Center for the Advancement of Teaching

Jeff Rients serves as an Assistant Director for the center. He consults with instructors to help create learning environments where their students can flourish, working on any scale from troubleshooting individual problem moments in the classroom to design/redesign of entire courses. Jeff also facilitates workshops on best practices in teaching and learning while also managing the CAT's social media, blog and website content as well the overseeing of continued implementation of the SOAR Project and strategizing future directions.

Jeff received his bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and his master’s degree and Ph.D. from Illinois State University. Jeff has taught in traditional classrooms, in lecture halls, and in online environments. In 2017 he received Illinois State University’s Outstanding University Teaching Award.