The Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning has long played a central role in teaching excellence at Yale and beyond. Headquartered in Sterling Memorial Library, the center hosts innovative programs that aim to help students be better students and teachers be better teachers, improving the academic experience of the broader Yale community. A 2017 gift from William Poorvu ’56, Lia Poorvu, and their children Alison Poorvu Jaffe ’81 and Jonathan Poorvu ’84 permanently endowed the center.

With a generous campaign contribution, the Poorvu family has now funded a satellite location inside the newly renovated Kline Tower, at the heart of Science Hill. With flexible meeting and teaching spaces, Poorvu North supports students and faculty in FAS science and math departments, along with Yale Engineering and Yale School of the Environment.

The center facilitates effective course design and promotes evidence-based teaching methods for faculty members, graduate student teaching fellows, and postdoctoral scholars; and it supports student learning by offering tutoring resources in fields such as writing, science and quantitative reasoning, and academic strategies. Graduate and professional students have access to resources that help them develop as scholarly writers. In addition, the center partners with faculty members across the university to disseminate Yale’s intellectual culture to alumni and other learners beyond the campus.

The Poorvu family has a longstanding legacy of philanthropy at Yale, much of it reflecting their interest in pedagogical excellence; together, William and Lia Poorvu combine eighty years of teaching in higher education. In 1991, they created the Poorvu Family Fund for Academic Innovation to celebrate Yale’s strength in interdisciplinary teaching. Recognizing demonstrated excellence in teaching in interdisciplinary undergraduate programs, the award enables outstanding junior faculty members to dedicate the summer to research essential to their development as scholars and teachers.

“The Poorvu family has again demonstrated their commitment to helping Yale create an inclusive community that values teaching and learning,” says Jenny Frederick, the executive director of the Poorvu Center. “Their support has enabled us to expand the Poorvu Center’s reach across campus, helping even more students and instructors do their best work.”