Events

If you’d like to participate in Fall Quarter, please register by September 21. Fall sessions start the week of Monday, September 28.

The registration form will remain open for WQ and SQ cohorts - please sign up as early as you can!

Facilitated by the Center for Faculty Development

The Center for Faculty Development is excited to launch our first Course Design Institutes (CDIs) in Fall 2026, specifically geared toward preparing faculty for a new structure and pace on semesters.

These CDIs are exclusively for courses that are in-person or hybrid. For asynchronous courses, please contact our colleagues in the Instructional Design Studio (formerly CDLI).

Further details are available on the Course Design Institute page.

» Register (separate registration form from other events)

Fridays, 3:30–5:00 | Oct 2, Nov 6 | LOYA201 and Zoom (Link to follow on registration)

Facilitated by David Green (Center for Faculty Development; International Studies Department)

The Chairs' and Directors' Community of Practice is open to all current department chairs and program directors, as well as chairs- and directors-elect.

We gather twice per quarter.

Further details are available on the Community of Practice page here.

» Register (separate registration form from other events)

Tuesdays, 10:30-11:45 | Oct 6, Nov 3 | Loyola 201 and Zoom (Link to follow on registration)

Co-sponsored by CFD, Technology Ethics Initiative, Lemieux Library, Instructional Design Studio (formerly CDLI), and University Core

Facilitated by Julie Homchick-Crowe (Center for Faculty Development; Communications and Media Department) and Ann Kenady (Instructional Designer, IDS)

Coffee, tea, and snacks offered.

With the rise in generative AI use among college students, faculty are re-thinking how they structure their in-person meetings, evaluate learning, and assign homework. While some have returned to blue books and oral exams, others are centering generative AI as part of their courses and their students’ work. How are these approaches working? How can we approach teaching and best use the resources we have as instructors of in-person classes?

If any of those questions resonate, this space is for you! We will provide an informal venue for those who desire conversation and support from colleagues to share ideas, practices, and challenges with AI.

How does a "Community of Practice" work?

For these gatherings, we use the "Communities of Practice" model (Wenger 1998), which means you're in charge of what's discussed. You decide which topics are most important for you as teachers who are grappling with the changing landscape of teaching in this new age of AI.

Each member of the group decides how much or how little to contribute. (For example, the model includes "legitimate peripheral participation" to acknowledge that not everyone wants to join in a discussion even when they choose to attend. Rather, they may choose to simply listen to others). This community of practice provides an intentionally loose structure for sharing ideas and working out approaches to new challenges as they arise. Moreover, communities of practice create opportunities to forge new connections across colleges and disciplines for ongoing support.

The Center for Faculty Development's role is simply to facilitate the process for you. We also compile anonymized notes and ideas from each session to share with participants.

As with other events run by the Center, this forum is voluntary, formative, and confidential.

» Register

Wednesdays, Oct 14, Nov 4, Dec 2 | 11:00–12:00 | LOYA 201 and Zoom (Link to follow on registration)

Co-sponsored by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion

Facilitated by Colette Hoption (Center for Faculty Development; Management)

Coffee, tea, and snacks provided

Being a faculty member of color in academia often comes with unique challenges—both visible and invisible. From navigating institutional culture to managing racialized experiences around teaching, research, and service, there is a need for supportive community. In response, the Center for Faculty Development is offering an affinity group for faculty of color.  Members of this group will have space to connect, reflect, and build relationships with colleagues who share similar experiences. In this space, we will affirm one another, exchange strategies for success, and foster resilience.

Why an affinity group?

Affinity groups bring together individuals around shared identities and lived experiences, offering vital psychological and professional benefits. These include reduced feelings of isolation, increased confidence, and a stronger sense of belonging. Professionally, participants often gain access to informal mentoring, shared strategies for career advancement, and a deeper understanding of how to navigate institutional systems. For faculty of color, such groups create space for affirmation, collective insight, and solidarity. Research shows they contribute to well-being, empowerment, and sustained engagement in academic life.

Aims of the group

Our aim is to provide an environment that supports faculty of color success and satisfaction in academic life. 

» Register

Wednesday, Oct 21 | 11:00–12:20 | LOYA 201

Facilitated by Jennifer Tilghman-Havens (Center for Faculty Development Consultant, co-founder of The Reweaving Project) and Emily Pruest (co-founder of The Reweaving Project)

Finding Joy and Hope Amidst Chaos: Reweaving Possibilities for Imagining Something Different Together

What if this unsettled moment is also an invitation to reimagine how we teach, learn, and relate?

In this interactive 90-minute workshop, faculty will explore how the fractures of our time—disconnection, exhaustion, uncertainty, and diminished trust—can become openings for deeper connection and collective possibility.

Faculty will experience practical, reflective tools that can help themselves and their students feel more grounded, connected, resilient, and capable of shaping what comes next, with the aim of greater personal, relational, communal, and ecological health.

Faculty will leave with renewed imagination and practices they can adapt within their own courses and learning communities.

» Register

Mondays, 12:30–1:45 | Oct 26, Nov 30 | Zoom (Link to follow on registration) 

Co-sponsored by CFD, Technology Ethics Initiative, Lemieux Library, Instructional Design Studio (formerly CDLI), and University Core

Facilitated by Julie Homchick-Crowe (Center for Faculty Development; Communications and Media) and Colette Hoption (Center for Faculty Development; Management)

Generative AI is posing unique challenges for those of us who are teaching asynchronous online courses. How do we reassure ourselves that the learning is happening when direct contact with students is not possible? How do we reinforce how and when AI may be used – and know when or whether our policies are being followed? What's working and what isn't? 

If any of those questions resonate, this space is for you! It provides an informal venue for those who desire conversation and support from colleagues to share ideas, practices, and challenges with AI. 

How does a "Community of Practice" work?

For these gatherings, we use the "Communities of Practice" model (Wenger 1998), which means you're in charge of what's discussed. You decide which topics are most important for you as teachers who are grappling with the changing landscape of teaching in this new age of AI. 

Each member of the group decides how much or how little to contribute. (For example, the model includes "legitimate peripheral participation" to acknowledge that not everyone wants to join in a discussion even when they choose to attend. Rather, they may choose to simply listen to others). 

This community of practice provides an intentionally loose structure for sharing ideas and working out approaches to new challenges as they arise. Moreover, communities of practice create opportunities to forge new connections across colleges and disciplines for ongoing support.

The Center for Faculty Development's role is simply to facilitate the process for you. We also compile anonymized notes and ideas from each session to share with participants.  

As with other events run by the Center, this forum is voluntary, formative, and confidential.

» Register

Thu, Nov 5 | 10:15–11:45 | LOYA 201

Facilitated by Jennifer Tilghman-Havens (Center for Faculty Development Consultant, Co-founder of The Reweaving Project) and Emily Puetz (Co-founder of The Reweaving Project)

Coffee, tea, and snacks provided.

Designing for Connection: Simple Strategies to Help Students Find Their Way Back to Each Other is a 90-minute, in-person workshop for faculty in any discipline who want their classroom to feel less like a room of strangers and more like a community of learners.

Students today are more continuously connected to their devices than to the people sitting next to them — and that disconnection shows up as silence in discussion, flat group work, and split focus/distracted attention. Data shows that young adults are less skilled in the human capacity to engage with one another.

Authentic connection can be part of classroom design. This workshop offers simple yet effective strategies that enable students to re-connect with themselves and one another in the classroom, to develop the durable skills that will remain with them throughout their life and careers.

» Register

Co-sponsored by the Office of Research and Sponsored Projects 

Facilitated by Andrea Verdan (Center for Faculty Development; Chemistry Department)

Timing: On a rolling basis, according to demand | Zoom 

The “research on research” gives us good evidence on what helps faculty progress with their research, and in response, we’ve been launching Faculty “Writing” Groups since 2007. “Writing” encapsulates whatever is involved from the inception of your idea to the completion of the final “product.” These groups provide you with camaraderie and accountability to achieve more in your scholarship. And they are intentionally interdisciplinary so that you remain the expert in your own field throughout.  

We are organizing Faculty “Writing” Groups on an on-demand basis. Once sufficient faculty are interested, you will be grouped with two or three other colleagues from across campus and will be invited to attend a brief launch meeting with your group and a member of the Center. You will then be ready to meet with your group independently and regularly to help you achieve more in your research – and with less stress.

By the end of a launch session, you will be grouped with two or three other colleagues from across campus and will be ready to meet with your group independently and regularly to help you achieve more in your research – and with less stress. 

Click here for our webpage with full details on Faculty "Writing" Groups. 

» Register (separate registration form from other events)