus initiatives, and working to raise our visibility nationally as a system interested in advancing the practice of teaching through scholarly inquiry,” Lyall said.
“Even in this period of diminishing resources, we will continue to advance the quality of teaching and learning at all our institutions,” Lyall added. “I can think of no better way to illustrate that commitment than through a systemwide initiative that has as its goal the improved understanding of student learning.”
The leadership site will be located at UW-Milwaukee and coordinated by the UW System’s Office of Professional and Instructional Development and UWM’s Center for Instructional and Professional Development. The initiative will be formally announced at the UW System Board of Regents meeting Thursday (June 5) at UWM.
The overall goal of the leadership site is to develop, implement, and refine strategies that build effective collaboration among institutions and faculty/academic staff throughout the UW System, said Lisa Kornetsky, OPID director.
The UW System’s leadership site will help faculty and staff raise the level of exploration into teaching and learning and help institutions understand the nature of the work and its value, Kornetsky said.
Renee Meyers, chair of UWM’s Communication Department, will direct the site’s activities, with the assistance of a UW System advisory committee representing all UW campuses. OPID will directly connect with the leadership site through work with institutions on specific initiatives, programming, and faculty development for institutions and individuals exploring the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Cora B. Marrett, UW System senior vice president for academic affairs, said the national designation from AAHE/Carnegie is recognition of the important work into the scholarship of teaching and learning that has already taken place in the UW System.
“We are committed to placing student learning at the center of teaching and to elevating scholarly inquiry into teaching and learning so that it may be rewarded on a par with traditional research and scholarship,” Marrett said.
Other AAHE/Carnegie leadership sites include Georgetown University; Portland State University and the University of Akron; Middlesex Community College; Western Washington University; Rockhurst University; Illinois State University; Texas Tech University; University of Michigan; Emory University; Malaspina University-College and University of Portland; and Indiana University Bloomington.
For more information, visit the following websites: