KU News Release

KU selected for elite group dedicated to improving the art of teaching

LAWRENCE — Because of its dedication to the improvement of teaching, the University of Kansas has been selected for an elite group charged with elevating the quality of undergraduate and graduate education.

The Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning has selected KU for its Institutional Leadership Program, a three-year partnership between Carnegie and higher education institutions that have shown commitment to the examination of teaching and learning.

Dan Bernstein, professor of psychology and director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, said KU has worked to identify methods, practices and resources for faculty throughout the university to improve teaching. The Center for Teaching Excellence shares its findings with KU, but Bernstein, a former Carnegie fellow, said taking the information to a wider audience makes perfect sense.

“For our work to be valuable, we need to make the progress toward teaching excellence visible,” Bernstein said. “My first reaction when I heard about (the academy) was ‘we’re doing this work, why not make it public?’ ”

KU will be part of a group of about 12 universities that focus on expanding teaching commons. Other institutions in the group include Indiana University, Georgetown University, the University of Michigan, the University of British Columbia and Seton Hall University.

The group will meet yearly to discuss each institution’s research on improving teaching and learning, and what they can do to make their findings more visible to the public. Chris Haufler, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, and Paul Atchley, associate professor of psychology, will represent KU at the group’s first meeting in Washington, D.C., in November.

“The institutions can take each others’ ideas and advance them,” Bernstein said. “They can also use them to critique existing teaching and learning. This community treats teaching as serious intellectual work.”

At KU, the Center for Teaching Excellence has worked to make teaching innovations available for faculty to use in their classes. The center has an online gallery of course portfolios including ideas, messages and examples of student work and implementation of new teaching methods. Portfolios include projects on testing for deep understanding, writing as a primary means for learning and connecting historical issues to contemporary problems with service learning.

Richard A. Gale, director of the Carnegie academy, said the universities were selected for their achievements in teaching and learning and potential for further advancements.

“Through this program, Carnegie acknowledges the important contributions of institutional leaders and advocates while encouraging the development of new forums and structures supporting scholarly investigation into teaching and learning,” he said.

-30-

The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.