Mission

Last Updated: February 28, 2023

Our Mission

Drawing on research, experience, and a range of ways of knowing, the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) advances the University of Virginia’s teaching mission by expanding equity-focused and inclusive teaching praxis; improving students' learning, engagement, and sense of belonging; and increasing instructors' joy of teaching.

To advance this mission, the CTE...

• creates and sustains vibrant teaching communities where all instructors—representing the full range of teaching experiences, disciplinary backgrounds, and social identities—feel supported on their journey as educators and human beings.

• promotes and nurtures scholarly and equity-informed approaches to teaching that derive from instructors' and departments’ critical self-reflection, a spirit of innovation, and a commitment to continuous growth.

• leads and contributes to organizational development efforts that improve and democratize the teaching and learning experience.

• engages in the scholarship of educational development and teaching and learning to inform and advance CTE work and the field of educational development.

Our Partners

The CTE works closely with all members of the UVA teaching community, including tenure-eligible, tenured, and academic general faculty, administrators and staff, postdoctoral fellows, graduate student teaching assistants, and undergraduate instructors. We recognize that individual instructors’ teaching knowledge and experiences, social identities, and positionalities shape their pedagogical choices. As such, we strive to tailor our support and advice in ways that respect each instructor’s unique situational factors. To promote formative, growth-minded approaches to teaching improvement, engagement with the Center is voluntary and confidential.

In addition to working with individual instructors, we partner with a diverse range of University programs, units, and committees to collaboratively support and advance their and the institution’s teaching priorities.

Our Work

The CTE offers a suite of signature programs, targeted events, and tailored services that range in duration and intensity and serve the diverse needs of the UVA teaching community. The CTE also contributes to various organizational development efforts that advance the University’s teaching mission. All this work is informed by diverse scholarship, by our own experiences, teaching, and scholarship, and by the experiences of colleagues we interact with at UVA and beyond.

CTE activities align thematically to the following purposes: