Front row (L-R): Drs. Lisa Lang, Theresa Chiang, Adrian Segura Donly, and Kathleen Stevens. Second row left to right: Drs. Pat Brewer, Vicky Byers, Sally Taylor, Nita Wallace, Linda Porter, Kris Vogel, Mr. Jerry York, Drs. John Littlefield, Mary Moore, and Don Willmann.
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A new center launched recently will provide leadership, direction and resources to advance excellence in teaching at the Health Science Center. Directed by John Littlefield, Ph.D., the Academic Center for Excellence in Teaching (ACET) will encourage educational scholarship and conduct formal studies to assess the quality of the Health Science Center’s teaching programs.

Dr. Littlefield is also the director of Academic Informatics Services (AIS). He said AIS will be a strong complement for ACET.

“The two areas are symbiotic,” Dr. Littlefield said. “ACET will not replace any programs on campus that are already promoting excellence in teaching. In fact, by encouraging educational scholarship, ACET will augment educational programs, such as those currently conducted by educational research and development.”

ACET is composed of an interdisciplinary steering committee, including two faculty members and an alternate from each school, plus the vice president for academic administration, the chief information officer and the library director. Although the center is only in its preliminary stages, it is designed to emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary studies. It will provide umbrella support for teaching faculty in all five schools.

“The only major change the university will see with ACET is a movement toward formally studying the impact of our teaching programs,” Dr. Littlefield said. “In the future, when we say a course or curriculum is outstanding, we will have data to back up our statement.”

As the social sciences and biological sciences continue to be integrated into health care, Dr. Littlefield said it is important to research the connections among several disciplines.

“Diagnosing a patient with a clearly defined chronic illness is not complicated,” Dr. Littlefield said. “But getting that patient to take medications, for example, is an educational problem that the social sciences can help with. With ACET, we’ll be able to research the connections among clinical, biological, and social science disciplines and provide data to help improve the education of future health care professionals.”

While ACET develops, the steering committee has already established some short term goals related to documenting excellence in teaching.

“With help from the office of the vice president for academic administration and AIS, ACET will mature to be a successful interdisciplinary education center,” Dr. Littlefield said.

The steering committee held its first meeting two weeks ago. They are pictured above. Front row (L-R): Drs. Lisa Lang, Theresa Chiang, Adrian Segura Donly, and Kathleen Stevens. Second row left to right: Drs. Pat Brewer, Vicky Byers, Sally Taylor, Nita Wallace, Linda Porter, Kris Vogel, Mr. Jerry York, Drs. John Littlefield, Mary Moore, and Don Willmann.