Who We Are

The Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning (CIRTL) is an NSF Center for Learning and Teaching in higher education. CIRTL uses graduate education as the leverage point to develop a national STEM faculty committed to implementing and advancing effective teaching practices for diverse student audiences as part of successful professional careers. The goal of CIRTL is to improve the STEM learning of all students at every college and university, and thereby to increase the diversity in STEM fields and the STEM literacy of the nation.  

The CIRTL Network

To prepare the future STEM faculty of the nation, CIRTL must influence graduate-through-faculty preparation in teaching and learning at a significant number of research universities. Building on the CIRTL Core ideas, we propose to achieve this goal through a learning community of diverse research universities mutually engaged in teaching-as-research activities.

Established in fall 2006, the CIRTL Network was comprised of Howard University, Michigan State University, Texas A&M University, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Vanderbilt University. After substantial expansions in 2011 and 2016, the Network now includes universities from across the nation (see list below). The diversity of these institutions - private/public; large/moderate size; majority-/minority-serving; geographic location - is by design aligned with CIRTL's mission.

The Mission

The CIRTL mission is to enhance excellence in undergraduate education through the development of a national faculty committed to implementing and advancing effective teaching practices for diverse learners as part of successful and varied professional careers.

CIRTL Universities (as of Spring 2021)
Columbia University
Cornell University
Dalhousie University
Drexel University
Emory University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Howard University
Indiana University
Iowa State University
Johns Hopkins University
Louisiana State University
Michigan State University
Northwestern University
Texas A&M University
University at Buffalo
University of Alabama at Birmingham
University of Arizona
University of British Columbia
University of California Irvine
University of California Los Angeles
University of Delaware
University of Florida
University of Georgia
University of Houston
University of Idaho
University of Illinois at Chicago
University of Iowa
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Pittsburgh
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
University of Texas at Arlington
University of Texas at El Paso
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Washington University in St. Louis
Yale University