June 8, 1999

To: Deans and Department Chairs

From: Lawrence B. Dumas

I write seeking your assistance with an important initiative in support of teaching excellence at Northwestern. As a part of its commitment to excellence, Northwestern has sought to cultivate the best of both research and teaching. As you know, the administration has worked diligently to support the University's rich tradition of outstanding teaching. Our efforts within this past decade have included the establishment of the Searle Center for Teaching Excellence and the creation of the Charles Deering McCormick Professorships of Teaching Excellence and University Distinguished Lectureship.

Searle Junior Fellows Program

President Bienen and I are pleased to announce the creation of a new effort aimed specifically at pretenure tenure-track faculty members who are in their first or second year at Northwestern.

The Searle Junior Fellows program, which will begin in the fall of academic year 1999-2000, is intended to recognize and support the great promise of junior faculty members who will make significant and long term contributions to scholarship and teaching at Northwestern. The program will help young scholars to develop an expertise about teaching and learning issues and practices that will advance the scholarship of teaching. All participants will receive a stipend and may also apply for additional support to pay expenses related to the completion of a teaching innovation project.

Participation in this program will be viewed favorably in tenure and promotion decisions for tenure-track participants. Indeed, this effort is linked to an expectation that candidates for tenure will present outstanding credentials in both research and teaching.

During the late fall and winter quarters, the Searle Fellows will participate in a series of four or five programs that introduce them to important teaching and learning theories and research and give them the opportunity to apply those ideas to their own teaching. The program will bring several nationally recognized teaching and learning experts to Northwestern during the year to conduct programs and offer consultation to the Fellows. While much of the emphasis in these programs will be on highly practical and specific ways to improve one's teaching that have already been used successfully at Northwestern or elsewhere, the general content will help professors develop approaches to teaching that stem both from their own definitions of student learning objectives and from the research on student learning and motivation. Such research-based approaches to teaching will enable participants to make better judgments in selecting the teaching techniques they choose to employ.

Each Fellow will have as a mentor in the program a more senior faculty member from his or her own, or a cognate, department. During the year the Searle Fellows will work with the Searle Center staff, their mentor, and the McCormick Fellows of the Center to develop a project that will enable them to explore the literature on how they can most effectively help their students learn and incorporate new ideas into their teaching. Such a project might involve the development of a new course that experiments with appropriate teaching approaches, or it might involve implementing some new approaches to the teaching of an existing course.

To become a Searle Fellow, interested faculty members must submit a letter of application and supporting materials to the Provost by July 15, 1999. The letter should express commitment to participate fully in the year-long program and either a) outline the general nature of a proposed teaching innovation project or b) describe a teaching/learning problem or situation which they would seek to address through the program. Supporting materials should include a curriculum vitae and a written recommendation from the department chair commenting on the potential of the applicant as a researcher and teacher and a commitment that any proposed course involved in the project will be taught by the applicant within two years.

Assistance Needed

I need your assistance with all of the following:

• publicizing this program to your junior faculty members

• nominating faculty members whom you think might especially benefit from, and contribute to, this program. We will extend a special invitation to nominated faculty members to participate in the program.

• recruiting mentors within your department to work with the Junior Fellows program.

I would appreciate it if you could send to me by July 1 the names of nominated junior faculty members and the name of at least one senior faculty member in your department who can serve as a mentor. I am grateful for the help and support you can provide for this important new initiative.