A growing body of evidence from the classroom, coupled with emerging research in cognitive psychology and neuroscience, is lending insight into how people learn, but teaching on most college campuses has not changed much. "Too often, faculty members teach according to habits and hunches," said Carl E. Wieman, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and associate director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, who has extensively studied how to improve science education. In large part, the problem is that graduate students pursuing their doctorates get little or no training in pedagogy or assessment. "When these graduate students become faculty members," he said, "they might think about the content they want students to learn, but not the cognitive capabilities they want them to develop." Christy Price will visit LU on March 8 and 9 to discuss the effects that this type of approach can have on student learning. You can register now to attend either of her workshops. In addition, the CT+LE provides individualized training in pedagogy and assessment. Now is a great time to give your students a mid-semester feedback survey. You can design your own short form or contact CT+LE for some samples. Your main objective is to gather information that can be used to make some mid-semester adjustments so that you are assured that real learning is occurring in your classes. The University Undergraduate Advising Center is moving closer to reality everyday. We will soon have a director and space is being renovated. Once in place, the UUAC will provide state of the art support aimed at improving our retention rates and student success. Coupled with the ongoing faculty development efforts of CT+LE and the continued implementation of the Quality Enhancement Plan, LU is solidifying its commitment to being a world-class teaching-centered institution. One of the most widely recognized benefits of a college degree is increased quality of life due to enhanced earning power. A college degree typically provides the foundation for our all important middle class. Recent U.S. Census Bureau data show that high school graduates earn an average of $1.2 million during their working life but a bachelor's degree increases that total to $2.1 million. A college degree also opens doors to many desirable professions since six out of ten jobs now require some postsecondary education and training. The U.S. Department of Labor also reports that the rate of growth for jobs requiring advanced skills will double over the next decade. In fact, the Institute for Higher Education Policy and the Carnegie Foundation note that a college degree accords additional benefits including higher savings levels, improved working conditions, increased personal and professional mobility, improved health and life expectancy, improved quality of life, better consumer decision making, and most of these benefits are passed on to their children. All good information the next time someone in your class asks you why they have to learn something. We recommend you take a look at Empirical Research in Teaching and Learning that is available on Google books. Besides having a chapter by our very own Randy Smith, there is a chapter co-written by Diane Halpern, who visited LU last semester, and a chapter about enhancing student autonomy by Johnmarshall Reeve.