Harvard is an institution of truly great teachers. With the release of the Compact on Teaching and Learning in 2007, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences renewed its attention on the importance of good teaching and set out a number of strategies to support and nurture pedagogical excellence. In 2010, Dean Michael D. Smith reported to the Faculty on the progress that has been made, and what have emerged as shared values in how Harvard approaches teaching and learning. This presentation, provided below and accompanied by a catalog of current activities, sets the stage for faculty discussions in the spring of 2011. The goal of these discussions is to identify how best to support pedagogical and curricular excellence today and for the future.

Teaching and Learning Presentation: December 7, 2010

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences Teaching and Learning Activity Catalog 2007-2011 Initiative

Special recognition is due to the members of the Task Force on Teaching and Career Development for their extraordinary investment of time and thought that resulted in the Compact on Teaching and Learning, a document that now serves as the foundation for all our current efforts.

The Members of the Task Force are:

Andrew A. Biewener
Charles P. Lyman Professor of Biology

Benjamin M. Friedman
William Joseph Maier Professor of Political Economy

Mary Malcolm Gaylord
Sosland Family Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures

Eric Mazur
Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics and Professor of Physics

Xiao-Li Meng
Professor of Statistics

Michael J. Puett
Professor of Chinese History

Kay Kaufman Shelemay
G. Gordon Watts Professor of Music and Professor of African and African American Studies

Theda Skocpol, Chair of the Task Force
Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
300th Anniversary University Professor