Faculty Teaching and Learning

Simpson College is “dedicated to excellence in private higher education” and to “an innovative teaching and learning process enabling students of all ages to develop critical intellectual skills.”

The Teaching and Learning Center at Simpson College offers workshops, faculty learning communities, formative teacher observations, and hosts several campus-wide professional development opportunities in the fall and spring. The SCTLC also oversees student course evaluations, faculty travel grants for conference presentations, large grants for research, scholarship, and creative output, course development grants, and other grants related to advancing inclusivity in our courses. The center also hosts leadership development events for current and future chairs, deans, and program directors. Information about course evaluations, grants, and resources on inclusive teaching, syllabi, teaching in the era of AI, and other information can be found on our internal web page.

The ultimate goal of faculty development is to improve student learning. The proximate goals of faculty development include supporting traditional professional work (e.g., scholarship, conference attendance), teaching and learning, advising, leadership development, and personal development (e.g., balancing work and a personal life).

The faculty development program at Simpson recognizes the diverse needs and interests of the faculty. The opportunities an individual faculty member chooses to pursue may be influenced by disciplinary affiliation, amount of prior teaching experience, family obligations, and the stage of the person’s career.

The faculty development program includes support for teaching and student learning; support for advising; support for faculty research, scholarship and creativity; support for the curriculum; support for the academic community including new faculty orientation and mentoring for all faculty; support for the whole faculty meeting; and support for assessment.