CIA receives establishing gift from Jane B. Nord to launch teaching and learning center

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 25, 2022

CLEVELAND—The Cleveland Institute of Art, a premier college of art and design, has received an establishing gift from arts enthusiast Jane B. Nord to create a new teaching and learning center that will support the pedagogical and educational development of faculty members, and as a result, enhance student learning and success.

The Jane B. Nord Center for Teaching + Learning will open for the 2022–23 academic year in CIA’s existing academic building. It will serve as a resource hub and incubator to advance faculty members’ skills in teaching, instructional design, learning assessment and whole student support, and it will bolster the College’s ongoing efforts to ensure its curriculum and teaching methodology are inclusive, socially responsible and continuously improved.

“We are thrilled to play a role in elevating the educational development field and empowering our faculty success,” says Kathryn Heidemann, CIA’s Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs + Chief Operating Officer. “We believe that teaching should be transformational for both the teacher and the learner, and the Jane B. Nord Center for Teaching + Learning will strengthen the faculty’s toolkits, boost their confidence and meet their evolving needs as integral members of our learning community.”

Mrs. Nord has long supported arts and education in Northeast Ohio, both as an individual philanthropist and with her late husband Eric. Mrs. Nord herself earned a master’s degree in art education from Case Western Reserve University, and she’s been a catalyst in that field through her support of scholarship funds for arts education, teaching innovation and faculty development.

“The students at CIA deserve the best possible educational experience,” Mrs. Nord says. “I hope that the Jane B. Nord Center for Teaching + Learning will be a key resource for the faculty to continuously improve their skills and innovate teaching approaches in order to maximize the potential of all students.”

Half of Mrs. Nord’s gift will establish the Jane B. Nord Center for Teaching + Learning, defraying a large part of the expenses for the first five years of its operation. The other half will establish an endowment to support the operational costs of the center in the future, such as the director’s salary, programming expenses, training and development, conference sponsorship, teaching innovation fellowships, library resource acquisitions and other logistical costs associated with program delivery.

“Mrs. Nord is a visionary leader and champion of arts education, and we at CIA are grateful for her generosity,” says Heidemann, who will be appointed CIA’s next president and CEO on July 1, succeeding Grafton Nunes. “Her support of this center serves as a critical investment in fostering a flourishing community of teaching and learning and faculty success, which in turn, will lead to student success.”

The Jane B. Nord Center for Teaching + Learning is a key outcome of CIA’s 2020–25 Strategic Plan and helps lay the groundwork for a long-range vision for the College. It will serve CIA’s approximately 50 full-time faculty and 60 adjunct faculty members, all of whom are practicing artists, designers and scholars, and it will join the estimated 2,000 other teaching and learning centers at higher education institutions across North America.

Focus areas will include IDeATE: Instructional Design and support for curricular delivery and refinement; Assessment and support of evaluation of student learning outcomes; Technology tools to support teaching, engagement and course management; and Equity, diversity and accessibility resources to bolster whole student support and inclusive teaching strategies. A search for a full-time director with a background in educational development and teaching and learning best practices is underway.

This has been a key priority since Heidemann moved to Cleveland and joined CIA as its chief academic officer in fall 2019. Prior to that, she worked extensively at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, home to one of the most reputable teaching and learning centers.

“As a longtime educator and higher education administrator, I have experienced firsthand the transformational impact of these spaces,” Heidemann says. “Teaching and Learning Centers do just that—provide faculty with the much-needed TLC to foster their educational development, giving them a safe space to tackle challenges in the classroom and to navigate the perpetual societal shifts that affect today’s learners. Being an educator has never been so complex, and there has never been a more important time than now to invest in this work.”

CONTACT
Cleveland Institute of Art
Michael C. Butz, Director of College Communications + External Relations
mcbutz@cia.edu / 216.421.7404