About

Mission Statement

The Chicago Center for Teaching and Learning supports effective teaching and learning at the University of Chicago. The Center fosters a community of practice dedicated to reflective and innovative pedagogy, teaching as a scholarly practice, and learning environments that are engaged, inclusive, and equitable. We engage faculty, instructors, and graduate students across all disciplines through workshops, conferences, courses, learning communities, and consultation on higher education pedagogy. We advance student learning both by serving educators and through direct student support that fosters independent learning in and outside of the classroom. The Center collaborates closely with campus partners, Divisions, Schools, and departments on teaching and learning issues. 

Guiding Principles

The following principles guide our work in advancing effective teaching:  

  1. Effective teaching is central to the University’s mission to foster rigorous habits of mind that empower students to pursue their learning goals and intellectual aspirations. 
  1. Effective teaching fosters inclusive, equitable, and engaged student learning. 
  1. Effective teaching is a deeply personal act, grounded in reflective practice, embedded in a community of scholar-teachers, and informed by current research on teaching and learning.  
  1. Effective teaching can be studied, understood, and shared. 

Partnerships

The CCTL supports teaching and learning in all divisions, schools, and units across the University of Chicago. As part of the Office of Research and Teaching Innovation in the College Dean's Office, the Center works closely with partners in the College as well as other units across the University. Some of our partners include:

Diversity and Inclusion Statement

The Chicago Center for Teaching and Learning (CCTL) strongly supports the mission of the University to create a climate of respect, civility, and inclusion inside and outside of the classroom. We understand that academic inquiry and learning are strengthened by the diversity of perspectives, backgrounds, experiences, and ideas within a scholarly community, and that an inclusive intellectual environment is essential for students to engage in free expression in the manner articulated by the Chicago Principles.¹ UChicago undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and instructors, and staff come from backgrounds across races, ethnicities, countries of origin, immigration statuses, socioeconomic statuses, and religions, and have a broad range of identities related to gender expressions, sexual orientations, dis/abilities, and statuses as first-generation students. We recognize that cultivating a more diverse and inclusive academic community is an ongoing process—one that is not linear or free of mistakes or omissions—and requires an ongoing commitment. In our work with members of the UChicago teaching community, we strive to develop and encourage learning environments that welcome, support, and challenge all members of the University community to succeed to the highest of their abilities. For more information about the programs and services the CCTL offers to help support inclusive teaching, please see Inclusive Pedagogy: Engaging All Students

To this end, the CCTL acknowledges the historical and ongoing oppression and exclusion from higher education that has impacted marginalized and underserved groups and works to reverse these trends of exclusion by offering programming, services, and curricula that aim to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in teaching and learning contexts. Inclusive and welcoming environments devoid of implicit and explicit bias are essential for students to freely express themselves, undertake rigorous inquiry, and engage in the unique learning opportunities available at the University of Chicago. The practices of discrimination, racism, and erasure are ongoing, and the impact of historic actions marked by white supremacy, settler colonialism, and displacement are still felt today.²  

The CCTL acknowledges that the historical and contemporary actions of the University of which it is a part continue to shape the educational experiences of historically marginalized groups which make up an increasingly large proportion of the student body. We seek to contribute to an academic environment that is inclusive, welcoming, and that seeks to address past wrongs and that is committed to preventing harm in the future.

For More Historical Context Click Here  

A special thanks to Chris Skrable, Executive Director of the Chicago Studies & Experiential Learning Program and Assistant Dean of the College, for his very helpful feedback and suggestions on an early version of this statement.  

¹ Please see https://freeexpression.uchicago.edu/ for more information about the Chicago Principles.

² Hautzinger, D. (2018, November 8). We’re still here: Chicago’s Native American community. Wttv.org. https://interactive.wttw.com/playlist/2018/11/08/native-americans-chicago#:~:text=The%20Museum%20also%20held%20a,%2C%20Odawa%2C%20and%20Potawatomi%20tribes.