Our Foundation: Mission, Vision, Values, and Principles

Our Mission

Yale’s Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning promotes equitable, engaged teaching, supports people’s agency in their learning, and makes education more reflective, collaborative, and public. 

Our Vision

A better world through teaching and learning

Poorvu Center staff members pose together in the hallway of our main location.

Our Community Values

We seek contributions from people with diverse backgrounds, experiences, identities, and expertise, embracing difference to advance equity, accessibility, and the Poorvu Center’s mission.

  • How do I invite, actively listen to, and incorporate the ideas of others in my conversations and work? 
  • How do I contribute to the balance between moving toward consensus and considering alternative viewpoints? 
  • How do I anticipate difference as the norm and work accordingly?
  • How do I contribute to a work culture that ensures access for all and gives each individual an equal opportunity to thrive?

We acknowledge that we cannot do our best work without taking risks, including the risk of failure, and we support one another in learning from our failures as much as successes. 

  • Where in my work do I make time to reflect and receive feedback?
  • When have I experienced failure in my work, how have I responded, and how have those challenges shaped my subsequent work?
  • How do I invite colleagues in, to reflect on and learn from unexpected or disappointing outcomes, rather than calling them out for errors? 
  • How do I contribute to a work environment conducive to taking risks?

We care for each other as professionals and human beings, and we believe our Center is strongest and our culture healthiest when we support both individual and team growth.

  • How do I create opportunities for my colleagues to grow? How do I advocate for my own professional growth?
  • How do I see my colleagues as people first, and strive to be generous and compassionate in my interactions? 
  • What obstacles to growing together have I encountered in the workplace, and how have I responded to them? 
  • How do I contribute to a trusting workplace where each colleague feels welcome to bring their backgrounds, interests, and passions to work?
Two Poorvu Center staff members pose at the opening of Poorvu North.

Our Guiding Principles

The Poorvu Center…

  1. Supports teachers and learners of all backgrounds and abilities and helps develop practices that promote inclusive teaching.
  2. Values research-based decisions about teaching and learning and partners with instructors, departments, and programs to measure and evaluate impact.
  3. Encourages collaboration in all our activities.
  4. Promotes public conversations about teaching and learning across all Yale communities.
  5. Responds to instructors’ vision and students’ needs, and fosters experiments in pedagogy, technology, and student support.
  6. Welcomes the Yale community and visitors into our space to advance teaching and learning excellence.
  7. Disseminates Yale’s intellectual culture to learners at the University and beyond.
  8. Continually reflects on our guiding principles in the context of a changing external environment, to remain nimble and proactive.