MISSION
The Trefny Innovative Instruction Center’s mission is to inspire an institutional culture that values, studies, and implements transformative teaching and learning at Mines. The Center provides leadership, consultation, resources, and programs to achieve the four areas of our mission:
TEACHING & LEARNING
Promote teaching that is intentionally designed, supportive of students, focused on learning, and reflective.
UNIVERSITY LEADERSHIP
Advance teaching and learning through university strategic planning, initiatives, and policy.
EDUCATION RESEARCH
Further data-driven instruction and education research.
Community
Foster a collaborative, learning-centered teaching community.
OUR HISTORY
The Trefny Center has gone by several names in its history. It was first known as the Center for Engineering Education when it was founded in 2000 with the support of then-Vice President of Academic Affairs John Trefny. The CEE provided a forum for seminars, peer mentoring, and professional development as well as dispersing mini-grants to fund innovative ideas for classroom and laboratory improvements. After Dr. Trefny was named the 15th President of Mines in 2001, he and his wife, Sharon, gave a generous gift to start an endowment for the center. Later, when John Trefny retired as President in 2006, the center was renamed the Trefny Institute in honor of John and Sharon’s many contributions to Mines.
In 2015, the center renewed its focus, becoming the Trefny Innovative Instruction Center. As a strategic extension of the Provost’s office, the center was to provide leadership, guidance, support and resources to advance learning and teaching across the university. With funding from the Board of Trustees, the first major initiative was to immerse cohorts of faculty in the Engineering Learning framework and to shift their focus from “covering content” to creating engaging, inclusive, and effective learning experiences. In its first three years under Founding Director Sam Spiegel, the Trefny Center reached more than 70 Mines faculty in intensive learning experiences that significantly and systemically impacted learning on campus.
Today, the center is often simply referred to as the Trefny Center and continues to use the Engineering Learning framework, provide seminars, support peer-mentoring, and fund fellowships and mini-grants, and more, as it honors the long history of innovative teaching and learning at Mines.
Dr. John and Mrs. Sharon Trefny — Founders
John and Sharon Trefny have a history of championing innovative teaching and learning at Mines. As a Physics faculty member, John taught students who went on to become Mines faculty themselves. When he became Physics department head, John supported faculty in implementing the studio model, a transformative approach to physics education. Later, as Vice President for Academic Affairs, John helped launch the teaching faculty line at Mines and founded the Center for Engineering Education (CEE). When John became President, he and Sharon, a retired systems engineer and First Lady of Mines during John’s presidency, generously created an endowment for the CEE, which—upon their retirement—was renamed for them to honor their significant contributions to Mines. The Trefnys remain active members of the local education community and are valued ambassadors for the institution.