Hamilton, chancellor's professor and professor of English, is currently the director of the Indiana University Faculty Colloquium for Excellence in Teaching and director of Campus Writing at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

Hamilton's speech was titled "Beautiful Minds: Integrating Research and Teaching Through Inquiry-based Learning in the Classroom." April 18, Hamilton gave a one-day workshop to show how to use inquiry-based learning both in teaching and in research.

"I think this is a wonderful step forward for UH-Clear Lake to take," Hamilton said. "I admire their value and enhancing excellence on teaching. I am happy to be here and to be a part of it."

T-LEC will provide information on new ideas and methods in teaching and learning. It will create mechanisms for supporting faculty who wish to try out and develop classroom innovations, and stimulate exchanges among faculty so that teaching excellence and ways to achieve it become a normal topic of conversation in the UH-Clear Lake academic community.

Margaret Snooks, co-convener of T-LEC and lecturer in Fitness and Human Performance, states that T-LEC is important for two reasons.

"First, it gives credibility and recognition to the faculty members committed to developing teaching effectiveness," Snooks said. "We work to improve our teaching, thus improving student learning. Secondly, and this is what the current celebration is about, we, UH-Clear Lake faculty members, finally have a room of our own. It is a physical place to meet, talk, read and think about ways to improve students' learning. Such a place has never existed before."

T-LEC roots date back to 1995 and the founding of the Learning Innovators, which is a faculty brown bag lunch group that meets several times a month to share experiences, ideas and innovations about teaching and learning.

Over the years, some 70 to 80 faculty members from across the university have participated in Learning Innovators lunch meetings. In 1999, the Council of Professors, on the basis of a survey conducted by faculty, recommended that a center be established to support teaching excellence.

Sharon Hall, associate professor of computer science and information systems, states that she believes that T-LEC will provide a place for faculty to come together.

"Since many of us at the university are physically separated from each other, a central meeting place is necessary to provide an atmosphere where collegial discussion can happen," Hall said. "While there will certainly be sharing of ideas on the topics of teaching and learning, sometimes it's enough to just have a place to visit with other professionals who care about the same things."

Sam Bruno, director of the Center for Advancement Management Programs and professor of marketing, said his staff played more of a facilitative role and were involved in all promotional work for the T-LEC dedication. Mehvash Farrukh, graphics assistant, designed the brochure, invitations and the ceremony poster, while Bruno wrote its contents.

The Alfred R. Neumann Library designated Group Study Room 25 to help establish the T-LEC presence on campus. The room has been supplied with books on ways to improve teaching and learning in higher education.

Karen Wielhorski, executive director of the Neumann Library, states that the Neumann Library is pleased to help promote the Teaching-Learning Enhancement Center at UH-Clear Lake as a resource for the campus and for the Gulf Coast educational community.

"The librarians feel that the goals of the T-LEC are important and we wanted to offer the T-LEC a room of their own to allow them to establish a presence on campus to grow and develop their programs," Wielhorski said. "We expect that the partnership between the librarians and the faculty will benefit both our groups and lead to great new developments in teaching and scholarships on campus. We are proud to be associated with such a great project."

Nick de Vries, professor of fine arts, art students Linda Butler, Karen Fiscus, Mert Paben and Cara Williamson exhibited 18 various art pieces for the T-LEC dedication.

Max Elden, convener of T-LEC and professor of organization management in the program of Administrative Science, states similar centers have been established at more than 200 universities during the last 20 years, but T-LEC is unique to this region.

"It's called teaching and learning because we shift the emphasis that comes out of the professors' mouth to what the students take away," Elden said. "We don't think that what comes out of the Professors' mouth is any less relevant, but we want to include what the student is learning. Everybody can be more effective in the quality of learning in the classroom. We are just getting started."

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