The University of Phoenix, which specializes in education for working adults, has nabbed some well-known names in higher education to advise it on a new research institute that it is establishing to study which teaching methods work best for nontraditional students.

Phoenix’s new National Research Center, as the institute is called, will be led by Jorge Klor de Alva, a past president of the university who now carries the title senior vice president for academic excellence.

The university has recruited as founding advisers for the research center David W. Breneman, a former dean of education at the University of Virginia (who has both praised and criticized the institution in books and articles); Carol B. Aslanian, a consultant on learning and a former official with the College Board; and Patrick M. Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.

In addition to studying new adult-focused approaches to teaching and the use of educational technology, the university said in a news release, the center will focus on “issues of student achievement and retention, accountability, affordability, access, and inclusion.”

In a departure for an institution that has historically focused on hiring a practitioner faculty and providing “real-world education” to its students, the new center will also seek to enhance the university’s support of faculty and student research.

With 330,000 students, the university, owned by the Apollo Group Inc., is the largest private institution in North America.