Mellon Grant to Support Teaching

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has underscored the primacy of teaching at Lewis & Clark with a $705,000 grant to strengthen and expand that expertise in the College of Arts and Sciences over the next four years.

“This grant continues Mellon’s legacy of supporting and enriching a centerpiece of the liberal arts experience at Lewis & Clark: high-quality, innovative teaching that puts students first,” says Catherine Gunther Kodat, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “I am especially grateful to Mellon for their recognition of our ongoing commitment to inclusive excellence in undergraduate education.”

The grant will fund the new Teaching Excellence Program to create collaborations among faculty and to support them in refining and sharing teaching practices with their colleagues.

Jerusha Detweiler-BedellProfessor of Psychology Jerusha Detweiler-Bedell, who has previously served as the college’s Distinguished Teaching Consultant, will serve as the director of the Teaching Excellence Program. In 2008, Detweiler-Bedell won the United States Professor of the Year Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

“Our faculty are deeply committed to excellence in teaching, but the college has not had—until now—a centralized program to encourage faculty development as teachers across the span of their careers,” says Detweiler-Bedell. “I can think of no better way to support my colleagues and our students than to direct a program that will bring us together to explore and implement innovative and inclusive pedagogical techniques.”