University Committee on the Advancement of Teaching (UCAT) mission:
UCAT promotes student learning across the campus by focusing on teaching excellence and pedagogical improvement and innovation. UCAT aligns its resources with opportunities for faculty that have the potential to impact students from multiple disciplines.
UCAT is comprised of an eight-member committee appointed by the Faculty Senate whose members serve three-year staggered terms.
Faculty Observation of Teaching - Options for In-Person, Online or Hybrid Courses
Goals:
- Promote collegial, non-evaluative observations of teaching
- Encourage conversations about teaching and the exchange of effective engagement practices that promote student success
Full-time faculty can earn $300 by engaging in structured teaching observations/reviews. Participants will identify a full-time faculty partner outside of their department/school. Each faculty member will observe one of their partner’s in-person or synchronous classes or review an asynchronous online course.
*If faculty want to be assigned a partner rather than identifying a partner, the registration will provide an opportunity for such a request.
Structured teaching observations/reviews require faculty members to:
- Meet with their partner before the observations
- Observe each other's class OR review an online instructor input form
- Meet with their partner following the observations/review
- Complete a short report that documents and describes the above (a-c) and includes a brief reflection (estimated completion time is under 10 minutes).
Meet your UCAT Representatives!
College of Arts and Sciences
- Andy Miller (Associate Professor, Chemistry) - Member since 2025
College of Business Administration
- Corrine Chen (Instructor, Management) - Member since 2025
- Max (Zhihao) Yu - (Assistant Professor, Marketing & Entrepreneurship) - Member since 2025
College of Communication, Fine Arts and Media
- Jack Zerbe (Professor, Theater) - Member since 2025
Criss Library
- Amy Schindler (Director of Archives & Special Collections) - Member since 2024
College of Education, Health and Human Sciences
- Michael Fryda (Instructor, Teacher Education) - Member since 2024 - current co-chair
College of Information Science & Technology
- Dario Ghersi (Associate Professor, Interdisciplinary Informatics) - Member since 2023
College of Public Affairs & Community Service
- Yiwei Zhang (Assistant Professor, Social Work) - Member since 2023 - current co-chair