Center for Excellence Marks Anniversary
Photo/Lee Salem
The Center for Excellence in Teaching, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary as a full-time university-wide unit with a ceremony at Town & Gown, has trained thousands of teaching assistants, mentored hundreds of faculty protégés and funded dozens of innovative projects for undergraduates. It spawned a similar program that began last year in the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
At the core of the center is a group of high-caliber teachers from across the university known as faculty fellows. Ten fellows are chosen each year. They serve for three years and then are known as “distinguished faculty fellows.” Fellows share their successes and challenges and generally act as evangelists for good teaching on all campuses.
At the Town & Gown ceremony, five distinguished fellows gave testimonials to the value of the center, described as “a place where you can unabashedly declare one’s love for teaching and learn how to get better” by Gerald Davison, interim dean of the USC School of Architecture.
Armand Tanguay Jr., professor of electrical engineering, said: “I learned more from my CET colleagues than in my 35 years of teaching.”
Tanguay cited the center’s Future Professoriate Program, begun three years ago, that helps promising Ph.D. students make the leap to teaching. Faculty fellows “made a list of all the things they didn’t tell us and wish we had known” before becoming teachers, Tanguay said.
Alison Dundes Renteln, professor of political science, and S. Mark Young, professor of accounting, both recommended more resources for the center, praising its personal rewards for faculty members.
Judy Garner, assistant dean of faculty in the Keck School, said the center helped her from feeling too distant from colleagues on the University Park campus.
The center, which began its existence as part of the Office of the Provost, became part of the USC Rossier School of Education last July. Barbara and Roger Rossier, namesakes of the school, were special guests at the Aug. 7 event.
Elizabeth Garrett, vice president for academic planning and budget, presented plaques to the 2006-07 faculty fellows, and a special award to Mark Kann, professor of political science and the center’s first director.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, faculty fellows surprised current CET director Danielle Mihram by naming her a fellow and awarding her a plaque.
For information about the center’s programs, visit http://www.usc.edu/cet/.
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The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
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