A column in The New York Times this past February, titled “How to Hold Colleges Accountable,” had several suggestions for making higher education more effective, but at the top of the list was “quality of teaching.” Noting that most professors come from Ph.D. programs where there’s much more emphasis on research than pedagogy, the co-authors lamented the lack of training, evaluation, and assessment that college professors receive when it comes to teaching.  

Many award-winning faculty were on hand in November 2014 for the dedication of the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning’s “Teaching Wall.” Located on the fourth floor of the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons, it bears the names of faculty members who have been honored with Teaching Excellence Awards going back to the 1960s. “Great teachers are immortal,” said Rafael Bras, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. “They live on through the students that they inspire, who, in turn, go on to inspire others.”

Well, Georgia Tech is on it — and actually has been for some time.

The Institute’s Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL), founded in 1986, provides “development, assessment, and support” to “enhance the teaching and learning environment.” Throughout the year, CETL offers workshops, learning communities, brown-bag luncheons, individual consultations, learning technology support, and more, serving not only faculty but also graduate students, teaching assistants, and postdoctoral fellows.

Every spring, CETL hosts Celebrating Teaching Day, and the unit also play a key role in the faculty awards selection process. At this year’s Faculty and Staff Awards Luncheon, held April 17, CETL honored 18 faculty members specifically for their teaching effectiveness. All of these awards include a monetary prize, funded by various endowments and grants.

CETL coordinates the awards, but does not nominate candidates or choose winners; still, Esther Jordan, CETL’s assistant director for programming, has noticed a fairly strong correlation between award-winning teachers and CETL participation.  

“People who are interested in teaching have the bandwidth to focus on improving it and will self-select to be in our programs,” she observed. “Is it because they’re already amazing and we just provide the resources to fuel that, or is it that we’re a causal factor? We have to be careful how we judge that causal relationship, but maybe it’s both.”

In 2014, a wall in the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons was given over to honoring Tech’s award-winning teachers, dating back to the 1960s.

“Teaching excellence has long been a core value at Georgia Tech,” said Rafael L. Bras, provost and vice president of Academic Affairs. “We are about teaching how to learn. Georgia Tech takes that education mission seriously, and we value and celebrate those who do it best.”