About the Center for Teaching Excellence
Who We Are
The Center for Teaching Excellence is a collaborative venture. The support and active participation from everyone at UMass Dartmouth interested in teaching excellence is essential to the development of an effective teaching development program. Suggestions for how to improve services as well as help in shaping programs are always welcome!
Please don't hesitate to contact us.
See the Center's by-laws for more information on how the Center is organized.
Both the Director, Susanne Scott, and Assistant Director, Brenda Bouchard, can provide information about the Center's teaching development programs, events, or grants; discuss suggestions for improving the Center's services; or offer details about becoming more involved in the Center.
The Center's Administrative Assistant, Rita Girard, can provide information about scheduling, registration, and upcoming events. She is available at 508.999.9182.
The Center's Advisory Board includes faculty from each of UMass Dartmouth's Academic Councils as well as a librarian and representatives from the staff and administration. The Board members work closely with the Center Director on developing CTE's programs, policies, and assessment practices.
Where We Are
The Center for Teaching Excellence is located in the Liberal Arts Building, Suite 373.
What We Do
This is an overview of the Center's programs and services. See the Annual Reports of past years for more information on the Center's ongoing development.
We offer opportunities for faculty to engage one another in critical reflection about teaching
- Faculty Forums are discussions led by UMass Dartmouth faculty on specific teaching-related topics.
- The First Year Success Program offers faculty an opportunity to develop innovative strategies that improve the learning environment for first-year students.
- The Teaching at UMass Dartmouth Series offers workshops on teaching effectiveness to untenured faculty.
- The annual Talking About Teaching conference offers faculty the opportunity to share their insights on teaching with one another.
- Teaching Partnerships brings together pairs of faculty for intensive collaboration throughout the academic year to improve their teaching skills.
We support individualized, non-evaluative, and constructive assessment of faculty teaching
- The Peer Coaching Program is available to all faculty who would like to have a colleague trained in classroom observation and peer evaluation provide individualized, confidential, and constructive feedback on their teaching.
- Peer Evaluation Training is available for departments that wish to train a faculty member in how to conduct effective teaching assessments of departmental colleagues.
We make research on university-level teaching and learning available to the campus community
- The Teaching and Learning Colloquium Series invites nationally renowned scholars to campus to speak about teaching and learning in higher education.
- The Teaching and Learning Book Club makes a key publication in the scholarship of teaching available to the campus community.
- The Resource Center offers materials on the practice and scholarship of teaching, available in the Center, as well as links to online resources, both on campus and beyond the campus.
We help recognize teaching excellence at UMass Dartmouth
- The Faculty Spotlight features faculty, including the Teacher of the Year, who have engaged in innovative teaching practices and are committed to teaching excellence.
We offer grant support to faculty working on course development, teaching innovations, or teaching-related research:
- Travel Grants are available to faculty to attend regional and national conferences on university-level teaching.
- Departmental/Interdepartmental Teaching Development Grants support projects that enhance departmental or interdepartmental teaching goals.
- Innovative Teaching Grants offer support to faculty to develop innovations in their teaching practices.
- The Teaching Institute offers a small group of faculty an opportunity to engage in an intensive semester-long exploration of a teaching issue and to develop a significant development or teaching-related research project.
