The size and diversity of UW-Madison means that no one organization, no one location can serve all the teaching needs of this campus. Many offices and organizations provide support and assistance to faculty, staff, and teaching assistants engaged in teaching and teaching-related activities. The teaching and learning centers and support units listed here bring people together for face-to-face workshops, colloquia and ongoing collaboration, and learning communities; provide helpful online and other resources. Although many are aimed primarily at particular fields, they are all worth a visit (and they welcome you), even if they seem "out of your field." Almost all of these groups have very useful websites that provide more detailed information about the resources they make available to you.
The offices and organizations listed below are part of the campus-wide Teaching and Learning Council, a forum in which teaching and learning centers and support organizations, plus representatives of schools and colleges and campus administration collaborate informally to improve teaching on campus. For more information on the Teaching and Learning Council, contact Associate Vice Chancellor Virginia Sapiro
Academic Planning and Analysis, Office of
APA, a part of the Office of the Provost, conducts institutional research and policy trend analyses. Projects include enrollment and tuition-revenue projections, student retention and graduation patterns, faculty salary and workload analyses, peer-institution comparisons, Department Planning Profiles, and the Data Digest (an annual compendium of trend data). The director advises on academic policy issues - assessment is one example - and oversees approvals of new academic majors and degrees.
Contact: Jocelyn Milner, 263-5658
American Council on Education Laboratory on Internationalization at UW-Madison, Division of International Studies
The UW-Madison is participating in a project of the American Council on Education aimed at internationalizing the curriculum at all levels. The project organized under the auspices of the Division of International Studies.
Contact: Dean Gilles Bousquet, 262 9833
Center for Biology Education
CBE offers many opportunities and resources for improvement of undergraduate instruction in the biological sciences. These opportunities accommodate wide variation in instructors' needs, styles and time commitment. Offering include many colloquia and workshops, ongoing teaching circles, opportunities for mentoring and other resources relevant to biology education and beyond.
Contact: Lillian Tong, Undergraduate Education Coordinator and Director of Faculty/Staff Programs, 1233D Genetics/Biotechnology Center Bldg., 265-3003
Center for Instructional Materials and Computing (CIMC)
The CIMC is designed to provide collections and services that meet the needs for educational resources, media, and computer support of the students, staff, and faculty of the School of Education, with particular emphasis on K-12 teacher training and development. The CIMC provides information and technology literacy workshops on a variety of topics, listed at the CIMC website.
Contact: Jo Ann Carr, Director, 263-4755,
Community of Educational Technology Support (ComETS)
ComETS is a UW-Madison instructional support community representing about 125 individuals to congregate and collaborate, share expertise and resources, and coordinate events on technology, faculty engagement, instructional design, and associated teaching and learning topics. ComETS is crafting a virtual online community where individuals can share resources and post discussion online.
Contact: Catherine Stephens, ComETS Planning Group Member
Delta Program in Research, Teaching and Learning
The Delta Program is a teaching and learning community for science, engineering and math graduate students, post-docs, academic staff and faculty. It invites participation from other disciplines as well. The program includes a suite of for-credit graduate courses, campus-wide workshops, learning community activities at Science House, and teaching internships on the UW-Madison campus and at other educational institutions. The Delta Program is a project of the NSF-funded Center for the Integration of Teaching and Learning, whose mission is to develop a national science, engineering and mathematics faculty that is broadly trained in skills of teaching and learning, and well-prepared to answer the NSF's call for broader impact of research programs.
Contact: Co-Directors Robert D. Mathieu (Astronomy) and Aaron Brower (Social Work), info@delta.wisc.edu, 608-261-1180.
DoIT Academic Technology
The DoIT Academic Technology department serves the academic (teaching, research and outreach) technology needs of UW-Madison. Staff work with faculty, students and support staff across campus. Among the major projects of this department are the Learn@UW course management system, the Engage program, which partners with faculty and staff to adapt, create, and integrate new and emerging information technologies in support of sound pedagogical approaches; and the academic functions of the My UW-Madison portal.
Contact: Kathy Christoph, Director, 262-3098, 262-4679 (fax)
Engineering Learning Center
The ELC mission is to focus on sustaining educational excellence by fostering effective student-centered teaching and learning within the College of Engineering. It serves faculty, staff, graduate students, and administrators. The focus areas are professional development, assessment of student learning, and curriculum development. Objectives are to 1) identify and provide professional development opportunities and resources for instructors; 2) facilitate connections among other units that support teaching and learning; and 3) help build a culture of continuous improvement in undergraduate and graduate education.
Contact Information: Sandra Shaw Courter, Director, phone 608-265-9767.
Engineering Media Services
EMS offers many hands-on services to the engineering community including video and Web site production, satellite uplink and downlink, graphic design and multimedia development.
Contact: 265-4967
Equity and Diversity Resource Center
The EDRC provides leadership and education to university employees and students on principles of equity and diversity to promote respectful and supportive work and learning environments. The office coordinates campus compliance with affirmative action and equal opportunity requirements and serves as a resource for schools, colleges, divisions and committees regarding equity and diversity issues, including in the classroom and other teaching and learning settings.
Contact: Seema Kapani, Diversity Education Coordinator
HHMI New Generation Program for Scientific Teaching
The goal of the HHMI New Generation Program for Scientific Teaching is to cultivate a new generation of faculty and resources to enhance undergraduate biology education. It promotes the participation of graduate students and postdocs as vital educational resources by providing them with the training necessary to become outstanding classroom teachers and research mentors, and it assesses the impact of this training on participating Fellows, the undergraduates they teach and mentor, and the faculty advisors with whom they work.
Contact Information: Director: HHMI Professor Jo Handelsman, or for general information, contact Sandy Gossens at 265-0850, newgeneration@mailplus.wisc.edu.
The Instructional Media Development Center (IMDC)
IMDC is a design, development, presentation and production facility in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Our multimedia facility offers a range of services including instructional design, multimedia, website, audio, video and graphic production. The IMDC also maintains video conferencing and multimedia classroom facilities. The IMDC provides its expertise to faculty and staff in the School of Education,the University at large, state agencies and others.
Contact Information: Barb Smith, Assistant Director, 263-0848
Language Institute
The Language Institute fosters and promotes collaboration for research, education and community outreach efforts in languages, literatures and cultures.
Contact: Sally Magnan, Director, 262-9741
Learning Support Services
LSS provides instructional technology support to all L&S departments, with a special focus on foreign language support. Located in Van Hise Hall, there are three learning labs (computer based), two media rooms for showing videos, a library style learning lab, an extensive media collection, AV equipment for Van Hise Hall, and video and audio production facilities. LSS provides free consultation to L&S instructors, for whom most of other services are also free.
Contact: Read Gilgen, Director, 262-1408
Library & Information Literacy Instruction Program
The primary mission is to collaborate with faculty, instructional staff, and campus administrators to ensure that students develop the information literacy skills, attitudes, and knowledge base that they need in order to become efficient, effective users and producers of information. In an age of rapid technological change and proliferating resources of varying quality, it is essential that students learn not only how to access resources efficiently, but also how to evaluate, manage, and use them effectively. The mission of this program is to collaborate with faculty, instructional staff, and campus administrators to integrate information literacy into learning objectives across the curriculum and to provide faculty with resources that can help them realize these objectives.
Contact: Abbie Loomis, 443D Memorial Library, 262-4308
McBurney Disability Resource Center
The McBurney Center's mission is to assist in creating an accessible university community where students with disabilities have an equal opportunity to fully participate in all aspects of the educational environment. McBurney offers many resources to assist students, faculty and staff in this mission. It provides accommodations counseling, evaluation referral, disability-related information, adaptive technology counseling and equipment, and interpreter services for academically related purposes for students.
Contact: Cathy Trueba, Director; 263-5174
Morgridge Center for Public Service
The Morgridge Center is the campus leader in promoting civic engagement, strengthening teaching and learning, and building collaborative partnerships through public service, service learning and community-based research. It offers training and support to faculty and academic staff seeking to learn how to integrate service learning and community-based research into their teaching, and many types of support for those who already teach service learning courses.
Contact: Mary K. Rouse, Director and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, 154 Red Gym, 263-2432,
Space Management Office
Classroom Planning and Management is responsible for providing an appropriate physical/instructional environment in the university’s general assignment classrooms. Staff also oversee the operation of the multimedia general assignment classrooms, conduct training and orientation sessions on the use of instructional technology, and provide preventive maintenance and troubleshoot classroom system/equipment problems.
Contact Doug Rose, Director, 263-3046; For classroom media support, see www2.fpm.wisc.edu/support/
Teaching Academy
The UW-Madison Teaching Academy aims to promote and recognize excellence in teaching across campus. The Academy encourages innovation, experimentation, dialogue, and scholarship around issues related to teaching and learning. We are composed of Fellows (faculty members and instructional staff) and Future Faculty Partners (graduate students and post-doc) who provide leadership to strengthen undergraduate and graduate, and outreach education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Academy works with a number of partners across campus, and sponsors a number of professional development events, including our annual Summer Institute.
Contact: Co-Chairs Jeffrey Henriques and James Blanchard
Teaching Assistant Resource Center
The L&S Teaching Assistant Resource Center provides training and support to TA’s employed by the College. It plans and operates TA training sessions; produces training materials; maintains a library of materials devoted to teaching including books, periodicals, and videos; informs TAs of professional development opportunities on campus; maintains a web site; and assists L&S departments in developing or expanding their TA training programs.
Contact: Brian Bubenzer, Coordinator, 265-0603
Testing and Evaluation Services, Office of
Testing and Evaluation Services provides the UW-Madison campus and the University of Wisconsin System with services related to assessment and evaluation. It offers scanning services, scoring and statistical analysis of exams and evaluations, and administration of local and national standardized exams. Staff within the department conduct nationally recognized research on test-related topics and have an extensive record of publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Contact: Char Tortorice, Interim Director, 262-5863
University Assessment Council (UAC)
The Office of the Provost, the University Assessment Council, and the schools and colleges jointly are responsible for assessment initiatives. These units collaborate to support assessment programming, and to ensure that assessment is being used for program improvement. The Assessment Council’s mission is to connect people who are actively involved in assessment in academic units with resources that are available for assessment and to help units maximize the use of shared tools and resources and serve as a cross-campus forum for the exchange of ideas, information, and advice on methods and practices of assessment, among other things.
Contact: Jocelyn Milner, 263-5658, or Mo Noonan Bischof, 265-4413
Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning (VP-TL), Office of the Provost
The VP-TL is the point person for the UW-Madison strategic plan priority area to Advance Learning through Undergraduate Education, and works with the Provost broadly in the area of teaching and learning and undergraduate education, collaborating with colleges, offices, and committees throughout the university, as well as with individual faculty and staff. This office facilitates the Teaching and Learning Council.
Contact Information: Aaron Brower, Vice Provost for Teaching & Learning; Mo Noonan Bischof, Assistant to the Provost, 262-5246.
Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education (WISCAPE)
WISCAPE's mission is to facilitate and contribute to a dialogue about the challenges facing postsecondary education among education leaders and policymakers, community and government leaders, and other key stakeholders, including researchers, faculty, staff, and administrators. The goal of these exchanges is to increase participants' understanding of the complex structures and cultures in institutions of postsecondary education, thus improving their decision-making and leadership practices. WISCAPE carries out its mission through research and instruction, conferences and forums, and professional education programs.
Contact: Henry Lufler Jr., Associate Dean of the School of Education; 265-6342, wiscape-info@educaton.wisc.edu
Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC)
The WAC Program, housed in the College of Letters and Science, helps faculty, instructional staff, and teaching assistants integrate writing creatively and successfully into their teaching. Offers workshops, sourcebook, web site, individual consultations, co-teaching, teaching and training opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students.
Contact: Brad Hughes, Director, 263-3823
The Writing Center
The Writing Center helps undergraduate and graduate students in all disciplines become more effective, more confident writers. It offers individual consultations, workshops, curricular-based writing tutoring (undergraduate writing fellows), instructional materials, online writing center, community writing centers. In addition to the base in Helen White, there is a new satellite location in the Multicultural Learning Community in Witte Hall.
Contact: Brad Hughes, Director, 263-3823