Douglas Robertson, an education professor at Portland State University in Oregon, has been selected to head UNLV's new Teaching and Learning Center, university President Carol C. Harter announced Monday.

The Teaching and Learning Center is designed to enhance both the quality of teaching and of learning at UNLV by serving as a resource center for faculty and teaching assistants. Center staff will provide individual consultation, conduct workshops and seminars, and provide related services such as the dissemination of information about teaching and about learning technologies. Robertson will begin his new job April 1.

"I'm pleased to announce the selection of Douglas Robertson to head our Teaching and Learning Center," Harter said. "With his research emphasis in the field of college teaching and the work he did to establish a similar teaching and learning center at Portland State, he was the best candidate for the job."

Provost Douglas Ferraro said, "We at UNLV are committed to providing our faculty with avenues for improving teaching, and we see the creation of the center and the hiring of Doug Robertson as important steps in that direction."

Robertson has been at Portland State since 1987. In addition to being a professor in the university's graduate school of education, he serves as the coordinator of postsecondary, adult, and continuing education graduate programs.

He is the author of the book "Self-directed Growth" and has written a number of refereed journal articles.

Robertson earned a doctoral degree in cultural geography with emphases in urban social geography and Latin America and a master's degree in environmental perception, both from Syracuse University. He also holds a bachelor's degree in cultural geography from the University of Oregon.