History of the Cross Endowed Chair in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Dr. K. Patricia Cross, a well-known scholar in the field of higher education, has generously endowed the Cross Chair in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) at Illinois State University. Dr. Cross and her sister are Illinois State alums, and their father is a former Illinois State University professor. As far as we can ascertain, this is the first and only university-wide, endowed chair in the SoTL in higher education in the nation. This is a tremendous opportunity for Illinois State University.

The scholarship of teaching and learning is a key area in the higher education national scene and Illinois State is making a name for itself in this area. More importantly, the SoTL is valuable work. Its strength is that we will routinely use and apply what we find in our SoTL work to pedagogical, curricular, and institutional reform in our institution, and to share what we learn with others. SoTL work is implicitly part of, and can help us implement, our strategic plan, Educating Illinois. The heart of SoTL is its public and applied nature. The Cross Chair is a five-year term and the incumbent is selected via a national search. The Cross Endowed Chair reports to the Office of the Provost.

Kathleen McKinney served as the first Cross Chair from 2002-2016. Jennifer Friberg was named the second Cross Chair upon Kathleen's retirement in 2016, and currently serves in this role.