Dear Colleagues,

I am excited to share an important step forward in American University’s support for faculty. This summer, we are launching the Center for Faculty Excellence (CFE), a reimagined center dedicated to supporting faculty across teaching, research, service, and professional growth.

This shift reflects a focused effort to strengthen how we serve faculty in today’s evolving academic environment. While the Center for Teaching, Research & Learning (CTRL) offered valuable services, we saw an opportunity to create something more effective and aligned with current realities: growing technological change, ongoing pressure on resources, and a renewed emphasis on cross-campus collaboration and shared learning. The new center was shaped by input from faculty surveys, focus groups, faculty consultants, deans, and benchmarking with peer institutions. Our goal is to build a more nimble, forward-thinking, and faculty-empowered model of support—with more opportunities for faculty to shape its future.

Building on a Strong Foundation

The Center for Faculty Excellence builds on the legacy of CTRL while expanding its scope and deepening its commitment to faculty leadership. It brings together programming across teaching, research, service, and professional growth, offering more integrated, coordinated resources. Teaching support remains a core priority, and we are expanding the services available to faculty.

This development also represents a return to the center’s roots. The first center (called the Center for Teaching Excellence) was established in 1998 and was formed through the then Faculty Senate Committee on Faculty Development. The new center will re-establish strong ties to the Faculty Senate through a Faculty Advisory Committee. This committee, selected by the Faculty Senate, will include representatives from each academic unit, the Faculty Senate, and the Office of Research and Innovation. The committee will play a central role in shaping programming and priorities, developing bylaws, selecting Faculty Associates, and guiding the center’s ongoing evolution.

What Will Continue

The new center preserves and enhances longstanding programs, including:

• Course design consultation and midsemester course analyses
• Individual feedback and teaching support beyond SETs
• Faculty-led workshops, panels, and institutes
• The Ann Ferren Conference and August and May workshops
• The Beat, now expanded to include reflections on teaching, research, and service
• Greenberg Seminars on Effective Teaching for PhD and MFA students
• New Faculty Orientations at the start of each semester

What Will Expand

The Center for Faculty Excellence broadens its mission to support the full spectrum of faculty roles. Tentative new initiatives include:

• A Faculty Associates Program, with five faculty selected to lead peer consultations and workshops, supported by course releases and stipends (previously known as the Faculty Fellows Program)
• A new Director of Teaching Support (internal search launching soon)
• A dedicated Instructional Technology and AI Manager, a staff position supporting faculty integration of generative AI and other tools in teaching and learning
• Expanded faculty leadership and mentorship programs, including resources for department chairs, program directors, and early-career faculty
• Launch of Communities of Practice and Faculty Learning Communities, with support for year-round, faculty-led groups
• Relaunch of the Partners in Teaching Program and Partners in Writing Program, focused on peer mentoring and scholarly productivity

We are also repurposing part of the CFE office suite to be accessible to faculty via AUID swipe and used for conversation and community building. 

Investing in Faculty Support

We are excited to integrate the Statistical Consulting Center into the new CFE. It has been led for the last 9 years by Aleka Kapatou, Hurst Senior Professorial Lecturer in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics. The move streamlines research support by eliminating duplicate resources. Aleka now serves as Director of Data and Statistical Support, expanding services through workshops, one-on-one consultations, and cross-disciplinary collaborations. We are also pleased to share that Shari Watkins, who has been a Senior Research Fellow in CTRL for the past 6 years, now serves as Director of Faculty Initiatives and Engagement. She will lead programs in faculty leadership and mentorship as well as coordinate year-round learning communities.

The center will be led by Assistant Vice Provost Anna Olsson, who brings deep institutional knowledge, longstanding experience with CTRL and its predecessor centers, and a strong vision for this next phase of faculty support at AU.

What Comes Next

We invite you to visit the new Center for Faculty Excellence website, which is now live. There, you will soon find details about programs, events, and ways to get involved. 

We also invite you to join us on August 20 for a university-wide event to mark the launch of the center and connect with colleagues.

Importantly, this new center is still in development. We look forward to continued partnership with the Faculty Senate and the Faculty Advisory Committee to ensure that the center continues to evolve based on faculty needs and input. We welcome your ideas, questions, and feedback as we shape the center together.

Sincerely,

Monica Jackson
Deputy Provost and Dean of Faculty