About

What We Do

As a unit of the Office of the Provost at Northwestern University, we are proud to advance the University mission, principles, and priorities through programing and initiatives that enhance Northwestern's commitments to delivering an outstanding educational experience for undergraduate and graduate students

Aligned with the vision of the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education, we lead on initiatives to enhance instruction to ensure all students can thrive during their time at Northwestern. Through collaborations across the student learning ecosystem, we are building a robust educational development infrastructure and expanding organizational capacity for strategic institutional change initiatives.

We partner with members of the Northwestern University community who aspire to:

• embrace continual reflection and growth in learning and teaching,
• engage with evidence-based and sustainable teaching practices,
• use transparent assessment methods for understanding and improving student learning,
• connect with communities of educators for knowledge-sharing and career vitality,
• build organizational capacity for strategic institutional change initiatives, and
• celebrate exemplary practices and a culture of lifelong learning.

Our Approach

We approach learning and teaching as scholarly endeavors by encouraging a curious mindset, a reflective process of inquiry, and iterative changes informed by evidence.

Our History

Advancing learning since 1992.

The Searle Center was established in 1992 in response to faculty and administrators calling for a designated center devoted to learning and teaching in higher education. This was not the first Center of its kind at Northwestern University; throughout the mid-seventies and eighties, the School of Education and Social Policy (SESP) had maintained its own Teaching Center. Under the auspices of University President Arnie Weber, a commission led by SESP Professor Robert Menges recommended that the new Center be open to all faculty and graduate students across the University, and as such, be an independent entity. Originally called the Center for Effective Teaching, the Center was renamed the Searle Center for Teaching Excellence in 1993 following a generous donation from the Searle Family. In 2013, the center took on its current name.

Since its founding, the Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching has substantially grown in breadth and reach, with significant scholarly work that has been recognized nationally and internationally. Our staff aspires to share our own best practices and to engage in systematic inquiry that contributes to educational development or other related fields through invited talks, conference presentations, and scholarly publications. By doing so, we amplify the visibility and impact of Searle Center initiatives.