Simmons College

A search committee charged with finding a permanent director for the Center for Excellence in Teaching (CET) will begin its initial interviews with candidates this spring.

The search committee has been working closely with David Mead-Fox of Korn/Ferry International, an executive search firm, and has reached out to members of the Simmons community to better understand the needs of the CET and the qualities and competencies that will lead to success for its director.

The College recently held several focus groups to gather feedback and suggestions from students about Strategy 2015. During 10, 90-minute sessions held in February and March, undergraduate and graduate students were asked how Simmons can achieve the objective of creating a student-centered culture.

For 35 Simmons College sophomores, winter break was about more than just relaxing at home. For two weeks in January, this select group of students remained on campus for the Simmons World Challenge, an intensive program where students develop solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems. To read about this year's challenge, click here.

Award-winning author and spokeswoman Patricia Elam recently joined Simmons as the new Associate Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching (CET).

Elam’s national reputation as a writer, teacher, and leader with a background in law makes her a noteworthy addition to Simmons and the CET, an initiative of Strategy 2015 to strengthen the undergraduate college.

On October 31, the Simmons community celebrated the birthday of our founder, John Simmons. This tradition has been reinvigorated in recent years as part of the Strategy 2015 objective to strengthen the undergraduate college. In 2010, two new features were added to the Founder’s Day celebration: the unveiling of class flags for each undergraduate class, and an essay contest about John Simmons and his goals for the College.

Simmons recently welcomed Dr. Kim Edward Spiezio as the new Associate Vice President for Adult Learning. Spiezio will focus on expanding Simmons’s non-traditional undergraduate program for women over the age of 24, and developing new, flexible options that will include classes held in the evenings, on weekends, and online.

This past year, the Marketing Department hired the consulting firm MMB to help develop and conduct primary field research on branding and visuals for the new Simmons online offerings.

The much-anticipated Center for Excellence in Teaching (CET) was officially launched in August with new Interim Director Dr. Barbara Walvoord, a professor emerita of English at the University of Notre Dame and founder of four centers for teaching excellence and writing across the curriculum.

The latest initiatives related to Strategy 2015 are focused on creating more of a student-centered culture here at Simmons, and providing services to students in a format and location that is best for them.

Director of Assessment Susan Gracia has been at Simmons College for less than a year, but already she has helped to make some strong improvements in the area of assessment.