Mano Singham to head Case’s Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education
Says most important focus to create more awareness about conditions conducive to deep learning, how teachers create those conditions
August 10, 2004 | For more information: Jeff Bendix (216)-368-6070
 Mano Singham, associate director of the University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education (UCITE) at Case Western Reserve University, has been named director of the center.
Singham succeeds James Zull, who had directed the center since its founding in 1994. Zull, a professor of biology, will maintain a role in the center’s operations.
Singham, who has been with the center since 1998, says he does not plan any fundamental changes to UCITE’s mission, but has some specific areas on which he would like to focus. The most important of these, he said, is to create more awareness among faculty about what conditions are conducive to deep learning by students and what teachers can do to create those conditions.
Other areas of focus include issues of gender and ethnic diversity in the classroom, and helping teachers with their classroom presentation skills. In addition, Singham hopes to create “satellite” programs, based in university’s individual schools and colleges. “We try to develop programs that are applicable to everyone, but there are some issues which are unique to particular schools, and we would like to find ways to help them address those,” he said.
Along with his role at UCITE, Singham is an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Physics. In 2001 he won the University’s Carl F. Wittke award for distinguished undergraduate teaching.
Singham obtained his B.Sc. from the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in theoretical nuclear physics from the University of Pittsburgh. Before joining Case’s faculty in 1989, he taught and carried out research at the University of Rochester, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Drexel University, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Colombo.
UCITE’s mission is to help members of the university’s faculty develop their teaching skills and educate them in the latest developments in teaching technique and theory. The center is headquartered in the Allen Memorial Library building
About Case Western Reserve University
Case is among the nation's leading research institutions. Founded in 1826
and shaped by the unique merger of the Case Institute of Technology and Western
Reserve University, Case is distinguished by its strengths in education, research,
service, and experiential learning. Located in Cleveland, Case offers nationally
recognized programs in the Arts and Sciences, Dental Medicine, Engineering,
Law, Management, Medicine, Nursing, and Social Work. http://www.case.edu.
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