Survey of Undergraduate Education Activities September 1995 Association of American Universities Introduction September 6, 1995 In 1994, the Association of American Universities, which at that time represented 58 leading North American research universities (the membership has since grown to 60), asked its member institutions for information about current undergraduate education efforts on their campuses. Fifty-three institutions responded to this request. The document that follows is a summary of the information provided in those responses. It must be emphasized that this was not a formal survey and there was no attempt made to gather quantifiable data. Rather, member universities were simply asked to "provide [the AAU with] information on programs and activities that enhance undergraduate education, including any new initiatives to focus additional resources and attention on this area." Therefore, the document that follows is not intended to be, and should not be taken as, a definitive catalog of all the undergraduate programs, activities, and initiatives that were underway during 1994 at the universities surveyed. Some campuses put much more time and effort into their responses than others, and some limited their responses to include only new initiatives. All in all, many campuses no doubt failed to mention programs, initiatives, and other activities that they did, in fact, have in place. Nevertheless, the document that follows clearly demonstrates that a considerable amount of attention was being directed to undergraduate education on AAU-member campuses. The document also helps illustrate the wide variety of programs and opportunities available to undergraduates on these campuses. The AAU conducted a similar informal survey in 1990. In general, the latest survey indicates that efforts to bolster undergraduate education have increased substantially at AAU institutions over the last few years, and that many new programs and initiatives are now in place on many campuses. In particular, it appears that much more attention is being paid to evaluating teaching performance; to giving greater weight to teaching in hiring, tenure, promotion, and salary decisions; to providing undergraduates with more opportunities for personalized, small-group instruction and involvement in research; and to strengthening orientation, advising, counseling, and mentoring activities. Summary One-third (18) of the 53 universities that responded to the survey said they had undertaken administrative reorganizations aimed at focusing resources and attention on undergraduate education, or were in the process of doing so. Eleven of these universities had established new administrative positions (usually a Vice Provost or Vice President/Vice Chancellor) with specific responsibilities for coordinating and improving undergraduate education. Others said they had established faculty councils or task forces to accomplish the same ends. More than half (29) said they had undertaken comprehensive reviews of undergraduate education on their campuses, or were already in the process of developing or implementing plans for improvement of undergraduate education. For example, the University of Michigan said its College of Literature, Science and the Arts had undertaken an Undergraduate Initiative aimed at increasing faculty-student contact, particularly during the freshman and sophomore years, and at replacing large, impersonal lectures with small classes. The University of Texas at Austin said it was in the process of carrying out the recommendations of a campuswide Committee on the Undergraduate Experience, which had developed a comprehensive strategy for improving undergraduate education. More than two-thirds (36) said they had strengthened their undergraduate curriculum. Many said they had revised their undergraduate curriculum extensively since the late 1980s. Many said they had instituted a new core curriculum for all undergraduates. Many also cited efforts to strengthen the undergraduate curriculum of specific departments. More than half (27) said they had recently taken steps to ensure more rigorous evaluation of teaching performance. The University of Minnesota said it had instituted uniform student evaluation of teaching and a new program of peer review of teaching. The University of Nebraska, Lincoln, said over 35 of its academic departments were now involved in the evaluation of instruction through teaching portfolios and other mechanisms. The University of Pittsburgh said it had just completed implementation of a policy that mandates peer and student evaluation of teaching for all faculty who have primary instructional responsibility for a given course. Nearly half (24) said they were giving greater weight to teaching in hiring, tenure, promotion, and salary decisions. Brown University said its Dean of the Faculty had required that the quality of teaching be evaluated and given equal weight with research accomplishments in the yearly review process of faculty performance. The University of Iowa said faculty seeking promotion and tenure in the College of Liberal Arts were now expected to submit actual teaching evaluations by students and peers, rather than general summaries, and to submit evaluations that are recent; in addition, new faculty in the College were now being advised that tenure or promotion would not be recommended without the demonstration of a record of effective teaching. Cornell University said its Provost had encouraged the deans of the university's schools and colleges to reexamine tenure guidelines so they include a rigorous examination of teaching. More than a third (21) said they had put an emphasis on having regular, full-time faculty teach undergraduate courses. The University of Arizona said it had increased significantly the number of lecture classes taught by senior faculty, especially at lower-division levels. The University of Southern California said it allows only regular, full-time faculty to teach general courses required of all undergraduates, except freshman writing and beginning foreign language classes. Washington University in St. Louis said it requires that virtually all undergraduate courses, with the exception of freshman English, be taught by regular, full-time faculty. About 15 percent (9) said they had taken steps to curb or eliminate the practice of reducing teaching loads to attract or retain faculty. Columbia University said it no longer offers course relief to prospective new faculty to attract them to the university. Northwestern University said it does not hire any faculty with the promise of no teaching and it regularly monitors teaching loads across its schools to detect any significant changes. Ohio State University said it opposes the practice of reducing teaching loads to attract or retain faculty and rarely allows departments to do this. Nearly two-thirds (32) said they had established teaching centers or special programs that concentrate on upgrading teaching efforts of regular faculty and teaching assistants. The University of Colorado at Boulder said over 2,000 faculty had been served through a Faculty Teaching Excellence Program designed to raise faculty consciousness about good teaching practices and to increase the range and level of teaching schools. Harvard University said it had recently established a Center for Teaching and Learning that employs a professional staff of nine experienced teacher-counselors and provides orientation programs for teaching fellows and teaching assistants, as well as individualized counseling for regular faculty. The State University of New York at Buffalo said it had established an Office of Teaching Effectiveness, which reports to a new Vice Provost for Faculty Development, and which offers pedagogical workshops and seminars for both regular faculty and teaching assistants. More than two-thirds (36) said they had established special programs for teaching assistants. All of these universities said they were now providing orientation and training for their teaching assistants. Seven said this orientation and training is required of all teaching assistants. Twenty-one said they maintained special programs for foreign teaching assistants. Twelve said they required all foreign teaching assistants to meet oral English proficiency standards before teaching. More than three-quarters (41) said they were using a variety of other incentives and mechanisms to emphasize teaching. Several universities, including Columbia, Northwestern, and Tulane, said they had established endowed positions for faculty members with especially strong commitments to undergraduate teaching. Many universities said they offered teaching awards, but several offered awards that were especially substantial. The University of Florida said it had initiated a Teaching Improvement Program that gave base-level salary increases of $5,000 to 165 faculty who were rated as the best and most productive undergraduate teachers. Vanderbilt University said it had established a program that each year gives one or two outstanding teachers a $10,000 annual salary supplement for three years. The University of Colorado at Boulder said it had initiated a Presidential Teaching Scholars Program that not only provides awards of $12,000 to tenured faculty who are outstanding teachers, but also engages these faculty in mentoring junior faculty. More than three-quarters (41) said they had taken steps to enhance teaching through new information technology. Many universities said they were making major efforts to encourage and facilitate the use of new information technology in instruction and to give all students easy access to on-line information services and resources. The California Institute of Technology said it was developing computer-based instructional and visual tools to enhance instruction in a wide variety of fields. The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, said it was allocating $200,000 annually to outfit classrooms with the most technologically advanced instructional equipment. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology said it had developed a large-scale distributed computing system that provides students, faculty, and staff with workstations that give free access to a wide range of services, such as network services, commercial software, courseware developed specifically for MIT subjects, and a common file system. More than half (29) said they maintain grant programs to underwrite faculty proposals for developing new undergraduate courses, course materials, and teaching methods. The University of Maryland, College Park, said it provides 18 to 20 grants of up to $5,000 annually for the development of new courses or the enhancement of existing courses. The University of California, Los Angeles, said it provides over $600,000 annually for these purposes. The University of Oregon said it uses strategic planning funds to complement a private endowment specifically designed to encourage the development of new courses and teaching methods. More than a third (19) said they had initiated creative or novel education programs intended to enliven and energize the academic experience for undergraduates. Pennsylvania State University said its College of Earth and Mineral Sciences maintains a Center for Advanced Undergraduate Studies and Experience that gives undergraduates access to courses and facilities not available at the departmental level. Rutgers University said it was expanding a program to support the development of courses that integrate community service activities with academic subject matter in a wide range of disciplines. Syracuse University said its Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs was expanding its internship and service learning opportunities for undergraduates. More than half (30) said they offer undergraduate seminar courses, in which small groups of students are taught by senior faculty. Clark University said it has offered first-year seminars in nearly all departments since the mid-1980s. The University of Washington said all its freshman seminars are limited to no more than 12 students and are taught by senior faculty. Duke University said it offers entering freshmen a cluster of interrelated seminars drawn around such common themes as "Medieval and Renaissance Studies" and "Twentieth Century America." More than half (29) said they offer undergraduate honors programs that allow students to work closely with senior faculty in various kinds of special courses, research opportunities, and independent studies. The University of California, San Diego, said each of its five colleges offers a freshman honors program, and there are also honors programs for upper-division students. Iowa State University said it offers both freshman and upper-division honors programs and makes available to honors students a special Mentor Program, in which students are matched with faculty doing research in areas of common interest. The University of Pennsylvania said it maintains a universitywide undergraduate honors program that gives students access to special advising, as well as special opportunities for research and independent study with senior faculty. More than 40 percent (22) said they give undergraduates opportunities for individualized, independent study. The University of Kansas said it allows any well-prepared undergraduate to work on an independent-study basis with senior faculty, with the approval of the faculty member. Michigan State University said independent study options are broadly available to its undergraduates. The University of California, Los Angeles, said it had over 2,500 undergraduates participating in its tutorial/independent study program during the 1993-94 school year. About a third (17) said they give undergraduates opportunities to participate in advanced courses and obtain advanced degrees on an accelerated basis. Catholic University said its School of Arts and Sciences offers B.A./M.A. degrees in Economics and Business, English, History, and Politics; in addition, qualified undergraduates can complete a B.A./J.D. program in six years. The University of Rochester said it allows undergraduates to take many graduate courses, and it also offers a series of programs that allow undergraduates to begin work during their undergraduate years on master's degrees and to earn both degrees in five years. Carnegie Mellon University said its departments have a series of courses that are available to both undergraduates and graduate students, and many departments allow undergraduates to take an M.A. or M.S. on an accelerated basis. More than 40 percent (21) said they offer undergraduates opportunities for interdisciplinary, interdepartmental study. Stanford University said it offers 14 interdisciplinary degree programs, as well as an interdisciplinary honors program that allows undergraduates to supplement a regular degree program with advanced study supervised by faculty in another discipline. Case Western Reserve University said its undergraduates can combine majors in such fields as management and theater, engineering and music, and computers and art; approximately 12 percent of the university's baccalaureate graduates annually pursue double majors or dual degrees. The University of Wisconsin, Madison, said it gives undergraduates access to a wide range of interdisciplinary and interdepartmental programs, some of which offer related courses in as many as 20 departments. Over 90 percent (49) said they give undergraduates opportunities to conduct research of their own under faculty supervision, as well as opportunities to work with faculty on research or teaching for credit, pay, or as a volunteer. Johns Hopkins University said most of its faculty research projects include undergraduate assistants on the research team, and undergraduates who provide research assistance to faculty on a long-term basis are often cited as coauthors of published works. The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, said it offers undergraduates opportunities to participate in research and development projects with scientific and technical staff, as well as with eight Fortune 500 companies at the university's National Center for Supercomputing applications. Princeton University said it provides a two-month summer research program for 85 students in molecular biology, including some from other institutions that lack extensive research programs. Nearly half (24) said they had instituted special residential programs and other programs intended to provide a small-college experience in the context of a large university. Rice University said it maintains a system of eight residential colleges where students and faculty live, dine, and socialize together; each college has about 220 students in residence and another 100 students as off-campus members. In all, nearly 200 Rice faculty and staff participate in this system. The University of Virginia said it had established two residential colleges since 1986 and was in the process of planning a third. New York University said it has established a program that regularly sponsors activities intended to bring students and faculty together for educational interaction outside the traditional classroom setting, such as informal dinners. More than two-thirds (38) said they had enlarged and strengthened student orientation, advising, counseling, and faculty mentoring activities, and had instituted special programs to help new students make the transition from high school to college. The University of Nebraska, Lincoln, said it used specially trained upper-level students to follow up with new students and offer support. The University of California, Berkeley, said it had established residence-hall academic centers where students can have access to computer equipment, get tutoring from upper-division or graduate students, and generally seek advice on study and learning habits and academic matters. The University of Michigan said it had initiated a universitywide mentorship program that links first-year students with members of the faculty and staff; students who enroll are matched by academic or career interests with a mentor and three other first-year students. More than half (28) said they had established programs and centers specifically aimed at assisting undergraduates in developing reading, writing, and study skills. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said it had established a number of programs and centers to support undergraduate education, including a Learning Skills Center, a Writing Center, and a Learning Disabilities Center. The University of Missouri said it maintains a universitywide writing program that also assists with speaking, reading, and study skills. Yale University said it strongly emphasizes writing across its undergraduate curriculum and offers a special series of writing-intensive courses each year; special writing tutors are also always available in the university's student residences to help students develop their writing skills. More than half (28) said they offered their undergraduates experiences and training not likely to be found at many other kinds of institutions. Case Western Reserve University said its art history majors take classes at the Cleveland Museum of Art, which is rated among the nation's finest, and its music students receive training at the Cleveland Institute of Music, whose faculty includes members of the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. The University of Colorado at Boulder said the Colorado Space Grant Consortium, which is headquartered on the campus, gives undergraduates the opportunity to design space experiments that have been launched on the space shuttle and other NASA launch vehicles. The University of Southern California said it offers the only screenwriting program in the nation for undergraduates, through its School of Cinema-Television; the school's production division also offers an undergraduate program, and it is the only one in the nation that funds student projects. Specific Institutional Responses are grouped under the following categories: Administrative reorganizations aimed at focusing resources and attention on undergraduat education Comprehensive reviews of undergraduate education; plans for improvement of undergraduate education Strengthened undergraduate curricula Steps to ensure more rigorous evaluation of teaching performance Greater weight to teaching in hiring, tenure, promotion, and salary decisions Emphasis on having regular, full-time faculty teach undergraduate courses Steps to curb or eliminate the practice of reducing teaching loads to attract or retain faculty Teaching centers and special programs that concentrate on upgrading teaching efforts of regular faculty and teaching assistants Special programs for teaching assistants Other incentives and mechanisms to emphasize teaching Steps to enhance teaching through new information technology Grant programs to underwrite faculty proposals for developing new undergraduate courses, course materials, and teaching methods Creative or novel education programs intended to enliven and energize the academic experience for undergraduates. Undergraduate seminar courses Undergraduate honors programs Opportunities for individualized, independent study Opportunities to participate in advanced courses and obtain advanced degrees on an accelerated basis Opportunities for interdisciplinary, interdepartmental study Opportunities to conduct research or to work with faculty on research or teaching Special residential programs and other programs intended to provide a small-college experience in the context of a large university Student orientation, advising, counseling, and faculty mentoring activities; special programs to help new students make the transition from high school to college Programs and centers aimed at developing reading, writing, and study skills Experiences and training not likely to be found at many other kinds of institutions Administrative reorganizations aimed at focusing resources and attention on undergraduate education University of Arizona: Has established a senior administrative position, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Academic Affairs, dedicated to improving campuswide undergraduate education. The Vice Provost's responsibilities include directing the development of a universitywide general education program, coordinating services that support undergraduate education, and representing the needs of undergraduate education. University of California, Berkeley: In 1990, created a new position of Special Assistant to the Vice Chancellor. One of the charges of this position is to convene the top administrators in a Council on Undergraduate Education, which discusses, monitors, and generates ideas about undergraduate education. Carnegie Mellon University: In 1991, appointed a Vice Provost for Education, who was charged with establishing a Commission on Undergraduate Education. The Commission, in turn, led to the creation of a series of task forces. Task force recommendations are ongoing, and have led to a variety of changes intended to improve undergraduate education. Central advising offices in each of the colleges have been augmented and reorganized and departmental advising programs have been strengthened and standardized. Columbia University: Has focused major new attention on undergraduate education by developing closer collaboration between the Dean of Columbia College and the Vice President for Arts and Sciences. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign: In 1988, established an associate vice chancellor position with specific responsibility for undergraduate education. University of Maryland at College Park: In 1994, the campus reorganized the Academic Affairs division and in so doing created the senior administrative position of Associate Provost for Academic Affairs and Dean for Undergraduate Studies. The Undergraduate Studies unit was expanded to include academic service units that previously were not the responsibility of the dean. The university says this reorganization is expected to improve undergraduate education by providing students with more integrated services and by permitting more efficient allocations of resources to the most pressing concerns. Michigan State University: Has established an Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education. University of Minnesota: A President's Initiative for Excellence in Undergraduate Education, announced in 1990, remains a major, ongoing effort to improve the undergraduate experience in seven key areas: enrollment, admissions, and recruiting; curriculum; advising and counseling; teaching; learning environment; community; and assessment. State University of New York at Buffalo: In May of 1994, formed a Council of Arts and Science Deans to focus attention on problems of undergraduate education in the arts and sciences and to coordinate the efforts of the different faculties in this area. Council members include the Deans of Arts and Letters, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences and Mathematics, as well as the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education. The Council is working on a number of issues including faculty advising, access to undergraduate major programs, transfer and articulation problems, and general education. University of Oregon: In 1993, as an outgrowth of a strategic planning initiative, the faculty established a new Undergraduate Education Policy Coordinating Council. Made up of faculty and administrators from each of the university's colleges and schools, the Council is charged with coordinating all policies relating to undergraduate education. Work within this council has so far focused on coordinating programs in order to speed student progress toward degrees. Pennsylvania State University: An Undergraduate Academic Program Assessment Team has been formed to stimulate and support academic program assessment activities across the university aimed at the improvement of academic programs in all the colleges. The theme of virtually all of the assessment approaches is promoting greater amounts of feedback from students and recent alumni to improve learning and teaching processes. Rutgers University: In 1992, created a position of Vice President for Undergraduate Education to develop a cohesive university strategy for enhancing undergraduate programs. Has also formed an Undergraduate Education Advisory Council made up of executives of New Jersey corporations that are major employers of the university's graduates. The Council will keep the university apprised of the job performance of its graduates and provide information on marketplace and industry changes that may have curricular implications. University of Southern California: In 1994, created the position of Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies. Stanford University: In October 1994, following the recommendation of a special Commission on Undergraduate Education (see below), created a new Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education. The Vice Provost's responsibilities include monitoring the system of incentives and rewards directly related to teaching and the supervision of curricular programs required of all undergraduates. The University of Texas at Austin: In 1989, appointed a Vice Provost with responsibility for undergraduate teaching and advising. In 1992, developed from the Department of English a new Division of Rhetoric and Composition, with its own faculty, to concentrate on the teaching of writing courses, especially to freshman students. University of Toronto: In 1989, established a position of Provost's Advisor on Undergraduate Education; the Advisor is responsible for encouraging creative initiatives in faculty development and curriculum renewal. The university has modified its budget guidelines and established an Academic Priorities Fund that is reallocating and redistributing support to such areas as instructional development, program development, student academic support, quality and performance reviews, and the linkage of teaching and research. Has also established a Provostial Advisory Committee on Teaching Development. University of Washington: In 1993, formed a President's Task Force intended to improve the quality of undergraduate education delivery. University of Wisconsin, Madison: In 1991, reorganized the position of Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs to enlarge and focus responsibility on initiatives to improve undergraduate education. Comprehensive reviews of undergraduate education; plans for improvement of undergraduate education University of Arizona: Has completed a rigorous, universitywide review of all undergraduate programs using consistent indicators of quality and priority, with the goal of focusing on those programs of greatest centrality and quality. As a result, some programs have merged, some are being phased out, and some have been recommended for elimination. Has developed plans to restructure general education requirements for all undergraduates. Has agreed with Board of Regents on specific student-centered campus goals and objectives. Brown University: In 1990, the Dean of the College completed a comprehensive review (which included a twenty-year retrospective) of the Brown curriculum. The report considered the philosophy of the curriculum, its implementation, and specifically, how students were using it. Since then, Brown has undertaken a number of broad reviews of the way students structure their education, and the way concentration programs are structured to provide for sequence, depth, and synthesis. University of California, Los Angeles: Building on initiatives of the 1980s, has undertaken a major review of undergraduate education. In 1991, a 35-member Concilium on Undergraduate Education was established as the main campus forum for discussion of undergraduate education among students, faculty, senate leaders, and administrators. The Concilium, chaired by the Provost of the College of Letters and Science, has established work groups in the following areas: general education; undergraduate teaching in science, mathematics and engineering; evaluation of teaching and learning; scale and delivery of instruction; and new instructional technologies. In addition, support from the Hewlett Foundation is enabling the Concilium to sponsor a three-quarter general education symposium intended to enrich the inquiry into general education issues. Carnegie Mellon University: Following on the reports of a series of task forces and of advisory boards for each department, the university's president has appointed a Committee on Undergraduate Initiatives, as part of a major strategic planning process, to examine which recommendations have been implemented and what more needs to be done. Clark University: Following a comprehensive planning effort that identified strengthening undergraduate education as a major goal, the university established a Commission on Undergraduate Education in October 1993. The commission was charged with undertaking "a holistic, searching assessment of undergraduate education at Clark" and with producing concrete recommendations to strengthen undergraduate education. The Commission has completed a draft report, and a final report will be brought to the Faculty Assembly for approval early in 1995. Meanwhile, for the past two years, an Undergraduate Academic Board that includes students as well as faculty and administrators, has been systematically reviewing the university's 28 undergraduate majors. The goal of the review is to ensure that each major is providing a structured, in-depth, challenging education for students, including opportunities for advanced study and capstone courses or individual or small-group projects that involve them in research with faculty. A preliminary review of each major was completed in the Spring of 1994 and departments have submitted responses. A final report on each major, with recommendations for improvements, will be sent to departments and the academic administration by the end of the 1994-95 academic year. University of Colorado at Boulder: In 1987, adopted a new strategic plan that included strengthening of undergraduate education as a major goal. Columbia University: A Committee on Undergraduate Education, which includes tenured faculty, has been formed to improve various aspects of undergraduate education. The committee has been working with several departments to improve the majors and the second two years of undergraduate education. It has also been examining ways to improve the university's undergraduate writing program. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign: In 1987, established a Council on Undergraduate Education, made up of faculty and student representatives, to recommend ways to strengthen the undergraduate experience. Many council recommendations have been implemented, including: an expanded orientation program for new students and their parents changes in the language of campus guidelines for promotion and tenure in order to emphasize the importance of teaching establishment of an Educational Technologies Board aimed at improving computer-assisted learning. University of Iowa: In 1992, at the request of the state board of regents developed a set of strategies that called for increasing the involvement of tenured and tenure-track faculty in undergraduate education, augmenting incentives for excellent teaching, and ensuring that faculty development programs fully contribute to the university's academic programs. Results so far have included the following: The percentage of faculty-taught classes in the College of Business has increased markedly. The College of Liberal Arts has established a policy that departments may not assign teaching assistants to upper-division courses without explicit authorization. In the College of Liberal Arts, those seeking promotion and tenure are now expected to submit actual teaching evaluations by students and peers, rather than general summaries, and to submit evaluations that are recent. New faculty in the College of Liberal Arts are now advised that tenure or promotion will not be recommended without the demonstration of a record of effective teaching. Iowa State University: In 1992, developed a plan that set specific goals for enhancing faculty productivity and effectiveness. The plan was developed at the request of the state board of regents, but it is an integral part of the university's strategic planning efforts and will be continuously reviewed and updated on campus. The plan addresses numerous issues; goals that relate directly to undergraduate education include the following: Increase student retention and graduation rates. The goal is to increase the one-year and two-year retention rates of the entering 1994-95 undergraduate class to 90 percent and 80 percent, respectively. The one-year retention rate for the 1989-90 entering class was 81.4 percent, while the two-year retention rate was 71.9 percent. Increase the percentage of tenured and tenure-track faculty who are teaching undergraduate level courses. The goal is 95 percent by the 1995-96 academic year. In 1992-93, approximately 84 percent of these faculty were teaching undergraduate courses. The ultimate goal is to involve all faculty in undergraduate teaching, with the most gifted faculty teaching introductory courses. The Johns Hopkins University: In January 1992, the Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences appointed a committee of six students and six faculty to evaluate undergraduate education at the university. The committee's report has been circulated among the faculty, the student council, and other groups, and the committee is currently working with the university's Development Office to turn its proposed initiatives into fundable recommendations. In November 1992, the president and the provost chartered a committee to "undertake an imaginative inquiry into the university's underlying health, prospects, and strategic directions and to recommend ways in which Hopkins can remain at the forefront of higher education through the year 2000 and beyond." As part of this effort, a strategic study group is focusing specifically on the university's undergraduate program. University of Kansas: In September 1993, the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs appointed a universitywide task force to study the freshman and sophomore academic experience. The task force is examining the university's progress toward stated goals for undergraduate education. University of Maryland at College Park: The Campus Senate commissioned a review of undergraduate education at the end of the 1980s. The review led to a report entitled "Promises to Keep: the College Park Plan for Undergraduate Education," which stressed active learning, writing, and critical thinking skills. The report led directly to the adoption of new minimum general education requirements that every undergraduate student must fulfill as a condition for earning the baccalaureate degree. Currently the Undergraduate Studies Office and other campus units are working with a strategic planning process designing better ways to organize the planning and implementation of present and future undergraduate education efforts. University of Michigan: The university's College of Literature, Science and the Arts has undertaken an Undergraduate Initiative aimed at increasing faculty-student contact, particularly during the freshman and sophomore years, and at replacing large, impersonal lectures with small classes. University of Minnesota: A President's Committee on Teaching and Learning is in the process of making recommendations for action in five key areas: communicating the importance and value of teaching; reviewing the reward system to ensure proper recognition of teaching and advising; exploring various teaching strategies, including new uses of technology; fostering faculty-student interaction in and out of the classroom; and assisting faculty and departments to focus on creative approaches to teaching in a major-university setting. A final report was to be presented to the president in December 1994. State University of New York at Buffalo: Has appointed an Arts and Sciences Curriculum and Program Committee charged with reviewing all aspects of the undergraduate program in the arts and sciences, with an initial emphasis on general education. The Committee consists of senior faculty and reports directly to the Council of Arts and Sciences Deans. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: The Steering Committee of the University's institutional reaccreditation by the Southeastern Association of Colleges and Schools voted unanimously to make teaching the dominant focus of its two-year (1994-95) project. The university says the reaccreditation study will take an "unflinching" look at all forms of teaching throughout the university and make recommendations to help faculty teach more effectively and achieve higher levels of success. Northwestern University: In 1987, a student-faculty-administration Task Force on the Undergraduate Experience conducted a comprehensive review of the educational and cocurricular opportunities available to Northwestern undergraduates. The report of the Task Force included numerous recommendations for the enhancement of academic and extracurricular opportunities available to undergraduates. Nearly all of those recommendations have been implemented. In addition, every undergraduate program is systematically reviewed as part of the institution's regular program review process. Specific action plans are developed for strengthening programs that are found to be in need of attention. University of Oregon: In the fall of 1994 began, through its Undergraduate Education Coordinating Council, a comprehensive review of its undergraduate curriculum and program. University of Pennsylvania: The new president of the university, who took office in 1994, has made the reorganization of undergraduate education her highest priority. Supported by a donation from an alumnus, a process of redesign has begun with the appointment of a committee of faculty and students who will spearhead the effort. University of Pittsburgh: Has completed the first phase of a long-range planning process; several of the most important goals address the improvement of teaching and learning, including a particular focus on undergraduate education. Has also implemented procedures for the ongoing review of both undergraduate and graduate programs. This review process includes self-studies, internal review teams, and external review teams. Rutgers University: In 1992, initiated a universitywide review of its undergraduate curriculum. The process has to date yielded a draft set of universitywide learning goals for students. These goals delineate expectations for the university community concerning skills and competencies that should be developed in all students regardless of their major field of study. In the fall of 1993, a Pilot Grants program was initiated to support faculty projects focused on developing new programs that are linked to these universitywide learning goals. Projects funded in the 1993-94 academic year focused on improving student competence in oral and written communication, information and computer literacy, mathematical competence, multicultural understanding, citizenship, and critical thinking. University of Southern California: Established in the fall of 1988 a President's Commission on Undergraduate Education, which has been reviewing all aspects of the undergraduate experience at the university and recommending both short- and long-term improvements. The Commission's recommendations to date have given strong emphasis to the importance of giving teaching and teaching-related activities greater weight "throughout faculty evaluation processes at all levels, from departmental to presidential decisions, from merit salary increases to promotions." In 1993-1994, launched committees to reform general education and to foster curricular collaborations between the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences and the professional schools. Stanford University: A Commission on Undergraduate Education, charged in 1993 to "articulate the educational goals of Stanford's undergraduate program," recommended a number of specific proposals to increase the "rigor, coherence, and clarity" of the university's undergraduate program. The recommended steps included the creation of a new core requirement in science, mathematics, and technology for nonscientists; redefinition of core requirements in the social sciences and humanities; the strengthening of writing and foreign language requirements; and the development of a universitywide review process for major programs. The Commission also recommended enhancing the position of undergraduate education in the administrative structure through the creation of a new Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education. The University of Texas at Austin: In 1990, appointed a campuswide Committee on the Undergraduate Experience to develop a coherent and comprehensive strategy for improving undergraduate education. The Committee's recommendations are now being acted upon. University of Toronto: "Planning for 2000, a Provostial White Paper on University Objectives," now in final draft, emphasizes the importance of undergraduate education and the nexus between teaching and research at the university. The plan's specific goals and strategies include ensuring that all faculty are engaged in both undergraduate and graduate teaching, providing opportunities in all divisions for both undergraduate and graduate students to participate in faculty research projects with faculty members, and governing hiring, tenure and promotion decisions by the expectation of full engagement in teaching and research. University of Virginia: As part of a reaccreditation self-study, a faculty committee on Improvement of Teaching has been established and charged with expanding the role of the university's Teaching Resource Center, strengthening incentives for superior teaching, reviewing evaluation procedures, and developing school and universitywide programs for enhancing the quality of apprenticeship teaching and the effectiveness of the learning experience of both undergraduate and graduate students. Washington University in St. Louis: A committee on undergraduate education recently completed a study of the freshman year. A series of recommendations has been adopted and is being implemented. University of Wisconsin, Madison: Drawing upon a 1988 institutional self-study, the university identified the strengthening of undergraduate education as one of its major directions for the future. Recommendations addressing such issues as undergraduate enrollment, the importance of teaching, and an enhanced undergraduate curriculum provided the groundwork for broad undergraduate education improvement initiatives that began in the 1991-92 academic year. Strengthened undergraduate curricula University of Arizona: Is developing plans to restructure general education requirements for all undergraduates with CORE curriculum. Has increased involvement of undergraduates in research. Has focused college deans' attention on reducing the number of very-low-enrollment courses in order to reallocate resources to better meet students' curricular needs. Brown University: Specific initiatives to strengthen the curriculum have included developing a program of University Courses to provide a framework to help students and their advisors in planning a program of study consistent with the goals of a liberal education as outlined in Brown's Guide to Liberal Learning; reviewing all concentration programs; initiating a Parallax Program of courses that intersect the sciences and humanities; initiating a program in foreign languages across the curriculum; and initiating a program for women and minorities in science which involves faculty in ongoing seminars and opportunities for course development. University of California, Los Angeles: Has developed two comprehensive programs-a Revolution in the Physical Sciences Program and a Biomedical Education Initiative-that are aimed at increasing the quality of undergraduate science education and improving its delivery in the classroom and the laboratory. These programs include direct mentoring by faculty, individual research projects, personal research training, and interactive computing laboratories. Is redesigning the lower-division undergraduate curriculum for Life Science students. A new, four-course Life Science core curriculum will be administered by four departments and taught by interdepartmental teams. Changes in the content of introductory chemistry, physics, and mathematics courses for Life Science students will accompany the new core curriculum. University of California, San Diego: Has repeatedly reviewed and revised its general education programs over the last decade. The Theater Department has revised its program to increase the performance activities of undergraduates and to shift the balance of faculty teaching toward undergraduates. The Music Department has begun to devote the winter term of its weekly departmental seminar (attended by all faculty, graduate students and undergraduates) to creative undergraduate projects to encourage undergraduates to join in the creative life of the department. Carnegie Mellon University: The College of Humanities and Social Sciences has redesigned its general education program, a structured set of designated courses and electives, from which the students of all the colleges on campus derive their general education courses. That same college is also planning a set of freshman seminars. The College of Engineering has designed a new approach to engineering education by developing a set of introductory courses to the various engineering disciplines, from which each freshman must choose two. The Graduate School of Industrial Administration and the School of Computer Science have each assumed ownership of the undergraduate programs in their subjects and instituted new curricula. In the Mellon College of Science, where a curriculum review is in process, new courses have been installed in physics for science students and for engineering students, and the Department of Mathematics is devising new approaches to the basic calculus course. At the university level, an expanded Office of International Education and new exchange programs have expanded opportunities for undergraduates from all colleges to study abroad. Case Western Reserve University: Has involved sophomore engineering majors in the development of a new freshman engineering course designed to help students develop the team-building skills they will need in the workplace. Catholic University: The School of Arts and Sciences is in the process of creating a coordinated freshmen year with special emphasis on thinking, writing, and language skills. If this curriculum proves successful, consideration will be given to including freshmen in the four professional schools at the university. Clark University: In 1991, after a review of the university's general education requirements, the faculty approved a recommendation that these requirements be broadened to include a course in Scientific Perspectives and a Language course. A number of new courses have subsequently been developed to strengthen the science offerings that satisfy the Scientific Perspective requirement, including an innovative new "Discovering Physics" course that replaces the traditional lecture and lab format with hands-on, learning-by-doing experiences. Faculty legislation passed several years ago, mandated a standard level of mathematical proficiency for all students. Beginning in the Fall of 1995, entering students will need to demonstrate their proficiency through a placement test, and those who do not meet the minimum standard will be required to take a newly created course, "Foundations of Quantitative Thinking." The university has also recently increased the number of interdisciplinary and departmental minors it offers, to expand opportunities for undergraduates to pursue organized, structured programs of study in disciplines other than their majors. University of Colorado at Boulder: The core curriculum of the College of Arts and Sciences has been reorganized into two major components: skills acquisition and content areas of study. The College of Business has adopted this core curriculum for its students as well. Columbia University: Core and major cultures requirements have undergone significant improvements. Cornell University: With support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, faculty are designing new courses to enhance the undergraduate learning experience. One new course helps students in any discipline understand the processes scientists use to discover the chemistry that underlies various aspects of life. Other courses have been designed in Physics, Science and Ethics, and Cultural Studies. The School of Industrial and Labor Relations is offering new courses and programs to increase global awareness of labor issues. Harvard University: Through a newly created Educational Policy Committee, the university is systematically reviewing the structure and content of its departmental concentrations (fields of study). The review is designed to ensure that students in each field have adequate opportunities for participatory small-group instruction; that the system of academic advising meets student needs; that the course requirements within each field build on a coherent conceptual "spine"; and that students have an appropriate "capstone" experience in their major field of study (such as a thesis and/or a general examination). University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign: In 1989, the Campus Senate adopted a plan to enrich the general education portion of all undergraduate education programs through the implementation of a new, campuswide, general education program. Incremental costs of this new program are being funded through reallocation. Components of the program are being implemented in stages through FY 1996. Iowa State University: The College of Agriculture has added a requirement of credit in courses involving human relations and critical thinking. Introductory biology courses have been redesigned thoroughly, supported by a grant from the Howard Hughes Foundation. University of Kansas: Reviewed its undergraduate curriculum extensively in the 1980s and established a core curriculum in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the central school for virtually all freshmen and sophomores. The curriculum includes distribution courses, Eastern and Western civilization, foreign language, English and mathematics requirements. It also requires early and continuous enrollment in math and English for all incoming students until the requirements are met. The university's Writing Center maintains a Writing Across the Curriculum program, in which staff work with faculty to incorporate writing assignments in all undergraduate programs. University of Maryland at College Park: The introduction of a new Core Liberal Arts and Sciences Studies Program in the fall 1990 semester has been the most significant campuswide initiative to improve the undergraduate curriculum. In addition to fundamental competency requirements, the program includes required exploration in broad areas of learning in the first two years in humanities, arts, sciences, mathematics, social sciences, and history. The program includes advance studies requirements that may include a senior thesis or senior capstone course. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: The Physics Department has developed a new, optional version of first-term freshman physics, whose duration extends past the normal December end-of-term into a January Independent Activities Period. This option provides students with weaker backgrounds in either mathematics or physics an additional month to complete the material. In addition, during the first month of classes, substantial emphasis is given to reviewing and strengthening precalculus math, basic physics concepts, and problem-solving skills. This program also involves intensive use of course tutors: each student must spend an hour with a tutor each week. The Physics Department also is in the process of revising the teaching methodology of Physics I, a subject required of all undergraduates, to distribute teaching responsibility more broadly among the department's faculty and to emphasize interactive classroom learning. The revision will replace a three-lecture, two-recitation section format with small classes of no more than 16 students, plus a single plenary lecture each week that emphasizes demonstrations and a general outline of the week's material. This revision will also involve weekly formal tutoring sessions attended by teaching assistants and faculty the night before weekly quizzes, weekly staff meetings of course instructors, and intensive use of study guides in conjunction with a text. University of Michigan: In the 1989-90 year, the Department of Chemistry undertook a major revision of its introductory curriculum by inaugurating a new introductory sequence for students with good high school preparations. This sequence, which enrolls about 2,000 students a year (about one-third of the students taking introductory chemistry), is a "lean, lab-rich curriculum." The Mathematics department has initiated a New Wave Calculus program that utilizes imaginative new teaching materials and methods. Components of the program include smaller-sized classes, a greater emphasis on collaborative learning, greater emphasis on critical thinking and analysis, and emphasis on articulation of problem-solving strategies. When fully implemented, this reform will constitute a major commitment of resources to undergraduate education, because it will require additional faculty, additional teaching assistants, expanded faculty and teaching assistant training, continued evaluation, and a significant reallocation of faculty teaching effort from upper-level to lower-level courses. The university says this reform has already provided a catalyst for change in faculty attitudes regarding the nature of effective teaching throughout the mathematics curriculum. A number of departments are moving to integrate language study with substantive academic learning to make such study a more integral component of the undergraduate education process. Michigan State University: As part of a recent transition from a quarter system to a semester system, a new general education curriculum was adopted and every undergraduate academic program was reviewed, with most undergoing revision. Specific changes included the following: A new, universitywide mathematics requirement A revised writing program featuring a freshman writing course that involves small (25-student) sections taught by regular faculty Capstone courses in major subjects Refined and increased use of technology in classroom delivery and student learning. Michigan State is also emphasizing more small classes for freshmen, as well as more small discussion sections in large introductory courses. University of Minnesota: Has reviewed large introductory courses in a variety of fields. Has adopted a new Liberal Education Agenda that revises the liberal education requirements for all undergraduates at the university's Twin Cities campus. Specific changes include a diversified core curriculum structured around discipline-based and interdisciplinary fields of knowledge; new sets of courses based around specific themes, such as citizenship and public ethics; and new opportunities for development of writing skills through writing-intensive courses. University of Missouri, Columbia: Is in the process of implementing a thoroughly redesigned general education program. The University of Nebraska, Lincoln: A universitywide General Education Planning Committee was appointed to develop a plan for a general education program applicable to all nine undergraduate colleges. The resulting plan has been approved by all the undergraduate colleges and a new general education program will be required of all first-year students beginning with the fall semester of 1995. The new program has three components: (1) Essential Studies, which consist of distribution courses in nine areas; (2) Integrative Studies, which include courses that focus special attention on pedagogy (all students will take ten courses that include such components as critical thinking and oral and written communication); (3) a half-semester, one-credit course in Information Discovery/Retrieval, which will be taught by library faculty. The university has also been focusing attention on improving curricular offerings (as well as scholarships and other opportunities) for high-ability students. New York University: Following five years of universitywide self-study and development, has recently instituted a pilot core curriculum intended to build a common base of essential skills. The curriculum includes a four-course sequence in the humanities and social sciences and a three-course sequence in mathematics and natural sciences; students are provided a unifying thread through each course sequence and similar overall goals. Parallel with these courses, students take a year-long expository writing course and a quantitative reasoning course. State University of New York at Buffalo: Has implemented a major revision of its undergraduate general education curriculum in the arts and sciences. Components of this revision include an intermediate proficiency language requirement and an extensive new curriculum in science for students not majoring in science. Northwestern University: In response to the recommendations of a 1987 Task Force on the Undergraduate Experience and the recommendations of departmental program reviews, numerous enhancements of the undergraduate curriculum have been implemented. Examples include increased offerings in written and oral communication; the institution of a Center for the Writing Arts (bringing together strengths found in such areas as journalism, screen writing, and English); the introduction of new courses in mathematics and science for the nonspecialist; the provision of additional opportunities for independent research and small seminar courses with senior faculty; and the establishment of an Integrated Arts Program for the nonspecialist. In addition, curricular requirements in engineering have been revised to incorporate more courses in the humanities and social sciences, the College of Arts and Sciences has implemented a program that permits minor courses of study, and interdisciplinary undergraduate programs in Environmental Studies and Business Institutions have been created. The Ohio State University: Closely examined and revised its entire undergraduate curriculum in the late 1980s and implemented a new General Education curriculum in 1990. This curriculum provides a liberal arts background for all undergraduate students regardless of major. Efforts are currently underway to revise major programs to facilitate student progress toward the degree. University of Oregon: Has restructured its undergraduate curriculum to encourage students to take fewer and more intensive courses. University of Pennsylvania: In the fall of 1987, adopted new undergraduate course distribution requirements in the College of Arts and Sciences. The new requirements are intended to ensure that students receive a broad, liberal arts education base and do not specialize too early; students must take ten courses in six thematic areas before choosing a major. Also has initiated a new freshman writing requirement, expanded liberal arts requirements in its three undergraduate professional schools (business, engineering, and nursing), and now requires that all undergraduates, except those in engineering, demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language. Pennsylvania State University: The Leonhard Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Education, in the College of Engineering, is designed to improve the quality and relevancy of undergraduate engineering education. The Center supports faculty innovators, enhances existing programs, explores new techniques and equipment, generates ideas, and integrates successful ideas into the broader curriculum. In the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, research activities feed directly into the undergraduate educational program through the promotion of new courses. Faculty in this College developed the first interdisciplinary general education course on the earth system; this course has served as a model for numerous universities across the country. In the College of Arts and Architecture, the Department of Landscape Architecture has established a reading/seminar parallel course with design studios to give undergraduates a deeper understanding of design theory and contemporary design issues during the early years of their study. University of Pittsburgh: The College of Arts and Sciences has revised its writing requirement to put a greater emphasis on writing-intensive courses within regular departmental curricula. The College is also revising its foreign culture requirement to emphasize comparative study of cultures and greater proficiency in geography. Within the College, the departments of Biological Sciences, Geology and Planetary Science, Physics and Astronomy, and Computer Science have initiated significant changes in their undergraduate curricula, and the departments of Mathematics and Theater Arts are currently working on revisions. Within the School of Engineering, the Department of Chemical Engineering has completely revised its curricula in the past four years, expanding faculty-student contact in its core courses; and the Department of Electrical Engineering has implemented a curriculum change that adds new laboratory courses and provides students with more elective flexibility. The School of Pharmacy is in the process of a major curricular revision. The College of General Studies has adopted a new curriculum requiring two courses with international perspectives. Princeton University: Has made a priority of improving scientific literacy among undergraduates who are not science majors; under the auspices of a Council on Science and Technology, faculty members in the sciences and engineering have been designing new courses and renovating existing ones to achieve this goal. Faculty are also developing upper-level courses that address cultural and societal issues in science and technology. University of Toronto: Is intensifying curriculum renewal initiatives in all academic divisions. This renewal effort has already led to significant additions to the undergraduate Arts and Science curriculum. In Medicine and other health sciences, renewal has resulted in a shift from didactic teaching to problem-based learning. University of Virginia: In the last two years, the College of Arts and Sciences has expanded its area requirements to include an additional course in Natural Science and Mathematics (for a total of four courses in that area), an additional course in Historical Studies, and a course in Non-Western Perspectives. These are new additions to the core curriculum, which also includes two courses in Social Sciences, two courses in the Humanities and Fine Arts, two years of a foreign language, and two courses in composition and writing. Washington University in St. Louis: The undergraduate curriculum has been recently evaluated and improved in many areas of the university. For example, the undergraduate business curriculum was changed in the 1993-94 year to allow more flexibility for students to choose courses outside their major. University of Washington: In 1988, initiated a new College Studies program through which undergraduates take sequences of related courses to fulfill their general education requirement, rather than picking and choosing from courses that may be unrelated. In 1994, changed undergraduate general education requirements, making course selection less restrictive. University of Wisconsin, Madison: Undergraduate education initiatives that began in the 1991-92 academic year are focused on freshmen-related improvements as the foundation of increased opportunities for academic achievement by higher-level undergraduates. For example, academic departments are being given additional funding to develop rigorous honors-level freshmen and sophomore courses to encourage these students' transition to similarly demanding junior and senior honors courses in the major. Other new courses are aimed at providing freshmen with faculty-taught, small-class, active learning experiences. Based on an in-depth assessment of the undergraduate program, the Faculty Senate has approved a new core curriculum that will require new freshmen and new transfers entering in the fall 1995 semester to take a set of ten courses designed to ensure proficiency in writing and composition, mathematics, science, and the arts. The new core curriculum includes one selection from social studies; two selections from the humanities, literature and art; two natural science courses, of which one should have a laboratory component; one selection from mathematics, statistics, computer science, or formal logic, followed by a course in data, analytical techniques, and other advanced forms of quantitative reasoning; and one selection from composition, followed by a second course in advanced writing and other forms of communication. Building upon these freshmen-centered improvements, the university is also focusing on curricula improvements for higher-level undergraduates. Steps to ensure more rigorous evaluation of teaching performance University of Arizona: Has increased use of student assessments of teaching and course evaluations. Has developed a proposal for a new merit system for faculty. University of California, Los Angeles: As part of a comprehensive review of undergraduate education, a special work group has been charged with guiding the future direction of teaching evaluation and assessment of undergraduate learning. California Institute of Technology: In the mid-1980s, established a universitywide teaching evaluation and feedback program that includes a questionnaire system to evaluate classes at the end of each term and a rapid feedback system designed to correct immediate problems. Carnegie Mellon University: A Committee on Undergraduate Initiatives is now considering proposals for methods to evaluate teaching that will be reported as part of all casebooks in promotion and tenure consideration. Catholic University: In the spring of 1993, established universitywide student course evaluations, which replaced a previous, less reliable evaluation system. The instrument has a national data base. Course evaluation reports are used for assessment and improvement of teaching, for promotion and tenure, and for salary increases. An automated version of the report is available to undergraduate students campuswide. Clark University: In the 1992-93 academic year, developed a universitywide teaching evaluation form that is now uniformly administered in all courses each semester. The results provide individual faculty and their department chairs with regular feedback on teaching effectiveness. Evaluation results are also reviewed annually by the Dean of the College and department chairs, with an eye toward identifying any patterns of problems that may be apparent over time. The Dean and the Undergraduate Academic Board are currently exploring additional ways of assessing teaching effectiveness, such as teaching portfolios and peer review. Harvard University: Maintains a rigorous course evaluation program for all courses with enrollments greater than 15 students. The program is run by students with faculty supervision. Results are published annually in a course evaluation guide. University of Maryland at College Park: An increasing number of colleges and departments have improved the evaluation of teaching within their units by such means as more structured peer observations and reviews and through better utilization of student evaluations. A universitywide evaluation system is currently being discussed. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: A student-run course evaluation guide, published twice yearly, provides feedback to students, faculty, and departments on individual subjects and teachers. Evaluation data are also turned back to departments for their own use. The university says this evaluation effort has received increasing support and recognition from senior administrators as well as individual departments over the last ten years; it says there are clear signs that departments and schools are paying attention to the evaluations of subjects and instructors, and that much positive change has resulted. Michigan State University: A special committee has recently conducted a thorough review of current evaluation procedures. A program funded by the Lilly Foundation has sponsored several workshops each semester over the last two years on teaching evaluation. These workshops have included sessions on teaching portfolios, peer evaluation, and in-class assessment. Performance appraisal workshops for new administrators are also emphasizing teaching evaluation. University of Minnesota: Has instituted uniform student evaluation of teaching and a new program of peer review of teaching to facilitate teaching evaluation for purposes of promotion and tenure decisions. The Johns Hopkins University: In the 1994-95 academic year, the School of Arts and Sciences will institute a new, more comprehensive system for evaluating faculty teaching. Mandatory teaching evaluations are being introduced in the School of Engineering in 1994; teaching performance, of which student evaluations are one aspect, is being given increased attention in promotion decisions there. In the School of Nursing, undergraduates are asked to evaluate each course as it is completed; this information is used by a curriculum committee as an important data source for curricular decisions and for identification of problems or areas of concern. The School of Continuing Studies implemented an automated course/instructor evaluation process in 1993, permitting more reliability in the evaluation process and more timely feedback to faculty. The university's Peabody Conservatory also has an evaluation system in place. McGill University: Implemented a mandatory course evaluation policy in 1980. The method of evaluation and disposition of results are left to the discretion of departments. In 1992, approved a related policy that provides for public access to certain core items from course evaluations. University of Nebraska, Lincoln: Over 35 academic departments are now involved in the evaluation of instruction through teaching portfolios and other mechanisms. The university is also one of twelve universities participating in an American Association of Higher Education project on teaching evaluation; the departments of English, Mathematics and Statistics, and Psychology are participating in this program for the 1994-95 year, along with the School of Music. New York University: Following a review of course evaluation models from different NYU schools and other universities, a faculty committee chose one model for further review and testing in 40 classrooms in the fall of 1994. Northwestern University: To enhance the credibility of a centrally administered course and teaching evaluation program, a thorough psychometric review of the current evaluation instrument was conducted. The review demonstrated the validity and reliability of a number of core items on the instrument; the university hopes that those items will be included in the instruments of schools not using the centrally administered forms, so that summative judgments of teaching quality can be made more easily. Also, some schools are including class visitations by colleagues and, in some cases, the dean, to assess teaching. The Ohio State University: Is in the process of adopting a new and more effective instrument for student evaluation of teaching and is encouraging peer review of teaching. University of Pittsburgh: In December 1994, completed implementation of a policy that mandates peer and student evaluation of teaching for all faculty who have primary instructional responsibility for a given course. Rutgers University: Consistent use of student input in evaluating teaching was increased in the spring of 1993 when a universitywide student rating form was implemented. Academic units have been directed to expand the teaching evaluation process to include a variety of methods in addition to student ratings: some units are developing peer observation systems; administrators and faculty are experimenting with the use of teaching portfolios. In the fall of 1993, a Teaching Evaluation Development Grant Program was established to provide academic units with funds for developing comprehensive, multimethod processes for evaluating teaching. Stanford University: A subcommittee of the Faculty Senate is scheduled to report in 1994-95 on recommendations for a comprehensive reform of the processes for the evaluation of teaching. Syracuse University: Extensive discussions, led by a 36-member Faculty Advisory Panel and a 13-member University Task Force on Assessment, resulted in a formal proposal to establish a teaching assessment program. This proposal was adopted and funded by the Chancellor's Fund for Innovation. Projects selected to date have focused on important questions related to students' learning and development. This ongoing effort is supported by seminars, periodic reports, and a newsletter published by an Assessment Coordinating Committee that manages the program. The College of Engineering and Computer Science has instituted a policy that requires both mid-semester and end-of-semester teaching evaluations for every undergraduate and graduate course. The College is developing a "best practices" teaching portfolio and, in addition, requires each department to present teaching evaluation data in an annual report that discusses the progress made in improving teaching quality. The university is one of four private research universities participating in a Faculty Peer Review of Teaching project sponsored by the Pew and Hewlett foundations, and directed by Professor Schulman of Stanford University. This project is aimed at greater understanding of teaching as a public act which, like the presentation of research, is subject to peer review. The University of Texas at Austin: By action of the University Council in 1991, each college or school is required to develop a procedure for mandatory evaluations. By action taken in 1994, the results of these evaluations will be available electronically to registered students. University of Toronto: In 1992, launched a new, facultywide teaching evaluation program in the Division of Arts and Science. The program uses a student opinion survey developed by a faculty-student committee after a thorough review of of evaluation methods within the university and elsewhere. Vanderbilt University: In the late 1980s, an Ad Hoc Committee on Evaluating Teaching and Learning was charged with the development of an evaluation system that would (1) prove credible to faculty, (2) augment anonymous student evaluations with other approaches to evaluation, (3)recognize attempts to challenge students intellectually, and (4) assess the value of the total university experience. A number of changes in the process of evaluating teaching resulted from that report, including the current practice of making course evaluations available to students over the campus computer network. University of Virginia: At the end of each semester, students are asked to complete evaluation forms that grade the teaching performance of all faculty whose courses they have taken. In the promotion and tenure process, the information gathered from these student evaluations is supplemented by selected interviews of students about their classroom experiences, and by the attendance of classes by members of the reviewing committee. Washington University in St. Louis: Has used student focus groups to help faculty better understand the strengths and weaknesses of various educational programs. University of Wisconsin, Madison: In 1993, the university began conducting undergraduate surveys as an addition to its long-established practice of departmentally administered faculty and course evaluations by students. The surveys are intended to measure student satisfaction with all, not just classroom, aspects of the undergraduate experience; the university says they are proving invaluable in identifying areas for policy development and improvement. Greater weight to teaching in hiring, tenure, promotion, and salary decisions University of Arizona: Promotion and tenure decisions are more closely scrutinized for evidence of commitment to, and excellence in, teaching. Absent such evidence, a negative decision is presumed, unless evidence to the contrary is presented. Announcements of annual faculty performance reviews, promotion and tenure, and sabbatical requests processes emphasize the necessity of documenting the extent and quality of teaching. Sabbaticals for improving teaching as well as research are now explicitly permitted and encouraged. Brown University: The Dean of the Faculty has required in the yearly review process of faculty performance that the quality of teaching be evaluated and given equal weight with research accomplishments. This is a change from past reviews where the focus was mostly on research accomplishments, and there was no attempt to evaluate the actual quality of teaching. Catholic University: Documentation of effective teaching is required for tenure. Annual increases in faculty salaries are based on explicit ratings of teaching effectiveness. Clark University: Since spring 1993, the results of a new, regular teaching evaluation program have been incorporated in tenure, promotion, and annual performance reviews, which all affect salary decisions. For the past two years, teaching ability has also been weighed heavily in the hiring of new faculty. Whenever possible, candidates who are brought to campus for an interview are also asked to teach a class, and the search committee solicits feedback from students and other faculty who attend the class. Columbia University: The Arts and Sciences Planning and Budget Committee now insists that any dossiers for tenure include teaching evaluations. Cornell University: The Provost, the university's highest ranking academic officer, has encouraged the deans of the university's schools and colleges to reexamine tenure guidelines so that they include a rigorous examination of teaching. A universitywide report, "Evaluation and Recognition of Teaching," called for such changes in tenure decisions. University of Iowa: In the College of Liberal Arts, those seeking promotion and tenure are now expected to submit actual teaching evaluations by students and peers, rather than general summaries, and to submit evaluations that are recent. New faculty in the College of Liberal Arts are now advised that tenure or promotion will not be recommended without the demonstration of a record of effective teaching. Iowa State University: The Provost has established an expectation that a significant portion of senior faculty will be involved in teaching non-skills-acquisition introductory courses. During the 1993-94 academic year, the College of Education reported that 100 percent of these types of introductory courses were taught by senior faculty; the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences reported that senior faculty taught 69 percent of these courses in its curriculum and the College of Design reported that senior faculty taught 63 percent of these courses. University of Maryland at College Park: The university is giving more consideration to teaching in the hiring and promotion processes, and requiring more substantiated documentation of teaching proficiency at all levels of the promotion process. There is more discussion of teaching performance in the evaluation of faculty. The university says it is doubtful that any professor could be promoted to tenure there now without a demonstration of teaching competence. McGill University: Every academic unit is reviewed on a seven-year cycle; the teaching quality of the unit is an important aspect of these reviews. In 1994, adopted a policy that requires a teaching portfolio to be included in dossiers for reappointment, tenure, and promotion. The policy standardizes the kinds of information to be included: a statement of teaching responsibilities, evidence of teaching effectiveness, and teaching development. Michigan State University: A Committee on Improvement, Evaluation, and Rewards for Teaching has issued a series of recommendations that include emphasizing the importance of teaching in the hiring process, developing unit guidelines for effective teaching as a basis for determination of rewards, developing more systematic and peer-oriented evaluation techniques, providing mentoring and more formal opportunities for continuing professional development across the career span, creating more public opportunities for conversations about teaching, and fostering scholarship on teaching. University of Minnesota: Several colleges now require a "teaching narrative" as part of the promotion and tenure dossier. In these narratives, candidates describe their approach to teaching and document the types of courses they teach. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: In November 1993, every department and curriculum in the College of Arts and Sciences reported to the Dean on its compliance with recommended revisions to tenure and promotion policies. In the College, departmental guidelines must now promote the use of teaching mission statements to record undergraduate teaching goals and strategies. Guidelines also call for peer teaching evaluations that document the quality of teaching style and instructional materials. To ensure more rigorous evaluation of teaching performance throughout the division of Academic Affairs, the Provost has asked all units to revise their policies and procedures for teaching evaluation and tenure. The revisions must provide for peer observation of tenured and untenured faculty and teaching evaluations by students. Northwestern University: Now requires that all tenure and promotion materials address the quality of and commitment to teaching, incorporating course evaluations, syllabi, teaching portfolio statements, and other such evidence. All deans are directed to ensure that salary recommendations include teaching, and the university says there are clear cases in which individuals who have made a greater commitment to teaching than to research are being rewarded. Previously, the university says, such research-inactive faculty would have been penalized in their salary raises. The Ohio State University: Is reexamining all guidelines for hiring, tenure, promotion, and salary decisions in order to place a greater emphasis on quality teaching. University of Pennsylvania: In recent years, the Provost has made it clear that teaching carries significant weight in all tenure and promotion decisions. The university's faculty handbook states that, for faculty to obtain tenure and promotion, "a high degree of excellence is expected in both research and teaching." University of Pittsburgh: In the College of Arts and Sciences, explicit evidence of teaching performance is now required of all faculty; the College says decisions on faculty hiring, promotion, tenure, and salary are being affected directly by this requirement. In the School of Engineering, the Department of Chemical Engineering says that teaching is a significant component in faculty evaluation, and that teaching quality and quantity both count heavily; the department has a formal procedure for peer evaluation, and these evaluations affect the annual raise of each faculty member. Satisfactory teaching in undergraduate courses is a requirement for tenure in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Rutgers University: Since 1990, departments have been required to submit evaluations of teaching of the candidates whom they recommend for hiring. In 1993, the format of tenure and promotion packets was changed to require more detailed information about teaching activities and the evaluation of teaching. Syracuse University: In 1993, each school and college submitted a major report that outlined its plans to modify or improve methods for evaluating and rewarding faculty performance. Each of these plans was drafted incorporating the following criteria: an increased emphasis on teaching, academic advising, and integrating research into teaching an improved set of procedures (such as self-review, student evaluations, peer review, and teaching portfolio review) for both formative and summative evaluation of teaching and advising annual evaluation of both tenured and untenured faculty in the areas of teaching and advising an appropriate balancing of emphasis on teaching, research, and service, with teaching accorded at least equal emphasis with research, scholarship, and creative professional activity an explicit response to an expanded definition of research, including the relative weighting of the scholarships of discovery, application, teaching, and-where appropriate-creative professional activity. Some of the major strengths of these reports were a broad consensus that teaching should be given an increased emphasis in evaluation and promotion, that there is work well underway to expand the methods of evaluation, that both tenured and untenured faculty should be evaluated, and that there is widespread acceptance of the equality of teaching and research with acknowledgments of individual differences among faculty members. The University of Texas at Austin: Teaching evaluations for the past three years are required universitywide for consideration of promotion or tenure. The College of Liberal Arts also requires a teaching portfolio and peer evaluations of teaching. Tulane University: Teaching portfolios are now required for tenure and promotion reviews. Faculty members must demonstrate independent effectiveness in teaching and in research in order to attain tenure. University of Virginia: Annual evaluations of teaching performance and effectiveness are required at the departmental and decanal (deans') level. Washington University in St. Louis: Every tenure recommendation requires evaluation of teaching; these evaluations are reviewed by a committee of the Board of Trustees. University of Wisconsin, Madison: Is in the process of implementing a new, posttenure faculty review program that will include a review of faculty members' contributions to undergraduate education. Teaching evaluation procedures are being strengthened, and the results of these evaluations are to be more systematically considered in personnel decisions. Teaching evaluation is also being tied to faculty and instructional development programs. Emphasis on having regular, full-time faculty teach undergraduate courses University of Arizona: Has increased significantly the number of lecture classes taught by senior faculty, especially at lower-division levels. Plans to restructure general education with regular faculty teaching core curriculum. Brown University: Says it is fully committed to a policy of having full-time faculty teach undergraduate courses. This policy was reaffirmed in 1993 in an Academic Directions Committee Report written by a team of faculty and administrators working under the Provost. University of California, San Diego: Most departments assign ladder-rank faculty (rather than advanced graduate students or temporary faculty) the responsibility for covering core lower and upper division undergraduate courses. Carnegie Mellon University: The university says it has always expected its faculty to teach, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Clark University: All full-time, regular faculty members teach undergraduates. The university makes no distinction between undergraduate and graduate faculty, and it has no faculty in regular, tenure-track positions who are concentrating solely on research. Columbia University: In the last five years the number of faculty teaching in the core undergraduate curriculum has increased from 71 to 97. Currently, all faculty, both senior and junior, teach at least half their courses to undergraduates. University of Iowa: In the College of Business, over the past two years the proportion of lower-division undergraduate courses taught by faculty has increased from 33 percent to 65 percent, and the proportion of upper-division courses taught by faculty has increased from 82 percent to 100 percent. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Says a very high percentage of undergraduate instruction is undertaken by full-time faculty. All first-year science core subjects, which are required of all students, are taught by highly regarded senior faculty in those disciplines. Many of the recitation sections in these subjects, particularly in the two-term Physics sequence, are staffed by senior and junior faculty members as well. Virtually all faculty participate in undergraduate research activities, including most senior faculty. University of Maryland at College Park: The university says it feels strongly that faculty at all levels and ranks have a responsibility for teaching undergraduate courses. Examples of regular, full-time faculty teaching undergraduate courses include, but are not limited to, tenured or tenure-track faculty teaching most core general education courses, and senior engineering faculty teaching the entry-level freshman engineering design course. Beginning in the fall of 1993, all freshmen were eligible to enroll in a seminar taught by a full-time faculty member. McGill University: All regular, full-time faculty, including very senior professors, teach undergraduate courses. Michigan State University: Has generally engaged a large proportion of its faculty in undergraduate teaching. The university's revised general education program draws on regular faculty from across the disciplines to teach lower-division undergraduates. Recently adopted Guiding Principles call upon all faculty to contribute in some way to the education of undergraduates, whether in the classroom, by sharing research experiences in their laboratories, or by sharing their interests and expertise with students in informal settings. University of Minnesota: The Council on Liberal Education, which approves all courses for the core curriculum, specifies that courses admitted to satisfy lower-division liberal education requirements must be taught by faculty. Exceptions are granted, but departments must make a special case for those courses. New York University: Says senior professors and some of the university's most productive faculty researchers are committed to teaching undergraduate courses. Among these faculty members are the university's President, the Dean of the School of Law, and the Chairs of Cinema Studies and Performance Studies at the university's Tisch School of the Arts. Northwestern University: Regularly monitors the degree to which full professors teach undergraduate courses, and regularly finds that approximately 85 to 90 percent do each year. Only 6 percent of courses are taught by graduate assistants, and these are principally in languages. University of Pittsburgh: Regular, full-time faculty members teach 95 percent of all undergraduate mechanical engineering classes and 95 percent of all undergraduate nursing classes. Rice University: Faculty members teach 95 percent of undergraduate courses; when graduate students do teach undergraduates, they do so under the close supervision of faculty. Comprehensive foundation courses in math and science, the humanities, and the social sciences are taught by teams of full-time faculty. University of Southern California: Allows only regular, full-time faculty to teach general courses required of all undergraduates, except freshman writing and beginning foreign language classes. The University of Texas at Austin: A proposal is being prepared that would offer incentives to departments that increase the proportion of lower-division courses taught by tenured or tenure-track faculty. University of Virginia: Over the last two years, schools and departments have increased faculty teaching time available to undergraduates by adding new courses, transferring staff from graduate to undergraduate programs, and eliminating underenrolled classes. (In many cases, increased undergraduate enrollment has thus been handled in departments with little or no increase in faculty.) In the sciences, all undergraduate lecture courses and seminars are taught by full-time faculty; teaching assistants handle laboratory and discussion sessions only. Washington University in St. Louis: Requires that virtually all undergraduate courses, with the exception of freshman English, be taught by regular, full-time faculty. University of Wisconsin, Madison: The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents recently adopted an educational workload policy that includes a set of measures to be reported annually by the University of Wisconsin System. This information will allow monitoring the full-time faculty's share in undergraduate teaching. An accountability system has been developed to strengthen the capability of the University of Wisconsin System to be "answerable for the effective discharge of [its] mission." In the process, delivering a high-quality undergraduate education was identified as the top priority within the University of Wisconsin System mission. Steps to curb or eliminate the practice of reducing teaching loads to attract or retain faculty University of Arizona: The Provost in the fall of 1993 urged academic units to tell prospective faculty that teaching is expected of all faculty, to tell them that undergraduate teaching is expected in most departments, and to inform them of the typical teaching load in their department. Letters of appointment now obligatorily include a statement about the expectation of undergraduate teaching. Brown University: New faculty are expected to assume a normal teaching load. Requests by other faculty to reduce teaching loads are reviewed by the Dean of the Faculty and the Provost on a case-by-case basis. Clark University: Has not used reduced teaching loads to attract or retain faculty. A few departments offer new junior faculty a one-course reduction in their first year to devote more time to preparing their courses and getting their research programs established. From time to time, some faculty members engaged in large-scale research projects use grant funds to hire replacements while reducing their teaching loads by a course or two. Columbia University: Faculty are no longer given course relief to attract them to the university. Northwestern University: Does not hire any faculty with the promise of no teaching. Regularly monitors teaching loads across the schools to detect any significant changes; this effort includes providing reports to deans and chairs about each faculty member's teaching effort, by course, level, and enrollments. (The university cites the example of a case where it refused to make a teaching-load counteroffer to a distinguished humanities professor who had been promised a zero teaching load for five years by another university; it says the professor left and went to the other university.) Syracuse University: The reduction of teaching loads to attract and retain faculty was not widely practiced in the past and is not practiced at all in the present; the university now does not hire any "research faculty" in tenure track positions. (The university notes that one distinguished professor in the philosophy department, who was brought in under this strategy, is now teaching a freshman survey course; the university says this professor observed that "the public had a point," and said he wanted to "make a contribution.") The Ohio State University: In principle, opposes the practice of reducing teaching loads to attract or retain faculty, and rarely allows departments to do this. The University of Texas at Austin: Reduction of teaching loads to attract and retain faculty is not a practice. Faculty in their first year of teaching are given a reduced load to allow more time for class preparation. University of Wisconsin, Madison: A new educational workload policy recently adopted by the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents clearly indicates to the faculty and institutions within the University of Wisconsin System that undergraduate teaching is integral to faculty responsibility. Teaching centers and special programs that concentrate on upgrading teaching efforts of regular faculty and teaching assistants University of Arizona: In 1987, revamped its office of Instructional Research and Development into a University Teaching Center to support instruction through workshops for faculty and teaching assistants, faculty grants, processing student teaching evaluation forms, and purchase and distribution of audiovisual equipment. The university recently allocated greater resources to the Center to enable it to supply and analyze evaluation forms free of charge to instructional units. Brown University: All faculty, regardless of rank, are eligible to participate in the activities of a Center for the Advancement of College Teaching, and to access its resources. These resources include workshops, observation, videotaping analysis, and literature on teaching techniques. New faculty and teaching assistants can earn a teaching certificate from the center and take advantage of various orientations and microteaching sessions. Carnegie Mellon University: Established a Teaching Center 12 years ago. Last year, it added a professional to the Center to assist in faculty development and to help teaching assistants improve their teaching skills. Clark University: Planning is underway for a Center for Teaching Excellence that will provide individual assistance to faculty and teaching assistants and offer workshops on new approaches to teaching and learning. University of Colorado at Boulder: Has a Faculty Teaching Excellence Program designed to raise faculty consciousness about good teaching practice and to increase the range and level of teaching skills. The program includes a voluntary consultation system for faculty, instructional workshops and symposia, and the publication of a series on good teaching practices. Over 2,000 faculty have been served through this program. Harvard University: A recently established Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning employs a professional staff of nine experienced teacher-counselors and provides orientation programs for teaching fellows and teaching assistants, as well as individualized counseling for regular faculty. Its programs include videotaping and close critiquing of classroom presentations. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign: First established an Office of Instructional Resources in 1964. In its current configuration, the OIR provides orientation and training for teaching assistants and seminars for faculty development, sponsored by colleges and departments across campus. In 1990, the university initiated a campuswide Writing Across the Curriculum Program that assists faculty and teaching assistants in implementing new writing courses and in improving the quality of writing instruction. The program offers individual and departmental consultations as well as seminars and workshops. Iowa State University: In 1993, established a Center for Teaching Excellence to provide support and resources for faculty members who want to improve their teaching skills and experiment with new teaching ideas. The center's services include workshops and seminars at the college and department level, monthly faculty forums, individual consultations, guidance with writing tests, and a library of materials related to teaching and professional development. The Johns Hopkins University: The School of Continuing Studies offers faculty development seminars to all of its faculty two or three times a year. Topics include such subjects as collaborative learning strategies and interactive teaching strategies. University of Maryland at College Park: The university established a Center for Teaching Excellence in 1990. The Center provides leadership in promoting and developing excellence in teaching, as well as assistance to colleges, departments, individual faculty members, and teaching assistants. The Center's services include campuswide workshops and dialogues, electronic forums on teaching, a broadly distributed newsletter, teaching assistant training at the campus and department levels, individual faculty consultations, a small grant program for instructional improvement, and specific projects in response to needs and requests. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Holds a universitywide orientation workshop for all new faculty and graduate teaching staff, followed closely by a seminar series on a range of teaching topics. It also offers classroom videotaping and consultation to all faculty and to many graduate teaching assistants. A number of individual departments have begun to expect or require all new faculty members to have their classes taped and to review those tapes with a consultant or colleague. In the 1993-94 year, MIT initiated a voluntary "resource liaison" program that links new faculty to staff members in the Office of Undergraduate Academic Affairs. The goal is to give new faculty an individual contact who can provide information about educational resources, policies and procedures, or anything else that might concern a new member of the teaching community. The university is in the process of forming a faculty/staff working group on improving teaching effectiveness. The principal charge of the group will be to help advance the goals of improving teaching and to address such issues as professional teaching experience for graduate students, English language policies for teachers among departments, integration of departmental and institutional teaching expectations, and establishing an even more effective system of teaching evaluation. The university says individual departments are becoming much more active in strengthening their expectations of and support for good teaching. The Chemistry Department has taken the lead in offering a model orientation program for its new graduate students. The departments of Biology, Physics, and Mathematics have undertaken similar programs that include videotaping, classroom visits, workshops, and the like. The entire School of Engineering has a long-standing tradition of emphasizing the importance of the role of the faculty member as a teacher: senior faculty observe the performance of new teachers, videotaping is strongly encouraged, and course evaluations play an integral role in deliberations about promotion and tenure cases. Individual department efforts are supported and encouraged by a centralized Teaching and Faculty Development program that has produced a popular guide for recitation instructors, maintains a video and text library, and is beginning to develop a program to assist international teachers in their adjustment to the American classroom. McGill University: A Centre for University Teaching and Learning, established in 1969, has four academic staff members, who are cross-appointed to the Faculty of Education, and three administrative/support staff. The Centre carries out instructional development activities for individual professors (confidential consultation services), departments and faculties (workshops developed on request), and the university at large (new faculty orientation, teaching assistant orientation, teaching portfolio workshops, course design and teaching workshops, and special workshops). The Centre's members also conduct funded research on the improvement of teaching and learning in higher education. In 1989, the Academic Policy and Planning Committee established a Subcommittee on University Teaching and Learning, chaired by the Academic Vice Principal, to study the university's needs for improvement in teaching and learning and to make recommendations on meeting these needs. Michigan State University: An Assistant to the Provost for Faculty Development and Diversity encourages and coordinates central and decentralized teaching improvement programs for the faculty. University of Minnesota: Has two major faculty development programs: one focuses on mentoring for junior faculty and on enhancing diversity in teaching; a second offers customized workshops in departments on a wide variety of topics ranging from grading to cooperative learning. University of Missouri, Columbia: Has established a campuswide instructional development program for faculty. The program includes orientation sessions and seminars for new faculty, teaching renewal conferences for all faculty, and periodic training sessions on evaluating teaching. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln: A Teaching and Learning Center provides workshops and development sessions throughout the year for faculty and teaching assistants, and a resource handbook for all instructors. Teachers of large lecture classes have formed a "Century Club" (classes of over 100 students) to share techniques of successful large-group instruction. Since writing is an important component of the university's new general education program, workshops are also being offered to assist faculty in teaching writing and in increasing the amount of writing in large lecture courses. New York University: A Video Committee assists and advises in teachers' taping of their own classroom presentations for use in self-evaluation. The videotaping is supported by the university library's Video Production Center; in reviewing their performance, teachers may call upon consultants supplied by the Committee. State University of New York at Buffalo: Has established an Office of Teaching Effectiveness, which reports to a new Vice Provost for Faculty Development, and which offers pedagogical workshops and seminars for regular faculty and teaching assistants. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: In 1993, the university's Center for Teaching and Learning was given resources to expand its staff, facilities, and programs. The Center provides mandatory training for all new teaching assistants, instructional and assessment services, and teaching resource guides. Northwestern University: Maintains a Center for Teaching Excellence, with a full-time staff of three. The Center conducts workshops and provides consultations to individual faculty. The Ohio State University: As a result of university restructuring, new emphasis has been given to the Office of Faculty and Teaching Assistant Development, which now has a reporting line to the Office of Academic Affairs. University of Oregon: In 1989, established a universitywide Teaching Effectiveness Program that offers videotaping of classroom sessions, with review and consultation by Program professionals, seminars and presentations on various aspects of effective teaching, orientation and consultations for graduate teaching fellows, and a print and video library of teaching resources. Individual colleges and departments have also launched initiatives of their own that are coordinated with this universitywide program. For example, the College of Business Administration sponsors its own workshops and seminars, the law school videotapes its faculty at their request, and the Sociology Department and the History Department have developed model lectures and colloquia directed at the teaching of specific topics that exemplify or address the very best treatments of themes within those disciplines. University of Pennsylvania: Faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences have access to facilities for videotaping their teaching and for critique and analysis. In addition, the Faculty Development Committee of the School of Nursing holds scheduled workshops by experienced faculty members on classroom and clinical teaching skills. These workshops are open to all standing faculty and academic support staff. Purdue University: Maintains a Center for Instructional Services that conducts teaching workshops and provides other services to regular faculty and teaching assistants. Rutgers University: In 1992, established Teaching Excellence Centers on its three campuses. These centers provide support programs for faculty members in the form of workshops, seminars, consultation, and small grants focusing on improving teaching and implementing innovative teaching methods and curriculum ideas. University of Southern California: In 1990, established a Center for Excellence in Teaching to facilitate faculty efforts "to integrate first-rate scholarship and teaching excellence; to assist departments to develop discipline-based teaching assistant training programs to complement the universitywide programs; and to ensure appropriate evaluation of and recognition for teaching." The University of Texas at Austin: For nearly twenty years, has supported a Center for Teaching Effectiveness, which conducts annual workshops for both new and experienced faculty, conducts orientations for International Teaching Assistants, videotapes teaching assistants and faculty, and counsels individual teaching assistants and faculty. University of Toronto: Established a Teaching and Learning Resource Centre in 1993. It is diversifying and expanding faculty development programs in undergraduate divisions, particularly the Arts and Science division, which now sponsors a comprehensive series of seminars and workshops designed and presented by faculty for faculty, with the active support of the Dean. The Arts and Sciences division also sponsors an annual teaching forum designed primarily for recently appointed faculty. Vanderbilt University: Maintains a Center for Teaching that has conducted a number of programs to expose faculty to innovative teaching methods. Examples of these programs include interactive lectures, directed discussion, cooperative learning, collaborative problem-solving, team learning, the case method, and teaching and learning with technology. Other examples of activities conducted through the Center include lectures and seminars on improving teaching, a three-day workshop on teaching large classes, and a new faculty orientation program held each fall. University of Virginia: In 1990, established a Teaching Resource Center with minimal start-up funds from the state and the university. Currently, reallocations have been made from other areas of the university budget to continue and expand the services offered by the Center. The Center sponsors presentations and workshops throughout the academic year and is of particular support to graduate teaching assistants and junior faculty. More than 600 faculty members and teaching assistants have participated in Center activities over the past academic year. Washington University in St. Louis: Has established a Teaching Center headed by a widely respected faculty member. The center is available to faculty and to graduate students. University of Wisconsin, Madison: In December 1993, the Faculty Senate approved the creation of a Teaching Academy as "a gathering place for UW-Madison's excellent teaching scholars," and as a forum for discussion of complex issues unique to a large research university. A series of colloquia is planned to discuss such topics as innovations in instructional technology, instructional preparation for new and veteran teachers, curriculum content, peer review and student evaluations, and identifying what "teaching" really is. The university says these discussions are expected to result in systematic efforts to look even more critically at these issues. A Center for Learning through Evaluation, Assessment, and Dissemination (LEAD) is also being developed as a cross-college resource to facilitate faculty creativity and assist them toward greater effectiveness and efficiency in teaching and learning. The LEAD Center's primary activities will focus on supporting faculty-initiated evaluation of innovative teaching methods and classroom assessment. Based on evaluation and assessment results, the LEAD Center will disseminate information about innovative teaching methods to faculty at the university, as well as other teaching institutions. The university says numerous department-based initiatives to improve and enhance teaching quality include colloquia, workshops, and working seminars. For example, the Educational Psychology Department offered in June 1994 a two-week colloquium on Enhancing Teaching Quality. Special programs for teaching assistants University of Arizona: Requires all teaching assistants to undergo universitywide and departmental training prior to beginning teaching assignments. Foreign teaching assistants are required to meet proficiency standards on a test of spoken English and to participate in additional training. Brown University: The university's Center for the Advancement of College Teaching provides teaching assistants with information literature, including a teaching handbook, a departmental New Teaching Assistant Pilot Program that includes group and individual work (forums, micro-teaching), individual consultation via filmed and in-class observation, and an opportunity to earn a teaching certificate. The Center also evaluates nonnative, English-speaking, graduate Teaching Assistants for language proficiency before they are eligible to teach. Those whose English skills are deemed insufficient may not be assigned to classroom responsibilities and are required to take a class in English as a Foreign Language, which emphasizes pronunciation, communication strategies, and relevant cultural information. Upon successfully completing this course, these students are certified for classroom instruction. University of California, Los Angeles: Established a comprehensive orientation and training program for teaching assistants more than 20 years ago. The program is centrally administered but departmentally based, and offers publications, workshops, consultants, videotaping, and formal coursework. Departmental peer consultants work with faculty advisers to present methodology courses, support pedagogical and instructional efforts, and provide evaluation. Proficiency standards for spoken English have been established by the Graduate Division, and language programs and additional resources to assist foreign teaching assistants have been provided since 1986. Over 95 percent of all teaching assistants participate in training activities. Carnegie Mellon University: Teaching Assistants can now earn a Certificate of Competence through the university's teaching center by completing a series of specially designed seminars and workshops. An Intercultural Communications Center provides special seminars and workshops for nonnative speakers to qualify them to serve as teaching assistants. Certification programs are also available. Case Western Reserve University: Has developed a mandatory program of special training activities for new graduate students who will be teaching undergraduates. The training includes required oral-language proficiency testing for all new international graduate students whose native language is not English. Teaching assistants in several engineering departments are working with English Department faculty to improve their effectiveness in written communication. Catholic University: In 1989, initiated an orientation program for teaching assistants that consists of a two-day workshop at the beginning of the fall term and four colloquia during the academic year; the workshop and the colloquia focus on teaching skills. All new teaching assistants are required to attend the workshop and two of the four colloquia, and continuing teaching assistants and junior faculty have also attended. In the fall of 1994, the university began testing the English communication skills of foreign students and offered a special remedial communication-skills course for these students; this course will be required of all foreign students who need it beginning in the fall of 1995. In the fall of 1994, Catholic joined Howard University and two other Washington metropolitan area institutions in a Future Professorate Project funded by FIPSE and the Pew Charitable Trusts. The goal is to integrate teaching preparation of new teaching assistants into the overall graduate experience. The project offers a series of Faculty Teaching Mentors seminars; a higher level, predoctoral teaching appointment entitled the "Teaching Associateship"; and a Certificate in University Teaching awarded jointly by the Graduate School and academic departments. Clark University: In recent years, the Dean of Graduate Studies has included sessions on teaching as part of the orientation program for new graduate students. Some departments also conduct workshops of their own for teaching assistants; others rely on individual faculty to train them. Last year, the Dean of the College and the Dean of Graduate Studies jointly asked all departments to develop procedures to monitor and assess the performance of all teaching assistants on a regular basis, and the university's Undergraduate Academic Board has included the issue of teaching assistant training and evaluation in its review of all undergraduate majors. Graduate students do not teach any courses on their own at the university; they only assist faculty members, most typically with labs and discussion groups. University of Colorado at Boulder: Has a Graduate Teacher Program that provides training for new graduate students who will be teaching undergraduates or assisting senior faculty in the classroom. Workshops and the use of videotapes assist students in presentation skills, lecture planning, and teaching techniques. Currently, 80 percent of graduate assistants participate in the program. The goal is to have all graduate assistants participating within two years. University of Florida: Requires that all teaching assistants attend a series of 11 workshops that include such topics as presentation skills, lecture planning, and teaching techniques. Harvard University: The Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, with a professional staff of nine teaching consultants, provides orientation and training for Harvard's more than 1,000 teaching fellows, both through its own orientation and consulting services and through cooperative programs with the majority of Arts and Sciences departments. Course evaluation ratings for teaching fellows have increased markedly since the establishment of the Center in the 1980s. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign: All foreign teaching assistants whose native language is not English must pass an English proficiency test before being assigned instructional responsibilities. Those who fail the test or are preparing to take it attend workshops held by the Office of Instructional Resources. New foreign teaching assistants also participate in a special three-day orientation program, which is offered in addition to the regular orientation program for all teaching assistants. Since 1991, the university has provided a special, week-long training program for all teaching assistants who will be providing instruction in basic written composition courses (English, Speech Communication, and English as an International Language). Iowa State University: Since 1990 has held a series of workshops for all new teaching assistants, led by faculty and 15 experienced teaching assistants who have been recognized for exceptional skills. Sessions cover teaching, grading, testing, and student interactions. Also maintains one of the first programs in the nation for providing foreign graduate students with language and teaching skills. Foreign graduate students must pass tests in both areas before they can assume full classroom teaching responsibilities. The Johns Hopkins University: Each fall, conducts a teaching assistant orientation program that covers such topics as teaching skills, classroom strategies, academic policies, and ethics. In addition, the Writing Seminars Department in the School of Arts and Sciences sponsors a rigorous, required orientation program for new teaching assistants who will be teaching creative writing, and the Language Teaching Center offers a course in English as a Second Language for foreign teaching assistants. In the School of Engineering, all graduate teaching assistants whose native language is not English are reviewed by their departments for participation in a special communication strategies program; only after a review of the recommendations provided at the end of this course are they allowed to participate in engineering classroom assistance. University of Kansas: Requires all foreign-born teachers to pass a proficiency test in spoken English; an Applied English Center offers special educational programs for foreign graduate students, as well as foreign undergraduates. University of Maryland at College Park: Before the start of each semester, comprehensive teaching orientation sessions are now conducted for teaching assistants who are new to the campus. Currently these sessions are recommended strongly; the plan for the future is that they will be mandatory. Complementing sessions are conducted at college and department levels. McGill University: In 1991, introduced a teaching assistant orientation program that includes a general session to familiarize new teaching assistants with teaching and the resources available to them, as well as a week of workshops and seminars on specific teaching-related topics. Both new and experienced teaching assistants register for sessions of their choice; some departments require participation in two sessions. In 1993, the university initiated a TA Forum, an electronic teaching assistant discussion group. The Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology offers a three-credit course designed to give teaching assistants practice with course design and teaching skills. Michigan State University: Initiated mandatory orientation for all teaching assistants in the 1993-94 year, following several years of providing orientation for foreign teaching assistants only. Departments are being urged to add teaching workshops for teaching assistants in their individual disciplines. An electronic bulletin board network gives teaching assistants regular access to information about facilities and assistance for teaching, and also serves as a medium for communication about pedagogical problems in selected areas. In the fall of 1994, a handbook for teaching assistants was developed and distributed. Foreign teaching assistants are required to take a language proficiency test before being cleared for teaching assignments. University of Minnesota: Has established a Teaching Assistant Development Program that gives 150 graduate students from up to 15 different departments and programs the opportunity to take a course in pedagogy, receive individualized instruction from teaching specialists, and participate in teaching workshops.