Announcing the Holistic Teaching Assessment Initiative

October 28, 2026

Dear Members of the Carnegie Mellon University Community:

I am pleased to announce the launch of a Holistic Teaching Assessment Initiative, a partnership between university leadership and faculty and student governance. Through this multi-year endeavor, we aim to empower instructors to continuously elevate their teaching based on valid, useful data; provide academic leaders with a consistent and holistic evaluation framework; and ensure our teaching assessment practices advance student learning and well-being and faculty success.

Leadership and Oversight
Building on several years of campus feedback and committee reports, work will be guided by four operating leads: the vice chair of the University Education Council and the vice provosts for education, faculty, and teaching and learning innovation, as well as an inaugural steering committee of faculty and student leaders.

Timeline and Next Steps
This multi-year effort has several key milestones and long-term goals. The group’s initial focus is to finalize a shared university definition of “effective teaching,” create and pilot a new course evaluation tool aligned with this definition, and improve how student feedback is gathered in the reappointment, promotion and tenure process.

Your Input
Broad community involvement is critical to the success of this initiative. We invite you to use this feedback form to share your ideas, questions or input.

Thank you for helping to shape the future of teaching and learning at CMU.

Sincerely,

James H. Garrett Jr.
Provost and Chief Academic Officer