Board Members
- Maria Cattai de Godoy, College of ACES, chair
- Abdussalam Alawini, Grainger College of Engineering
- Betsy Brandt, College of Fine and Applied Arts
- Simona Buetti, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
- Valerie Cintron, School of Social Work
- Mariela Fernandez, College of Applied Health Sciences
- Stephanie Fortado, School of Labor & Employment Relations
- Samar Hegazy, Carle Illinois College of Medicine
- Elizabeth Luckman, Gies College of Business
- Chris Napolitano, College of Education
- Carrie Wilson-Brown, College of Media
- Manny Rodriguez, Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning, ex officio
- Michel Bellini, Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning, ex officio
- Geoffrey Herman, the Grainger College of Engineering, ex officio
- Kristi Kuntz, Office of the Provost, ex officio
Charge Letter
Dear Colleagues,
Thank you for your willingness to serve, or to continue to serve, on the Teaching Advancement Board during the 2025-2026 academic year. I am pleased that Maria Cattai de Godoy has agreed to continue to chair the Board. I welcome Samar Hegazy and Manny Rodriguez to the Board.
The Board plays an important role in enhancing instructional excellence at Illinois and ensuring that achievements in teaching are visible and supported. Your work helps shape the culture of our campus and highlights the central place of instructional excellence in that culture. The efforts of the Teaching Advancement Board have positively influenced the ways that faculty, academic staff, and students engage in our core mission of teaching and learning.
During the 2025-2026 academic year, the Board will promote, evaluate and select recipients of the standing instructional award and grant programs.
- The Campus Awards for Instructional Excellence demonstrate the campus’ commitment to teaching excellence by recognizing individuals’ exemplary commitments to student learning.
- The Innovative Mini Grants, and the Provost’s Initiative for Teaching Advancement programs have been valuable tools used to promote new and innovative approaches for teaching on our campus.
As the Board continues this work, please consider innovative ways generative AI may be used in the selection process for these programs, both in the work submitted to the committee and in the committee’s own processes. Identify potential opportunities, challenges, and unintended consequences of these uses, and recommend parameters or guiding principles for responsible and effective integration. In addition, reflect on how AI might support the work of the committee itself and suggest appropriate guidelines for its use in this context.
The Board also supports efforts led by the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning and the Provost’s Office Faculty Development Team.
- The Board will advise on the planning of the annual Faculty Retreat and contribute to support alignment with the broader Essential Conversation series.
- The Board is asked to provide feedback on teaching-related initiatives including the new Feedback on the Learning Experience (FLEX) survey and the impact across the colleges and schools.
At the conclusion of the Board’s work and for the purposes of our institutional records, please be sure to provide access to Kristi Kuntz or designee, any materials or documents that were stored outside of the Provost’s Office shared drive (i.e., Box, Teams).
Through these programs and activities, the Teaching Advancement Board serves as an advocate and a resource to our faculty and staff who are committed to teaching and learning. Thank you for your willingness to serve on the Teaching Advancement Board and for your assistance on teaching-related matters throughout the academic year.
Sincerely,
Kevin E. Jackson
Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education