Release date: May 30, 2003
Contact: Deb Hammacher, Associate Director, University Media Relations,
at 404-727-0644 or dhammac@emory.edu

Oxford College Selected by Carnegie Foundation as Leader in Scholarship Of Teaching and Learning Program

For the past four years many faculty members of Oxford College of Emory University have been thinking as much about learning as they have about teaching. Professors from departments across the campus have been engaged in projects that focus on learning that involves the heart as well as the head--the education of the whole person. The culmination of that research is the designation of Oxford College as a national cluster leader for the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) Campus Program, a Carnegie Foundation initiative designed to improve teaching and learning in higher education.

"It is gratifying to have the faculty's commitment to teaching and learning both inside and outside the classroom recognized by selection as a Carnegie cluster leader," says Kent Linville, academic dean of Oxford. "This initiative encourages and facilitates the Oxford faculty to engage collectively in a form of research that complements the college's teaching-centered focus and, in fact, makes their teaching more intentional."

Oxford's specific focus will be the heart-mind connections that make learning deeper and more enduring, officially known as cognitive-affective learning connections. As a cluster leader, the college has a three-year commitment to CASTL that includes establishing a Center for Cognitive-Affective Learning that will conduct research into effective methods, educate staff and faculty through workshops and seminars, offer support for teaching and learning projects, and build a scholarly community dedicated to cognitive affective learning.

"This is an outstanding opportunity for the Oxford community that will not only benefit our own students and faculty, but also will enhance the practice and profession of teaching for colleagues at colleges and universities across the nation," says Patricia Owen-Smith, co-director of the new center and professor of psychology and women's studies at Oxford. She had the core idea of exploring what makes the proverbial light bulb come on for students in her psychology classes that incorporated a community service element. Her co-director is Sharon Lewis, professor of psychology at Oxford, who has led the faculty initiative in the scholarship of teaching and learning these past four years.

Oxford plans to hold a teaching conference in fall 2004, according to Owen-Smith, such as the one held last fall at Oxford on "Cross-disciplinary Inquiries into the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning" in cooperation with the Carnegie Foundation, the American Association for Higher Education and the Pew Charitable Trusts. The conference brought together Oxford staff and faculty and Carnegie Fellows from other institutions around the country.

Oxford joins several other schools selected for the next phase of the five-year-old program, and at some 600 students is by far the smallest institution involved. Other cluster leaders include the University of Michigan, Indiana University, Georgetown University, Illinois State University and Portland State University.

"Our focus on the scholarship of teaching and learning has been, in one sense, the shift from focusing on teaching to focusing on learning," says Linville. "We are changing the culture of the institution collectively."

He cites the example of Heather Patrick, assistant professor of chemistry, who had the students in her general education chemistry class team up with the local Boys & Girls Club to do water assessment tests for the county. Once the Oxford students mastered the process, they were responsible for teaching the club kids to do the testing. "It was transformative for our students in terms of self-esteem and the quality of the work because they knew the expectations were high," says Linville.

For veteran biology professor Eloise Carter, recipient this year of Emory University's highest teaching award, "I'm trying to close the gap between what I teach and what students are learning." Her impact on teaching goes beyond her own students as well: As co-director of the Oxford Institute for Environmental Education, Carter is a leader of the summer institute that trains K-12 educators in hands-on natural science teaching methods.

Oxford is an intimate, two-year, teaching-centered residential college specializing in the foundations of liberal arts education, and is one of nine divisions of Emory University. The college is located on the university's original 1836 campus in Oxford, Ga., 38 miles east of the Atlanta campus.

CASTL is a major initiative of the Carnegie Foundation, and was created in 1998 to establish and refine standards for the critical review of teaching and learning by faculty members in college and university classrooms.

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