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March Newsletter
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(If you have trouble reading this newsletter click here to view on web)
“And all the years
No one knows
Just how hard you worked
But now it shows”
David Barrett, “One Shining Moment”
March has long been a favorite month of mine, partly because of the excitement of March Madness, the NCAA’s marketing term for the final tournament that crowns championship teams in men’s and women’s basketball. March Madness is the pageantry of a three-week event of “one-and-done” games with non-stop media coverage. The “madness” is the amazing, last-second winning shots, the underdogs sometimes coming out on top, and the incredible individual performances and teamwork. It is, despite all the analytics and prognostications, a period of unpredictability, and it repeatedly exposes raw human emotions, from extreme exhilaration to intense disappointment.
Madness was also a subject of study of the late neurologist Oliver Sacks (1933-2015), a passionate optimist and humanist who turned clinical case studies into narratives that reflect underlying positive aspects of the human condition. Sacks’s stories about madness juxtaposed disturbances of the mind with features that many would consider desirable, such as explosive energy and creativity. His writings remind us that we experience positive and negative at the same time: successes alongside disappointments, winning shots as well as the ones that don’t make it.
The time period after spring break has always felt like madness to me as we begin a sprint to the finish with numerous projects to supervise, theses to review, letters of recommendation to write, and celebrations to attend. This year, I want the madness of March to retain a sense of optimism so that we appreciate how hard we have worked individually and collectively and how far we have come. Shining moments for students will abound and there will also be many opportunities to recognize the achievements of the faculty in the next two months. Beginning with the annual Faculty Accomplishments Reception this week and including a new Celebration of Teaching next month, congratulatory events remain important for supporting one another. Beyond the culminating works we will celebrate, we also recognize that the shining moments surface daily in all of the ways that faculty work impacts others – on the stage, in classrooms, studios, and labs, and for those who read, view, or experience our work. As the semester continues, the Faculty Hub hopes to learn more about the sources of your explosive energy and creativity and ways that we can support you as you continually grow as a teacher and scholar. Our March newsletter highlights some of the opportunities we are offering, and we look forward to helping you navigate the madness!
Linda Boland
Associate Provost for Faculty, Director of the Teaching and Scholarship Hub, and Professor of Biology
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| Upcoming Faculty Hub Events |
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| Below is a list of selected upcoming events. For a full list of Faculty Hub events, check out our website. |
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| Tuesday, March 15 from 12:00 to 12:50 p.m. |
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| Faculty Hub Conversation: Adjuncts |
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Are you currently teaching as an adjunct professor or as an instructor on a part-time or temporary appointment in A&S, RSB, Jepson, Law, or SPCS? Join us for a conversation to share teaching practices, get feedback from colleagues, and discover new teaching approaches for your current and future courses. This Faculty Hub Conversation will be co-facilitated by Kylie Korsnack (Faculty Hub), Carol Wittig (Library), and John Zinn (SPCS).
Register for the conversation here. |
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| Wednesday, March 16 from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. |
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| Fostering Classroom Debate, Dialogue, and Difficult Conversations with Janelle Peifer |
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This workshop, facilitated by Faculty Hub Associate, Janelle Peifer, will present strategies to foster inclusive and challenging conversations in the classroom. This will include techniques for supporting healthy debate and disagreement, navigating power differences, and promoting recovery from ruptures, micro-aggressions, and missteps. We hope you can join us.
Register for the workshop here. |
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| Friday, March 25 from 3:12 to 4:00 p.m. Faculty Hub or via Zoom |
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| Faculty Hub Talk - Dr. Doug Bosse |
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This month, our scholarship-focused Hub Talks program will feature Doug Bosse, Professor of Strategic Management and the David Meade White Jr. Chair in Business who will discuss “Exploring Stakeholder Capitalism.” Hub Talks are brief presentations from 3:12 to 3:30 p.m., followed by discussion.
Register for the Hub Talk here. |
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| Course Design Institute |
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| Are you planning to design a new course or redesign a previously taught course before the next academic year? Join the Faculty Hub team and other colleagues to get a jump start on course design and free up summer time for other activities. |
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Our institute’s focus on significant learning outcomes will help you gain focus, creative energy, and useful feedback. We hope participants will leave the institute with a new or improved course design process, and with a course that they are excited to teach and that they are confident will have a significant impact on student learning.
To accommodate the various interests and availability of faculty, we will offer two versions of our Course Design Institute this May:
- In the Faculty Hub: Wednesday, May 4 and Thursday, May 5 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day.
- Via Zoom: Tuesday, May 24 through Friday, May 27 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. each day.
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Morning Blend is the Faculty Hub’s “coffee break” style opportunity to learn something that will help faculty advance their teaching or scholarship. We offer presentations that last 15 minutes or less and provide a one-page tip sheet. We record the sessions for our archive. The program addresses timely needs that occur throughout the academic year and the program is mindful that time is our most precious resource! This semester's schedule can be found here.
From the Morning Blend Archive: |
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| Program & Resource Highlights |
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| Facilitated Course Assessment Service |
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| Are you planning to conduct a mid-term assessment in your courses? Would you like an opportunity to gain feedback from your students in a structured and anonymous format? Visit our website to learn more about the Faculty Hub’s facilitated course assessment service. This service offers faculty and instructional staff the opportunity to invite a consultant from the Faculty Hub into their classroom to gather anonymous feedback from their students through a facilitated conversation. The Hub consultant will provide the instructor with a written report that synthesizes student feedback and offer support for analyzing and responding to that feedback through a follow-up consultation. All reports and consultations are completely confidential. Reach out to the Faculty Hub or to Kylie, Libby, Andrew, or Ryan directly to schedule a facilitated course assessment. |
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| Accessibility Consultations |
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| The Faculty Hub can help you develop course activities and learning materials that are accessible and responsive to individual student needs. We also offer support and guidance for modifying course components and/or teaching practices in response to student Disability Accommodation Notices (or DANs). Contact Kylie Korsnack to schedule an accessibility-focused consultation. For additional support please also visit the Disability Services' Faculty-Specific FAQ. |
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What is your role in the Hub?
My focus as a Hub technology consultant in teaching & scholarship is to help faculty think creatively and critically about whether, when, and how to integrate technology into their teaching and research. I am most experienced with supporting web publishing and digital media projects, and my favorite consultations incorporate consideration of how our use of different technologies impacts minoritized people. I also offer facilitated course assessments, conduct qualitative research projects, and co-lead our Digital Pedagogy Cohort and Morning Blend series.
What is a recent project that inspired / excited you?
Last spring, I was deeply inspired by the UR Black Student Coalition, who have used / are using a range of digital and analog methods to organize our community and galvanize support for meaningful change. Seeing their work, skill, and drive helped remind me why I started working in higher education to begin with: our students can and will change the world.
What's a fun fact about you?
I’ve been a musician for nearly 30 years, play a variety of wind and percussion instruments, and have recorded two albums as part of a steel drum band.
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| External Faculty Development Opportunities |
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NCFDD 14-Day Writing Challenge
March 14 – March 27
The next NCFDD Writing Challenge begins on March 14. UR faculty who have participated in the past have reported benefits in establishing a writing routine. Contact the Faculty Hub if you have questions about how to claim your NCFDD account through UR’s institutional membership.
Elon 18th Annual Teaching & Learning Conference
Monday, June 6th, 2022
Elon University welcomes university and college educators to the 18th Annual Teaching & Learning Conference. This year’s theme is Educating Engaged Citizens for an Uncertain and Changing World. |
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Myth: The Faculty Hub is a place where faculty with teaching problems go to be “fixed.”
Fact: We work with anyone interested in continuous improvement in teaching, learning, problem-solving, scholarship, and finding a community of teacher-scholars.
Mythbusters created by ctle.vcu.edu; adapted and used with permission. |
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