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July 24, 1997

Senate Council proposes fund to support innovative teaching

Senate Council has en- dorsed a proposal to create a central Pitt fund for supporting innovative teaching.

The proposed Teaching Excellence Development Fund (TEDF) would allocate grants to full- and part-time faculty members — regardless of tenure status — to help them pursue "innovation and major enhancements in education," according to the proposal.

TEDF would be a parallel fund to the University's existing Research Development Fund, which awards grants of $1,000 to $14,000 to support research for which it would be difficult or impossible to obtain outside funds.

The TEDF proposal states: "If the University is to continue its efforts to improve the overall educational process and bring the balance between research and teaching efforts of the faculty into a more reasonable proportion, it must provide additional incentives and means for teaching excellence. The establishment of this TEDF would demonstrate to the University community and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania the seriousness of the commitment the University has for improving instruction and learning." The proposal recommends allocating $250,000 annually to TEDF for three years, after which the program would be evaluated and possibly renewed.

In addition to winning a unanimous, voice-vote endorsement from Senate Council on July 14, the proposal was approved earlier this month by Faculty Assembly by a 21-0 vote, with one abstention.

To go into effect, though, the proposal requires approval by the senior administration. Chancellor Mark Nordenberg told his fellow Senate Council members that he "applauded" the proposal and had discussed it with Provost James Maher on July 11. "We both are very pleased to see this kind of initiative coming forward," Nordenberg said.

Funding sources for TEDF, grant review procedures and other details need to be resolved, the chancellor noted.

Nordenberg suggested that the project "might be an attractive project in a [Pitt] fund-raising campaign," given the widespread public interest in promoting teaching excellence.

The TEDF proposal was written by the University Senate educational policies committee. Committee chairperson Susan Whitney gave Council members a list of teaching excellence programs at 19 other public research universities. Annual funding for TEDF-like programs ranged from $450,000 at Virginia Tech to $20,000 at the University of Kansas.

According to the TEDF proposal, the program would support innovative teaching projects representing "departures from, and improvements on, the standard existing practices and courses. They should address opportunities for improvement in the most effective ways as determined after careful consideration of alternatives. One criteria [sic] of effectiveness can be based on the learner-centered approach in education. Thus, the TEDF would be a component in our developing our students to become life-long learners.

"While technology need not be the centerpiece of a project, we assume that in many cases the use of the computer and Internet will be an important component of the project. Interdisciplinary projects and/or well-integrated courses in a single department should be encouraged. Also, we envision that some risks can be taken which have the potential to vastly improve our students' education and our national reputation. An evaluation of outcomes will be built into each project and a report will be sent to the Provost's office. In addition, CIDDE [Pitt's Center for Instructional Development and Distance Education] should be consulted on such projects." The proposal states that TEDF funds "should not be used to supplement or replace money currently being used for day-to-day teaching activities. Such things as slides, videotapes, new or updated software to handle data with no change in current teaching practice would not be appropriate projects."

— Bruce Steele


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