The UH Center for Teaching Excellence hosted a conference, “Teaching Excellence in the 21st Century,” that discussed the educational process in today’s society in the University Center Houston room on Oct. 14.
Guest speakers, including President Renu Khator and former chair of the UH System Board of Regents Carroll Robertson Ray, gathered with UH professors, teaching assistants, students and Houston business and civic leaders to celebrate teaching and learning at UH.
Khator said that UH, a Carnegie-ranked Tier One public university since January, is the prototype for higher education and a model for learning.
“Mark my word,” Khator said. “In the next 10 years, there will be serious changes in higher learning.”
Since joining the ranks of top research universities in Texas, UH has been steadily gaining recognition for increasing the quality of education and offering students more opportunities. In March, the Princeton Review named UH one of the 376 best colleges for undergraduates in the nation, a distinction that was followed in July as the Chronicle for Higher Education recognized the university as one of the best colleges to work for.
The breakout sessions and faculty-conducted workshops discussed topics such as learning from failure in the classroom, good teaching, effective ways to improve student engagement, first-year experience, critical thinking and global learning. Separate workshops for teaching assistants were also held and discussed how to succeed in their first year of teaching.
“This shows their (the faculty’s) strong commitment to their students’ academic success,” said professor and CTE director David Mazella in a press release on the University’s website earlier this month. “It also demonstrates how much teaching and research feed into one another at a Tier One institution like UH.”
Outside professors also contributed to the conference. Keynote speaker James Lang, an English professor at Assumption College and columnist for the Chronicle of Higher Education, focused on academic integrity, drawing information from his research of cheating in higher education. Lang’s two published books, “Life on the Tenure Track” and “On Course,” focus on the teaching skills and lessons to learn from a teacher’s first year.
Mazella said that he wanted everyone to come away from the conference informed, energized and eager to tackle the challenges ahead in education.
“The involvement of campus and community leaders and alums conveys the message that improving teaching is not just about better graduation rates, but about post-graduate success,” Mazella said.
