CETL goes to POD 2025
Reports from the 50th annual POD Network conference in San Diego
Latest
Recap: Real Talk about Teaching, with guest speaker Dr. Jessamyn Neuhaus
On Wednesday, October 22, CETL was thrilled to welcome our colleague Dr. Jessamyn Neuhaus to campus. Dr. Neuhaus is Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE) and Professor in the School of Education at Syracuse University. We at CETL know her best for her refreshingly honest books
Recap: Understanding Mental Health from a Learning Perspective
By Brian Wesley Harrington, Graduate Teaching Fellow On October 15, the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning hosted a powerful and timely workshop led by Dr. Liz Norell titled “Understanding Mental Health from a Learning Perspective.” The session explored how mental health challenges shape the learning environment and offered
Recap: When and Why Do Students Read for Class?
One possible hurdle preventing students from completing course reading assignments is the gap between the reading skills of students and those of their instructors.
Call for guest blog contributors
Your headline could be here!
Meet the 2025-2026 Graduate Teaching Fellows
We're excited to introduce our three graduate teaching fellows for the 2025-2026 academic year: Amitesh Singh, Brian Wesley Harrington, and Sarah Ligon.
What we read this summer
The CETL Team includes avid readers. In this post, we share what we read this summer.
Recap: Welcome week workshops
Earlier this week, the CETL team offered a variety of workshops to help instructors prepare for the semester ahead. Below, we offer a few key takeaways from these workshops. As always, we invite you to review our schedule of upcoming workshops, peruse our blog for recaps on previous events, and
Announcing CETL’s Fall 2025 Lineup
Teaching large courses, navigating generative AI, real talk about teaching, and more
Welcome week preview
As we gear up for the start of the fall 2025 semester, the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning team will offer a variety of programs to help instructors start strong in the weeks ahead.
CETL Honors Graduate Student Teachers
Meet the winners of the 2024-2025 Graduate Excellence in Teaching Awards
Recap: Understanding and Supporting Executive Function
Executive functioning skills are critical to memory, attention, organizing, and planning—among many other tasks important to learning and teaching. In a recent workshop, CETL explored how instructors
Events
Recap: Infusing Purpose in the Classroom with Transparent Assignment Design
Last month, CETL facilitated a workshop on transparent assignment design, a framework built on research from the Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) project. I (Emily) personally believe that one of the lowest-effort, highest-reward changes instructors can make to their pedagogy is to make their teaching choices and course assignments
Inclusive Teaching
Thank an Instructor
We love reading the notes of gratitude students send to their instructors through our Thank an Instructor program. Here are our spring highlights!
Newsletter
Guest post: Journalism professor reflects on watching former student in the Super Bowl
Summer Hill-Vinson, instructional assistant professor of journalism instruction, shares a reflection on her teaching over the last 17 years--including one notable UM alum.
Events
Recap: Page by Page
Motivating students to embrace the desirable difficulties of reading, with Dr. Elizabeth Barre
Events
Recap: Reforming Grading at the University of Mississippi
Last week, we kicked off our spring semester workshops with a presentation from CETL director Josh Eyler on the topic of “Reforming Grading at the University of Mississippi.” Josh began by recounting some problems with traditional grading, drawn from research for his book Failing Our Future: How Grades Harm Students,
In the News
Roundup: CETL in the News
Members of the CETL team have been very active in the last six months. Below, we share links to the podcasts, news stories, and other resources you can explore.
Events
Recap: January Course Design Workshops
Plus upcoming events for spring 2025
Events
Recap: Developing a Trauma-Aware Pedagogy
The week before the break, CETL hosted our final workshop of the semester, “Developing a Trauma-Aware Pedagogy.” Unfortunately, the topic is more relevant than ever: according to recent reports, nearly half of students who attend college counseling sessions say they have experienced trauma, and rates of post-traumatic stress disorder more
Newsletter
CETL goes to POD 2024
Reports from the 49th annual POD Network conference in Chicago
About CETL
Year in Review: CETL’s Annual Report, 2023-2024
We invite our community to review the milestones of our 2023-2024 academic year work.
Events
Recap: Teaching in the Weeks Surrounding the Election
On October 14, 2024, CETL staff Josh Eyler, Emily Pitts Donahoe, and Liz Norell presented a workshop entitled “Teaching in the Weeks Surrounding the Election” to help instructors prepare for periods of heightened emotions, like those expected around the upcoming US presidential election. To start, as part of the university’
Events
Recap: Leading Difficult Discussions
On October 2, CETL facilitated a workshop on “Leading Difficult Discussions” for an audience of instructors, graduate TAs, and faculty members. Josh Eyler introduced the concept with an opening activity on reflection, in which participants identified topics or circumstances that might lead to difficult discussions. They suggested many potential sources