History
In 1998, the Center for Teaching and Learning emerged out of conversations among Professors Jim Kaput, John Russell, Barbara Steele and others at UMass Dartmouth. The Center mission was twofold:
- school-university partnerships and programs with regional school districts, educators, and community members to improve teaching and learning in K-12 classrooms; and
- UMass Dartmouth faculty development programs
From 2000 through 2004, a larger group of dedicated faculty led by Professor Andrea Klimt furthered these discussions, and in 2004, the Center for Teaching Excellence was begun with a focused mission of supporting faculty development in the area of teaching practice and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. The Center activities were jump-started with a Ford Foundation grant of $31,000, which supported a year-long seminar series and the development of the Teaching Resource Center in the CTE offices. In addition, the Provost's office made a major commitment to teaching excellence by providing a one-time start-up fund of $14,000 to setup the CTE offices and an operating budget of $60,000 to cover program development and teaching grants for faculty.
During FY 2004 and 2005, an integrative teaching-development program was initiated, and a strong, working advisory board consisting of 18 faculty from the 5 colleges, an administrator, and a librarian was formed. By-laws, grant administration procedures, and a website were developed. In FY 2005, the Provost's Grant Account was established with initial funding of $25,000. In addition, the Provost decided to consolidate the administration of all grant awards pertaining to teaching in CTE. The administration of the Innovation in Teaching Grant ($25,000), previously funded directly out of the Chancellor's office and administered by an independent faculty committee, was also moved to CTE, raising the total money available for faculty grants and awards to $50,000.
At the beginning of fiscal year 2006, CTE gained a new Director and an Assistant Director. The Director's role is overall management of the Center, development of new programming, and strategic planning. The Assistant Director’s role includes managing the operation of a number of existing programs. Today, the Center is paused to move beyond teaching development to assume a broader role in faculty development.
