Taylor University was named the No.1 regional university in the Midwest for Undergraduate Teaching, said The US News & World Report, a leading ranker of American colleges. Taylor is also ranked fourth for Midwestern Regional Colleges.
According to their website, U.S. News & World is a media company dedicated to “helping consumers make important decisions in their lives, businesses, and communities.”
The company is famous for releasing a yearly ranking of all the colleges and universities in the USA.
To decide the ranking, university presidents, provosts and admissions deans participated in a survey asking them to nominate up to fifteen schools that were strong in undergraduate teaching, according to Taylor press release. Many nominated Taylor.
According to the US News & World website page explaining methodology, Taylor is classified as a Regional College, due to its undergraduate focus and the fact that it grants less than half of its degrees in the liberal arts. 88 other schools are also considered Regional Midwestern Colleges. The US News & World Report sorts all universities into four geographic categories: North, South, Midwest and West, and into four classification categories: National Universities, National Liberal Arts Colleges, Regional Universities and Regional Colleges.
In the press release Taylor attributed the high ranking to its commitment to integrating academic excellence with Christian rigor. The press release pointed to the success of its pre-med, engineering and film programs as expressions of that commitment. Taylor has also added new majors and concentrations in fields such as Artificial Intelligence, Entrepreneurship and Military Science and Leadership.
Provost Jewerl Maxwell views undergraduate teaching as an important part of Taylor’s mission, he said.
“Teaching effectiveness is at the core of Taylor University’s liberal arts undergraduate educational experience,” Maxwell said. “Those who teach at Taylor view their work as a calling pursued out of reverence to Jesus Christ our Master Teacher and engaged in as an expression of worship.”
Maxwell added that Taylor faculty pursue faith/learning integration and seek to educate their students in the same issues they explore in their careers.
Taylor equips faculty to effectively teach students through the Bedi Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (BCTLE), Maxwell said. Led by Ben Hotmire, dean of education, the BCTLE supports and provides resources for faculty seeking to engage students.
The BCTLE provides sessions, workshops and seminars on academic concerns, Hotmire said. Recent seminars have discussed grade inflation, the proper usage of AI in classrooms and how to give effective feedback.
Other sessions focus on topics such as effective teaching in large classrooms, how to design and redesign a class and how to engage students effectively. In addition, the BCTLE provides grants for first or second year faculty to visit conferences such as the Lilly Conference, which focus on undergraduate teaching.
A major focus of the BCTLE is the idea of engaged teaching, which emphasizes the relational side of learning, not just mental engagement.
“There are positive elements to students being able to verbalize and socialize what they’re learning and talking about,” Hotmire said. “For students, that means, after the professor talks about something, talking through what that means for ourselves, for our lives, and then applying that.”
As part of that relational learning, faculty are called to be intellectually approachable, accepting and answering questions from students, even if the questions are difficult or controversial. That approachability, Hotmire said, is a marker of high quality education that secular rankers pick up on.
The BCTLE also contributes to Taylor’s emphasis on integrating faith and learning by leading a course on the subject, which all faculty take in their second year, writing a paper on faith integration in their field. The course allows for a diversity of views on the topic, as scholars in different disciplines will approach faith integration differently.
Yet, Hotmire remains humble about the BCTLE’s responsibility for the award. He himself was mentored, both as a Taylor undergrad and as a new professor, and he has seen other professors mentored by senior colleagues.
“You know, the award goes to all of us,” he said. “There isn’t one office that deserves the award. We provide programming, but the faculty look out for each other and they help one another improve. That endeavor should get as much recognition as the BCTLE — it’s not an award for us. It’s an award for our faculty members.”
