UC Santa Cruz

    POD Description

    Program Name Information Teaching Support Office (name until 6/30/97)
    Center for Teaching Excellence (name change as of 7/1/97)
    168C McHenry Library, UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064
    Eileen M. Tanner, Coordinator, (408) 459-5091, (408) 459-8206 (FAX), eileent@cats.ucsc.edu

    WWW Information http://media.ucsc.edu/MediaServices/CTE/TeachingExcellence.html

    Quick Reference Institutional Information University of California, Santa Cruz Carnegie Classification: Research University II Public 413 full-time equivalent faculty 400 part-time faculty 8919 undergraduate students 1009 graduate students

    Program Information

    1. The Teaching Support Office opened in spring 1994 as a 3-year experiment.
    2. It is part of Media Services in the University Library.
    3. There are 2 full-time employees, the coordinator and an assistant, both of whom are permanent staff. The coordinator works closely with the Academic Senate Committee on Teaching and the Associate Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate Education.
    4. Source for the Teaching Support Office budget is University of California Instructional Improvement Program funds.
    5. For the past 2 years Emeritus Faculty Mentors representing each of the four academic divisions have been available to work with faculty.

    Program Goals:

    1. The Teaching Support Office underwent campuswide evaluation in fall 1996. In January 1997 we put together a proposal for permanent funding status, which is currently under consideration by the Chancellor. When the office is made permanent, its name will change to the Center for Teaching Excellence.
    2. Campus representatives will attend the Stanford workshop "Preparing Graduate Students to Teach" in July, 1997. An assessment of TA development at UCSC will follow, possibly leading to significant changes.
    3. Ongoing improvements to the mid-quarter student feedback process are based on ideas gleaned from presentations at AAHE and POD conferences.

    Current Program Activities: Mid-Quarter Student Feedback

    At the invitation of a faculty member, a facilitator from the Teaching Support Office will visit a class in progress and interview students about perceived course quality in the middle of the term. This confidential information is made available only to the instructor who requests it.

    Videotaping

    For faculty members who wish to observe and analyze their own teaching, the Teaching Support Office will arrange videotaping sessions through Media Services.

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Last updated on June 28, 1997