CTE In The News

As UVA faculty shift all spring semester courses from the classroom to virtual delivery, the A&S Learning Design & Technology team, alongside other partners like the Center for Teaching Excellence, is working to ensure instructors have the tools and support they need to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Since the fund's creation in 2017, approximately 100 professorships have been endowed through the partnership of donors and UVA, including at entities like the Center for Teaching Excellence.

Astronomy graduate student Yiqing Song shares her experience in the PhD Plus Liaisons Program, where she has co-developed and co-facilitated a workshop for Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) in the STEM fields.

Physics graduate student Sharon Philip shares her experience in the PhD Plus Liaisons Program, where she is making efforts to not only encourage active communication between graduate students and the administration, but also bridge the gap between TAs and students in STEM disciplines.

"One of the things that I've always enjoyed doing as a teacher … was figuring out how to make literature exciting to everyone—not just students and fellow academics—but how to take the beauty and the power of literature and share it with many others outside of the academy." The CTE's Assistant Director of Community-Engaged Learning Initiatives Andrew Kaufman shares how he got involved in this work and the impact he hopes to have in his new position.

Curry graduate student Christian West shares his experience in the PhD Plus Liaisons Program under the mentorship of CTE Assistant Director Adriana Streifer.

Facilitated theater is a new problem-solving technique that the University currently uses to indirectly address potential discrimination through performances. UVA's own group, UVA Acts, is expanding the type of issues that the Center for Teaching Excellence is tackling.

Curry Associate Professor Karen Inkelas, CTE Assistant Director of STEM Education Initiatives Lindsay Wheeler, and SEAS' Instructional Technologies Coordinator Michael Redwine built and are piloting a new observational tool designed to identify what makes a class session engaging and effective.

UVA Vice President and Provost Liz Magill urged graduate students to take advantage of opportunities offered by the Center for Teaching Excellence.

SEAS Educational Strategies Coordinator Michael Redwine, Education Associate Professor Karen Inkelas, and CTE Assistant Director Lindsay Wheeler are developing a “suite of digital tools designed to improve college teaching and student learning.”

UVA Nursing Professor Tomeka Dowling shares her story of recognizing a powerful teaching moment last fall, originally recounted at the CTE's Celebration of Teaching Excellence on May 15.

CTE Director Michael Palmer works to help faculty design deeply memorable moments in class through an activity called “the dream exercise.”

The CTE's Lindsay Wheeler receives a $141,173 grant from the Jefferson Trust to develop tools to improve instructors' teaching and transform student experiences.

The University of Virginia has expanded its commitment to the Bicentennial Professors Fund to further strengthen efforts to attract and retain the best and the brightest faculty members across every discipline.

It’s likely that Ken Elzinga has impacted more students than any professor in University of Virginia history.