About the CTL

Mission

To foster collaborative relationships where teaching excellence drives student success and advances educational equity across all learning environments.

Vision

CTL Theme for 2025-2026 Academic Year- Teaching and Learning with Purpose: Guided by Mission and Grounded in Core Values

Aligning with the college’s Strategic Plan for 2024-2027, The Center for Teaching and Learning will focus on the Core Values supported by the Board of Trustees:

Accountable - Designing teaching experiences with transparency, ethical assessment, and continuous improvement.

Collaborative - fostering partnerships among faculty, staff, students and community stakeholders to co-create meaningful learning environments.

Compassionate - fostering faculty, staff and student well-being, flexibility, and empathy where every individual is valued and encouraged, as well as supported, to grow.

Inclusive - ensuring that all individuals are respected, represented and valued, so that education is accessible to all.

Innovative-embracing new ideas, creativity, pedagogies, and tools that enhance teaching and learning, drive transformative change and respond to evolving student and community needs.

Each workshop offered by the CTL for the 2025-2026 Academic Year will identify at least one core value as its primary focus. This will allow the CTL to support excellent, evidence-based teaching that aligns with Sinclair’s Core Values. Therefore, this will allow the CTL to become a space where these core values are practiced, modeled, and integrated into everyday teaching and learning.

Classroom: Encouraging innovation, classroom research, best practices, and discipline-specific and multi-disciplinary interaction.
Community: Creating an opportunity for students, faculty, administration and the community to dialogue about teaching and learning.
Teaching assessment and peer review: Teaching assessment and peer review to aid in the continuing development of faculty.
Mentoring: Mentoring faculty to build learning communities and relationships between colleagues.
Resources: Providing resources to support teaching and learning strategies.
Advocacy: Promoting and advocating for teaching excellence.

If you would like to keep up to date on all CTL workshops and happenings fill out this form to be added to the communication list to recieve updates!

CTL Leadership

The CTL staff includes:

Dr. Jessica McKinley, PhD., CTL Director, since 2025, Jessica.mckinley1425@sinclair.edu
Mr. Brenden Dines, Adminstrative Assistant, since 2024, brenden.dines@sinclair.edu

The CTL Faculty Fellows include:

Dr. Sarah SW Finch, PhD, Adjunct Faculty Professional Development Fellow, since 2024, sarah.finch@sinclair.edu
Professor Kelly Smith, MA, First Year Faculty Experience Fellow, since 2024, kelly.smith@sinclair.edu
Professor Trey Clements, MA, Strategic Implementation Fellow. since 2025, trey.clements@sinclair.edu