In addition to the pedagogic and methodological training received by graduate students from their faculty mentors, the University offers other services to help support and improve the teaching of graduate students, not to mention postdoctoral fellows and faculty. The Searle Center for Teaching Excellence is the University's hub for pedagogy, enriching the experience of our teachers and actively training our students to become excellent classroom leaders.

The Searle Center for Teaching Excellence
The Searle Center for Teaching Excellence welcomes graduate students and postdocs serving as teaching assistants (TAs) and instructors to participate in the range of activities and services it provides. The center hosts a university-wide day-long conference for new teaching assistants each fall. The center also offers workshops for graduate students and postdocs: interactive sessions on a range of classroom issues, usually offered monthly. The Teaching Assistant Fellows Program gives experienced TAs the opportunity to design and conduct sessions for the New Teaching Assistant Conference. Our teaching with technology program co-sponsored by Academic Technologies, is a joint faculty and graduate student program that allows participants to integrate technology into their teaching using the Blackboard course management system. Advanced graduate students can work individually and together to develop, practice, and analyze their teaching in the twelve month Graduate Teaching Certificate Program. This program is also required for those interested in working with a mentor as part of the Preparing Future Faculty Program

The center can help TAs and instructors collect detailed feedback from their students at mid-term (Small Group Analysis, or SGAs), and consult with individuals about challenges and problems they face in and outside of the classroom. The center also maintains a library of articles, books, and videotapes on various aspects of college teaching; maintains an extensive Web site with teaching-related resources; conducts workshops for departments; and hosts a series of public forums on teaching, featuring outstanding teacher/scholars from the Northwestern faculty. Web site http://www.northwestern.edu/searle/.