About the Center for Teaching and Learning

The Center for Teaching and Learning partners with campus educators -- including faculty, students, and staff -- to inspire, enrich, and innovate Berkeley's collective teaching and learning community. In doing so, our approach is...

Student-Centered: Positioning learners at the core of effective course design, including learning objectives, assessments, and teaching methods.

Evidence-based: Identifying and disseminating teaching and learning strategies supported by research.

Equitable & Inclusive: Welcoming and advocating for diverse perspectives and backgrounds such that learning spaces and experiences are accessible to all students.

Collaborative: Working closely with faculty, students, and staff to support their professional development as educators.

Iterative: Providing opportunities for faculty, students, and staff to practice, refine, and expand their teaching skills through workshops and one-on-one consultations.

Reflective: Encouraging faculty, students, and staff to consider how their teaching and learning experiences can inform a more diverse and effective learning environment.

Actionable: Prioritizing practical teaching and learning strategies that foster iterative, progressive refinements.

CTL programs and services are informed by the idea that effective teaching is learned and improved over time. Our offerings are available to any members of the Berkeley community interested in developing and enhancing their skill set. CTL is part of the Research, Teaching, and Learning (RTL) organization reporting into the Division of Undergraduate Education and partners with Digital Learning Services (DLS) to serve the campus community.

Jenae Cohn, PhD -- Executive Director

Jenae has worked in higher education for over a decade, supporting faculty in their teaching and advancing student-centered learning. She holds a Ph.D. in English with an Emphasis in Writing, Rhetoric, and Composition Studies from UC Davis, with expertise in digital and information literacy, digital reading, metacognitive thinking, and reading and writing across the curriculum.

Email: jenae.cohn@berkeley.edu

Glynda Hull, PhD -- Professor and Faculty Director

Glynda holds the Elizabeth H. and Eugene A. Shurtleff Chair in Undergraduate Education. A recipient of UC Berkeley’s Distinguished Teaching Award, Hull offers undergraduate, graduate, and teacher education courses on literacy and media.

Email:glynda@berkeley.edu

Liam Aiello, PhD -- Active Learning Consultant

Liam holds a PhD from Stanford’s Graduate School of Education and was most recently a postdoc at UC Davis, where he studied how teachers learn to adopt more discussion-based instruction. He began his career as a 5th grade humanities teacher, and his time in K-12 classrooms continues to inform his work in higher ed settings. His interests include active learning, inclusive teaching, and practitioner inquiry in service of pedagogical change.

Email: laiello@berkeley.edu

Rebecca Farivar, MFA -- Manager

Rebecca supports CTL’s core services and explores new programming and collaboration opportunities within RTL and the campus community. She has a background in instructional design and provides guidance and consulation on best practices in digital pedagogy.

Email:rfarivar@berkeley.edu

Melissa Ko, PhD -- Assessment & Curriculum Design Specialist

Melissa uses data collection and analysis approaches to investigate student learning at multiple levels of scale from courses to programs to institution-wide initiatives. Melissa has a particular interest in matters of equity, and how assessing the student experience can reveal disparities and guide educators to address them.

Email:mesako@berkeley.edu

Tara Mason, PhD -- Universal Design for Learning Consultant

Tara holds a PhD in Special Education from Texas Tech University and a Master of Education (M.Ed.) in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Prior to joining UC Berkeley, she worked as both a faculty member and K-12 educational professional. Tara's research interests are primarily related to UDL, promoting equity and inclusion, mentoring, and teacher preparation.

Email: tara.mason@berkeley.edu

Delaram Rahimighazikalayeh, PhD -- RTL Training Coordinator

Delaram (Dela) supports RTL training needs and facilitates training programs. She also provides support for faculty around their teaching and learning needs. Dela completed her doctorate in Hispanic Studies at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and she worked as a college professor teaching Spanish language and culture courses prior to joining UC Berkeley.

Email:delaramr@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail)

Marisella Rodriguez, PhD -- Inclusive Teaching Manager

Marisella partners with CTL staff and campus units to advance equity and inclusion. She holds a PhD in Political Science and publishes on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and Educational Development (SoED). Her work in CTL, teaching, and research interests seek to explore ways in which educators can dismantle racist structures in higher education.

Email: marisella@berkeley.edu

Rachel Weiher, PhD -- Equitable Assessment Consultant

Rachel’s background is in applied linguistics and critical pedagogy, and her doctoral research focused on developing best practices for teaching languages from a critical, sociolinguistically informed perspective. She began doing instructional design work in graduate school, and at present leverages her expertise in access-oriented assessment strategies to support Berkeley instructors as they work to develop equity-minded teaching practices.

Email: rweiher@berkeley.edu

CTL Student Worker Team

Maya Wu

Maya supports the Presidential Chair and Lecturer Teaching Fellows through research and data analysis, providing insights to improve teaching efficacy and student learning experiences. She is pursuing a B.A. in both Operations Research and Cognitive Science, with an interest in social impact and project management.

Maricruz Montes de Oca-Sanchez

Maricruz focuses on collecting and analyzing data to evaluate educational initiatives and supports the Presidential Chair Fellows and Teaching Excellence Colloquium programs. She is completing her Bachelor’s in data science at UC Berkeley, and is interested in STEM education and social good.

Janice Liman

Janice supports CTL by coordinating data collection and aggregating evaluations of student work. She is pursuing a bachelor's degree in Psychology at UC Berkeley, with a particular interest in the field of industrial-organizational psychology and counseling.

The Center for Teaching and Learning partners with faculty across campus to promote evidence-based teaching and learning strategies.

Learn more about our Faculty Advisors

Anne Baranger, Professor, Chemistry
Faculty Assistant to the Vice Provost
Serena Chen, Professor, Psychology
Faculty Director, Berkeley Undergraduate Teaching Collegium
Robert Full, Professor, Integrative Biology
Pablo Gonzalez, Continuing Lecturer, Ethnic Studies
Vesna Rodic, French, Director of The Lower Division and Coordinator of the Second-Year French Language Program
Andrea Roth, Professor, Law
Chair, Academic Senate's Committee on Teaching
Lisa Yan, Assistant Teaching Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Digital Learning Services (DLS)

Digital Learning Services (DLS) provides course design services and consultations to Berkeley instructors in support of their pursuit of effective teaching and learning using digital tools in face-to-face, blended and fully online courses.
Learn more