About

Celebrating 30 Years

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) 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 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 the next year following a generous donation from the Searle Family. In 2013, the center took on its current name. Since then, the Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching has continued to work alongside faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and course developers to enhance teaching practice and promote curricular innovation.