L&S Teaching & Learning Administration (TLA): We inspire, advocate for, and foster excellence in academic administration, teaching and learning.
Our mission is to
- Provide information and tools to support L&S departments, programs, and units to best meet their instructional and curricular responsibilities.
- Engage with all L&S instructors and teaching assistants in their pursuit of equitable learner-centered teaching excellence.
- Advocate for the interests of students, instructors, units, and the College in pursuit of teaching and learning excellence, securing resources needed, and removing impediments.
- Shape the direction and decisions about L&S policy and administration governing instructional and curricular activities.
Our values are grounded in the four pillars of the WI Experience: Empathy and Humility, Relentless Curiosity, Intellectual Confidence, and Purposeful Action adapted to an administrative perspective that supports teaching and learning excellence. We approach our work with intention and purpose.
- We Empathize: With humility and respect, we engage with our departments, instructors, and administrators in their pursuit of excellence. We appreciate the diversity of our L&S community and seek to understand their perspective and needs.
- We Learn: We actively learn with students, expert instructors, scholars, and peers. We integrate and synthesize knowledge across our different functional areas. We work collaboratively and creatively to advance our mission of excellence in academic administration and teaching.
- We Act: We purposefully act, apply knowledge, create, and advocate. We are partners in achieving results that are functional and make good sense. We apply our expertise and knowledge to problem solve, lead and promote excellence efforts.
TLA has a broad range of functional areas.
- Instructional and Academic Planning:
- Our team supports departments with creation of new academic programs and any changes to existing programs. New/change course proposals, coordination of the work of the L&S Curriculum committee, and other curricular and academic tasks are our unit’s responsibility.
- Planning and implementation of staffing and related budgetary matters related to Summer Term, Short Term Staffing, and Graduate Student appointments are housed in TLA.
- Course access and ensuring L&S departments meet enrollment demands is TLA’s responsibility.
- TLA is the administrative home of L&S BLS+MASS, an Online Undergraduate Degree.
- We shape, create, interpret, apply instructional & curricular policy, and authorize appropriate exceptions. Examples include Curricular policy (e.g., course and program policies, governance procedures around course & program changes), instructional policy (e.g., instructional qualifications)
- Graduate Student Academic Affairs
- Assistant Dean for Graduate Student Academic Affair is a resource on graduate student policy and supporting graduate students and academic departments on a wide range of graduate student issues.
- First Year Interest Groups (FIGs)
- Foster Teaching Excellence:
- Our team leads, plans, coordinates and implements the L&S teaching and learning support services and initiatives to help instructors achieve teaching excellence. Examples include direct support of instructors through Instructional Design Collaborative, College wide TA Training, and FIGs.