Celebrating Twenty Years!
20 Years of Excellence & Innovation in Engineering Education
Celebrate with us as we mark a cornerstone moment – 20 years of excellence and innovation in engineering education. This Michigan Engineering News article provides an overview of CRLT-Engin’s efforts. Since 2004, CRLT-Engin has partnered with the forward-thinking instructors and administrators at Michigan Engineering, and with colleagues at the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT). Together, our team has championed the transformative power of evidence-based educational practices to enhance student learning and promote inclusive and equitable learning environments in U-M’s College of Engineering.
On September 30, 2024, administrators, faculty, staff, and students from across Michigan Engineering and those attending the Inclusive Excellence in Engineering Education conference joined in our celebration. This session included remarks from the CRLT-Engin director, Tershia Pinder-Grover; the Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering, Karen Thole; and the Dean of the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering at Indiana University Bloomington, Joanna Millunchick. This commemorative video highlights some reflections about our center and these photos capture the moment.
On behalf of the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching in Engineering at the University of Michigan, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to those who founded CRLT-Engin over twenty years ago. It is an honor to be part of this community and support efforts that promote people-first engineering to positively influence the world. We are delighted to stand with you as we look ahead to the future of Michigan Engineering and continue to build on our collective strengths.
Share Your Story
Help us celebrate this milestone by sharing your story. This video compilation highlights submissions provided by October 2024.
- How has CRLT-Engin impacted your teaching, career, and goals?
- How do you envision CRLT-Engin in the future?
CRLT-Engin History
In the late 1990s, the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) extended its efforts to the College of Engineering. The success of these initiatives led to plans for expanding the reach of CRLT’s services, with a focus on hiring staff with an engineering or STEM background who had a deep understanding of the teaching context in the College. With support from Dr. Lester Monts, former Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, and leadership from Dr. Connie Cook, former CRLT Executive Director, and Dr. James Bean, former Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, CRLT and the College established CRLT North in 2004. Led by Dr. Cynthia Finelli, a recognized expert in engineering education, the office aimed to promote research-based teaching practices and foster engineering education research. Under Dr. Finelli’s leadership, CRLT-Engin published 125 peer-reviewed publications and secured 11 NSF grants. In 2011, the office was renamed CRLT in Engineering (CRLT-Engin). In 2015, Dr. Finelli left CRLT to oversee a separate Engineering Education Research Program. In 2016, after a national search, Dr. Tershia Pinder-Grover was named director. The center shifted focus to offering evidence-based professional developments that promote an inclusive learning environment for diverse students and instructors.
Over the past 20 years, CRLT-Engin has become known for its consultation services, workshops, orientations for new instructors, and learning communities. CRLT-Engin consultants and graduate student Engineering Teaching Consultants conduct midterm student feedback sessions, facilitate a popular teaching workshop series, and organize teaching orientations for faculty, GSIs, and undergraduate instructional aides. In 2012, CRLT-Engin introduced teaching circles, faculty learning communities that explore educational literature and local data, encourage reflection on practices, and provide peer feedback on topics ranging from equity-centered engineering to Generative AI.
Since 2006, CRLT-Engin has organized events to showcase innovation in teaching. This includes: a poster fair showcasing engineering education scholarship (2006-2019); collaborating with CAEN and Michigan Engineering – Online and Professional Education (formerly Nexus) on the Symposium on Engineering Teaching & Learning to support remote teaching in the wake of the global pandemic (2020-2021); and hosting Engineering Education Innovation Days to share innovative teaching methodologies within Michigan Engineering (2023-2024).
Looking ahead, CRLT-Engin plans to deepen its collaborations with departments undertaking curriculum redesign. This effort involves analyzing data to identify potential inequities in student outcomes, facilitating faculty discussions to address disparities, aligning curricula to eliminate overlaps or gaps, and creating processes to identify student outcomes at both program and course levels.