CST

Objectives: Adjunct and visiting professors have become an increasingly important cohort among the faculty at Macalester College in the past decade. We have designed the seminar for such faculty to:

Become acquainted and enjoy one another's company
Create an environment to discuss recurring pedagogical issues that uniquely concern visiting faculty
Provide professional development opportunities
Assist those faculty who are on the academic job market

This seminar meets on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month from 12:00-1:00 at the CST, DeWitt Wallace Library Suite 338

September 2 - Grading Group Work and Oral Presentations at Macalester
Many faculty members at Macalester assign both group work and oral. Should all members of a group get the same grade? Different grades? Should oral presentations be graded as a speech? How can you keep other students interested when they are re not presenting? This seminar treats the vexing subject of how to grade group and oral assignments. Bring your own experiences and advice to share.

September 16 - 10 Principles of Good Teaching at Macalester
Students at Macalester have unmistakable expectations of faculty members, but does research on pedagogical practice support these expectations? Given variations in teaching style among academic divisions and departments, is it possible to identify what really constitutes “good teaching?” We say “Yes!” and outline what we think they are.

October 7 - Interviewing Here and There: Effective Job Talks
You are hunting for that elusive full time, tenure-track job. Maybe you intend to apply for an upcoming tenure-track position at Macalester. Come for conversation and practical advice on how to make your research job talk the crown jewel of a dazzling interview. Faculty who attend this session will have an opportunity to organize job talk “practice groups” to receive feedback from your seminar colleagues and the CST Director.

October 21 - How’s It Going?
After nearly two months of teaching at Macalester, unsettling things are starting to happen. You are not getting as much research done as you had hoped. Or students keep emailing you at midnight and seem cranky when you don’t respond till the next day. Some students are asking you to be on their “honors committee.” You have little idea of what that means. This session is designed as a chance to take a breath, ask questions, share stories, compare notes and take stock.

November 4 - Contending with Problem Students
It has been a long time since you heard faculty colleagues describe Macalester students as comparable to Master’s-level students. To you, they are bright students who reflect a range of academic, social, emotional, and physical abilities. But some students have begun to show evidence of real problems and dealing with those problems is taking an increasingly big bite out of your busy schedule. Where do you turn? This lunchtime discussion provides information on where to find help on campus when your students need more from you than you’re prepared to provide.

November 18- Seamless Integration of Teaching and Scholarship
Perhaps it has been weeks or months since you spent time working on your research projects. The demands of teaching and grading and preparing for new courses have eaten up more time than you expected. Two Macalester visiting faculty members talk about strategies they use to integrate their teaching with their scholarship as both time management tools and professional development opportunities.

December 2 - Grading, Again!
You may have heard rumors that adjunct and visiting faculty have a disproportionate upward effect on Macalester students’ grade point averages compared to tenured faculty. Is grade inflation a serious problem at Macalester and are visiting faculty really the culprits? What are the norms for grading in your department? How do you know?