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To: University Faculty
From: Jamshed Bharucha, Provost and Senior Vice President
Date: May 3, 2006

Last month, Dean Robert Sternberg announced the launching of a university-wide Center
for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT). I would like to tell you more
about this initiative and encourage you to get involved.

The more we ask of our faculty in terms of their research and scholarship, the more
we need to ensure that our teaching and mentoring of students continues to be a
priority. The Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching, when fully
developed, will provide a range of resources for faculty in all disciplines, as well
as for graduate students as they prepare to become teachers themselves.

The center will be based in the School of Arts & Sciences, but will be a resource for
the entire university. Our intention is to make this center unique, by bringing to
bear the latest research on the process of learning, an area in which Dean Sternberg
is a renowned expert.

New scholarship about learning – including active versus passive learning, how
teaching and research can best be integrated, long-term retention of knowledge,
diverse learning styles, the development of critical thinking and creative, social,
and practical reasoning, and written and oral communication – should find its way
into our classrooms. Because both our students and our faculty come from increasingly
diverse backgrounds, we need to pay more attention to how we, as teachers, can enable
our students to maximize their potential. The Center for the Enhancement of Learning
and Teaching will draw upon the resources of the Center for the Psychology of
Abilities, Competencies and Expertise (PACE), which Dean Sternberg is bringing with
him from Yale. The PACE Center is devoted to studying how educational systems can
serve students from diverse backgrounds who have ability and promise, but may not
have had the benefit of privileges that traditionally promote success.

Linda Jarvin, who is the associate director of the PACE Center at Yale, will oversee
both the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching and PACE, under the
supervision of Dean Sternberg. Associate Provost Mary Lee will work on behalf of the
Provost’s Office to facilitate participation by faculty from schools other than Arts
& Sciences. The University Committee on Teaching and Faculty Development will serve
as an advisory board, providing oversight and ensuring CELT’s alignment with academic
and curricular goals.

In its infancy, the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching will not be
able to address all of the goals described above. However, we’re convinced that we
need to start this important initiative now. In recognition of the priority we
accord teaching and learning, the Provost’s Office has allocated a seed grant to
operate the center as we seek permanent funding.

In its first year, the center will launch a faculty fellows program that will enable
faculty from across the university to take time out of their busy schedules to
reflect upon their teaching in light of the knowledge and the experience of others.
Dean Sternberg recently sent out a call for fellowship applications, and I would urge
all of you to consider this opportunity. Faculty participation naturally needs to
involve the active support of department chairs and deans.

President Bacow has always stressed that a great university results from the
interaction of great students and great faculty. The Center for the Enhancement of
Learning and Teaching gets at the core of that interaction, as we strive to be among
the best institutions of higher learning. I hope you all will join us in celebrating
this new initiative.