Mission Statement
The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning is an ongoing learning system that facilitates and enhances quality teaching, student learning, and excellence in the workplace. It empowers professionals to address challenges while fostering the scholarship of teaching and student service.

History
The Center for Excellence is an agile and responsive professional development system driven by the people, and strongly supported by the administration at Parkland College. After President Zelema Harris proposed the idea for a faculty center in 1991, a team of faculty designed a system to address the ever-changing needs of the faculty and staff at Parkland.

The chronological history is as follows:

• In 1994 a committee comprised of Parkland faculty and Department Chairs selected the first director, Fay Rouseff-Baker, who now serves as Associate Vice President for Teaching and Learning.
• The PCA Professional Development Committee for Faculty Concerns became the Advisory Board to the Center for Excellence
• That same year, the Mentoring Program was first piloted; this remains a successful support system to this day
• In 1996, the Classroom Assessment and Research initiative was piloted; the courses that make up this initiative are still offered every semester
• In response to faculty request, the Instructional Strategies and Techniques Workshops and the Learning Issues Seminars were begun in 1997
• The New Full-Time Faculty Orientation program was initiated in 1998 to meet the needs of the growing number of new faculty
• In 2000, the Faculty Academy was launched, allowing Parkland College faculty to obtain credit for attendance at approved Center for Excellence programs
• In Summer 2003, the Distance and Virtual Learning and Parkland College Television(PCTV) Units of Parkland College merged under the Center for Excellence department to ensure support for online faculty and students.
• In April 2004, the Parkland College Board of Trustees approved the new position "Professional Development Coordinator for Staff and Faculty," in order to increase and enhance staff programming, and further support faculty programming.

Center Programming
The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning has six major components in place for Parkland College faculty and staff. A New Full-Time Faculty Orientation course, a Mentoring Program, Classroom Assessment and Research courses, Learning Issues Seminars, Teaching and Learning Workshops, and Discussions.