The Center supports higher education stakeholders in creating and sustaining systemic changes to value, reward, incentivize, and develop teaching excellence. The Center serves as a hub for organizations that have interests in college teaching excellence at scale. This includes a leadership coalition of national higher education associations, policy-makers, scholars, media, disciplinary associations, and additional key leaders. It also designates and facilitates a network of Teaching Excellence Colleges and Universities to ensure these institutions are seen, valued, and nurtured in a community together.

The Center supports public understanding of teaching excellence in higher education—creating expectations for every student to have positive teaching and learning experiences in college and naming institutions that provide these experiences. This includes promoting definitions of college teaching excellence and supporting the development of measures. Finally, the Center produces cutting edge research about effective systemic change processes that elevate and nurture teaching excellence at scale and produce robust student success, democratic outcomes, and economic mobility.