The Office of the Vice-Provost for Academic Innovation (OVPAI) works to promote and support excellence and innovation in teaching at Cornell. Working with college, department, faculty and student leaders, we seek to extend the standing and commitment of Cornell as a community of teachers, grounded in common pedagogical purposes and practices (building from distinct disciplinary strengths and traditions), a common interest in ongoing learning and improvement (including as guided by educational theory and research), and a shared commitment to evolving and renewing our pedagogical practice through feedback, experiment, collaboration, and innovation.

Many of our efforts are led through Cornell’s well-regarded Center for Teaching Innovation, which supports and empowers educators with cutting-edge pedagogical tools, training and resources. Cornell’s Active Learning Initiative (ALI) has sought to transform large lecture and other classroom environments through interactive and student-centered pedagogies. With partners in campus computing and the Vice-Provost for Research and Innovation, OVPAI is also at the forefront of campus-wide responses to generative artificial intelligence (genAI), ensuring that the campus community stays ahead in the rapidly evolving landscape of technology-enhanced learning while preserving and extending our core institutional values. OVPAI also leads efforts to reform student feedback on teaching through the campus-wide Student Evaluations of Teaching (SETs) project.