Events

Conversations about Scholarship & Teaching

Spring 2024

Conversations about Scholarship and Teaching (including “Dilemma Mondays”) are held in the Barbara Davis S.P.A.C.E. (Library 309). All faculty and staff are welcome.

Friday, January 26

What Comes First? Selecting the First Text for any Course
David Moore (International Studies)

Whether your course is old or new, one key syllabus question always arises: which text comes first? Should it be simple or advanced? A classic, or cutting-edge? Inviting or intense … or both? The one that’s worked the past five years … or has that chestnut gone stale? David Moore will outline some general principles and approaches to selecting the first text in any class, illustrating with choices he’s made in a half-dozen different courses. He will be joined by Rothin Datta, Erik Davis, and Brittany Landorf; they won’t talk long, since every faculty member has something to say, and some successes or disasters to share, on this focused but important question.

Friday, February 2

A Time I Said “No” to a Student: An Open Conversation

Requests from students – for advice or assistance or letters of recommendation, to sponsor internships or summer research projects, to grant another extension, etc. – are a regular part of our lives as colleagues. There are times, however, when it’s just not possible to say “yes” to every request that comes your way. How have you navigated the need to say “no” to a student? Can you think of a time when you actually did say “no?” How did it go? What – if anything – might you do differently in the future? What questions or advice do you have for other colleagues who are trying to figure out how to respond to student requests? Please join us for a conversation about when and how to say “no” – and “yes” – in ways that can meet the needs of our students and also be sustainable and supportive of our own wellbeing.

Monday, February 5

A Dialogue on How to Connect Study Away Experiences to Ongoing Educational Projects
Shanti Freitas (Center for Study Away)

The idea behind this session is to widen the discussion about the impact of study away, and reflect on how we can better connect study away experiences to a student’s educational experience on our campus. Come hear from two seniors, Daisy Alcantar (Sociology major and Political Science minor, studied away in Chile) and Joe Harrington (Geography, Environmental Studies, and Asian Studies triple major, studied away in Taiwan), whose study away experiences have influenced their capstone and senior projects. Join the three faculty who worked with those students and many others, Olga Gonzalez (Anthropology), Erika Busse-Cárdenas (Sociology), and I-Chun Catherine Chang (Geography), will present with Shanti Freitas (Center for Study Away) to discuss how they support students to build on their learning from study away.

Friday, February 9

Enhancing Course Development and Research Productivity through Backward Design
Donohon Abdugafurova (Wake Forest University)

In this session, Dr. Donohon Abdugafurova will discuss the productivity and efficiency challenges of scholarship and teaching. By introducing the core principles and practical applications of Backward Design, she explores their utility in both course development and research planning. Participants will gain insights, hands-on experience in course planning, and collaborative applications in research scenarios. An interactive Q&A session allows participants to share their experiences and address potential challenges, fostering a dynamic exchange of insights. Dr. Abdugafurova earned her PhD in Islamic Civilizations Studies from Emory. Currently, she works as an Instructional Designer at the Office of Online Education at Wake Forest University. 

February 12

Dilemma Monday

Join us one Monday a month during Spring 2024 for conversation about pedagogical dilemmas, challenges, and concerns. There is tremendous benefit to being in community and crowdsourcing wisdom and experience.

Friday, February 16

Experiences in TPI

The Transforming Pedagogies Institute is a partnership between the Jan Serie Center and the Cultural Wellness Center, and is centered on transforming what we teach and how we teach at Macalester. The program focuses on Cultural Self Study in order to develop practices that help us (re)member who we are, who we have been, and who we want to be as humans, as cultural and social beings, and as teachers and learners and scholars. Please join us for this conversation to learn more about the experiences of some of the participants from our inaugural summer institute.

Friday, February 23

Pedagogy Study Session: A Pedagogy for Liberation

Join us for the third of four Friday Conversations about Scholarship and Teaching during the 2023-2024 year dedicated to deepening our understanding of pedagogy. This week we will read and discuss Chapter 3 from Shor and Freire’s A Pedagogy for Liberation. You do not have to have attended previous sessions to come to this one. Advance reading of the chapter is desired, but not required. in order to participate. You can access the reading in this google drive.

Monday, February 26

Academic Integrity in the AI Era
Mozhdeh Khodarahmi (Library) and Chris Wells (Environmental Studies and History)

In this workshop, we’ll dive into the challenges and opportunities presented by Generative AI in education and share national practical classroom guidelines, specifically in regard to Academic Integrity. Together, we’ll navigate the nuances of fostering authentic learning experiences in an increasingly digital world.

Friday, March 1

The Devil Bird of Sri Lanka in the Ornithological Imagination
Arjun Guneratne (Anthropology)

Owls are Janus-faced in their meaning for us. For some societies, they have represented wisdom and knowledge; for others a sense of foreboding, of impending death. The devil bird, thought by some ornithologists to be a species of owl, is one of the enduring enigmas of Sri Lanka’s natural history. For centuries, Sri Lankan villagers have believed in the ulama, a nocturnal bird of deep forests, whose blood-curdling scream foretold death. Colonial commentators and naturalists were fascinated by the legend and sought to explain these eerie and frightening sounds of the night by identifying the creature that made them. The basis of the legend (which varies in the details, as told by different people drawing on accounts in different parts of the island) concerns a man who, to punish his wife, gave her the meat of her murdered child to cook; on discovering the truth, she fled screaming into the jungle and was turned into the ulama. Although many have described the call, no one has actually seen its maker, so its identity remains a mystery—but one that provided much material for ornithological debate as to its source. Ornithologists could not decide however if what they sought to identify was the ulama of folk belief (supposedly an owl), or the source(s) of the manifold eerie and frightening sounds of the jungle at night. Sri Lanka was once densely forested, and most people lived near jungle; extensive deforestation during the colonial period and after means that most people now live far from forests and will never encounter the ulama. Interest in the ulama therefore faded after the sixties. Join Arjun Guneratne for this analysis and discussion of how folk belief and ornithology intersect to produce a productive, if inconclusive, discourse about birds. 

Monday, March 4

Dilemma Monday

Join us one Monday a month during Spring 2024 for conversation about pedagogical dilemmas, challenges, and concerns. There is tremendous benefit to being in community and crowdsourcing wisdom and experience.

Friday, March 22

Lightning Round Scholarship Share

Join us for this upcoming CAST session to hear seven of your colleagues share a bit about their current work for our inaugural “lightning round scholarship share.” Each colleague will take five minutes to highlight a current research project that brings them joy or that they would like feedback on. Mark your calendars and be sure to attend this not-to-be-missed session!

Friday, March 29

Pedagogy Study Session: We Want to Do More than Survive

Join us for the fourth of four Friday Conversations about Scholarship and Teaching during the 2023-2024 year dedicated to deepening our understanding of pedagogy. This week we will read and discuss Chapter 5 from Bettina Love’s We Want to Do More than Survive. You do not have to have attended previous sessions to come to this one. Advance reading of the chapter is desired, but not required. in order to participate. You can access the reading in this google drive.

Monday, April 1

Dilemma Monday Special Edition: Should we be preparing students for a world with AI?
(facilitated by Mozhdeh Khodarahmi [Library] and Chris Wells [Environmental Studies and History])

Join us one Monday a month during Spring 2024 for conversation about pedagogical dilemmas, challenges, and concerns. There is tremendous benefit to being in community and crowdsourcing wisdom and experience

Friday, April 5

Write to Preserve, Edit to Protect: Counterstorying from the Margins
Cait Bergeon (Community Engagement Center)

Drawing from her dissertation work on the microaggressional experiences of Native students, Cait Bergeon will discuss the role of counterstorying as a pedagogical tool. Weaving together the methodology of portraiture and poetic inquiry, her work hones into the medicinal expression of curating and cultivating familial counterstories through the vehicle of poetry as a tool for survivance. Cait will also lead participants through a short interactive activity using found poetry.

Friday, April 12

Expanding our Knowledge of Extracellular Mechanisms of Memory
Michelle Tong (Biology and Neuroscience)

For animals who live in an unpredictable world, the ability to process and remember our environment adaptively is crucial for survival. The nervous system is largely responsible for how such representations form (learning) and persist (memory). While much of the field has focused on neuronal and other cellular mechanisms, my lab studies the role of the extracellular matrix. This talk will cover some of our recent work showing how the extracellular matrix around neurons is critical for memory stability.

Friday, April 19

Debriefing from a Community-based Coding Project for Informal Learning: Lessons and Insights
Joslenne Peña (Math, Statistics, and Computer Science)

Code for Us is an NSF-funded program that centers community outreach, basic programming skills, informal learning, and computing education by centering libraries as pillars to facilitate carefully crafted learning environments to welcome adults into tech spaces. Please join professor Joslenne Peña where she will share reflections from the first ever pilot workshop of the program series with specific thoughts on: building community partnerships in the area, workforce education, lifelong learning, and designing a curriculum that centers computing skills for underrepresented adult learners. 

Friday, April 26

Breaking the Silence: Women in Science at Macalester College
Maria Fedorova (Russian Studies)

During the spring semester of 2023, a team of students worked in the Macalester Archives to investigate the history of women (faculty, students, and staff) who engaged in scientific activities at Macalester College from 1890 to 1990. Exploring various topics, such as science curriculum, female student enrollments in STEM majors, and extracurricular activities in sciences for female students, the group uncovered a rich and complex history. This workshop aims to present the findings of their research, share their insights into the learning process, and discuss strategies to bring the often overlooked stories from the Macalester Archive to the forefront. 

Fall 2023

Friday, September 8

Welcome and Welcome Back: Sharing Joys and Worries

Please join us for the first Fall 2023 Conversation about Scholarship and Teaching. This session will provide an opportunity to gather with colleagues familiar and new, and to share your excitement and worries about the semester ahead. Come to discuss joys (“I’m teaching a new class on one of my favorite topics!” “An awesome new colleague has joined our department!” “I had a wonderful sabbatical and am feeling ready to return to teaching!”) and concerns (“What the heck am I going to do about ChatGPT?” “Will I be able to engage my students?” “I’m trying a totally new pedagogical strategy and am really not sure how it’s going to go….”)

On the topic of concerns about ChatGPT and other generative AI tools, I am pleased to share that the AI Working Group and the Serie Center are collaborating on a series of workshops this academic year. Please mark you calendars the following sessions already planned for Fall (specific topics will be based on concerns shared on September 8 and elsewhere): Monday, September 18 (noon to 1 p.m., with lunch) and Tuesday, October 17 (4 – 5:30 p.m., with snacks). Also, don’t forget to check out the excellent AI Literacy and Critical Thinking LibGuide.

Friday, September 15

Reflections on the Transforming Pedagogies Institute

The Transforming Pedagogies Institute is a partnership between the Jan Serie Center and the Cultural Wellness Center, and is centered on transforming what we teach and how we teach at Macalester. The program focuses on Cultural Self Study in order to develop practices that help us (re)member who we are, who we have been, and who we want to be as humans, as cultural and social beings, and as teachers and learners and scholars. Please join us for this conversation to learn more about the experiences of some of the participants from our inaugural summer institute that took place in June, 2023. 

Monday, September 18

Generative AI Tools: Session 1

Join us for the first in a series of open conversations dedicated to opportunities and challenges associated with generative AI tools. 

Friday, September 22

Moments in Mentoring
Amy Damon (Economics)

Professor Amy Damon, winner of the 2023 Jack and Marty Rossmann Award for Excellence in Teaching, will discuss successes and failures in mentoring as well as facilitate a discussion about what works to effectively mentor students throughout their time at Macalester and beyond.

Friday, September 29

Land Cover Change and Biodiversity Conservation in Coastal Ecuador: Research Insights, Challenges, and Potential Undergraduate Research Opportunities
Xavier Haro-Carrion (Geography)

Professor Xavier Haro-Carrión will discuss past and current research on land cover change processes and their impact on biodiversity in coastal Ecuador. Additionally, insights about student involvement in international research will be provided. 

Monday, October 2

Dilemma Monday

Join us today and every first Monday of the month during Fall 2023 for conversation about pedagogical dilemmas, challenges, and concerns. There is tremendous benefit to being in community and crowdsourcing wisdom and experience.

Friday, October 6

Pedagogy Study Session #1: Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies

Join us for the first of four Friday Conversations about Scholarship and Teaching during the 2023-2024 year dedicated to deepening our understanding of pedagogy. This week we will read and discuss Chapter 1 from Paris and Alim’s Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies. Advance reading of the chapter is desired, but not required, in order to participate. You can access the reading in this google drive.

Monday, October 16 12:00-1:30 PM

Supporting Mental Health and Wellbeing: An Invitation to Learn about Question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR)

As mental health and wellbeing continue to rise in importance and saliency, the Hamre Center for Health and Wellness and the Serie Center for Scholarship and Teaching are working together to offer colleagues opportunities to learn about ways to offer hope and save a life. Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) is a nationally recognized, data-informed suicide-prevention workshop that gives attendees the information and skills necessary to assess and intervene in situations of potential suicidal ideation. Suicide is one of the leading causes of preventable death around the world. Join us on any of the dates below (the training will be the same each time) for this chance to learn in community with other colleagues about strategies and options when those you know are struggling.

Tuesday, October 17 4-5:30 PM

Generative AI Tools: Session 2

Colleagues (at and beyond Macalester) are designing assignments that are intended to help their students become critical, savvy, and/or skeptical users of generative AI tools (here’s a recent example from the Chronicle of Higher Ed’s Teaching Blog, and here’s Emma Salomon’s Mac Daily article featuring examples from several Mac colleagues; if you’re interested in more STEM-based examples, check out this post in the Hechinger Report). Please join us for the next open session about generative AI tools, where we will focus on the pedagogical opportunities for and implications of genAI, and discuss strategies for mitigating learning loss. And, as always, be sure to consult the excellent AI Literacy and Critical Thinking LibGuide for ideas about assignment prompts, ethics, sample syllabus statements, and much more.

Friday, October 20

Panorama Accessibility Tool: Accessible Content for Everyone
Brad Belbas (ITS) and Shammah Bermudez (Disability Services)

Please join Brad Belbas and Shammah Bermudez for an overview of accessible text accommodations and introduction to Panorama, a powerful new document accessibility tool in Moodle. Panorama helps faculty identify and fix documents on Moodle sites which have accessibility issues. Learn about common issues which Macalester students experience with digital course documents (e.g., scanned PDFs, exported PDFs, eTexts from publishers) and how Panorama not only supports document remediation, but also converts the source file into a variety of alternative formats for students (i.e., epub, pdf, text, gradient reader, audio, braille, more).  Use what you learn in this session to improve access to course content for all your students.  […or your money back…as seen on TV].

Friday November 3

Our AAUP, What Is It and What Can We Do Together?
Ruthann Godollei (Art & Art History)

Please join Ruthann Godollei and other Macalester AAUP chapter leaders for an information session and conversation about our AAUP chapter and what we can do together.

Monday, November 6

Dilemma Monday

Join us today and every first Monday of the month during Fall 2023 for conversation about pedagogical dilemmas, challenges, and concerns. There is tremendous benefit to being in community and crowdsourcing wisdom and experience.

Friday November 10

Pedagogy Study Session #2: Teaching to Transgress

Join us for the second of four Friday Conversations about Scholarship and Teaching during the 2023-2024 year dedicated to deepening our understanding of pedagogy. This week we will read and discuss Chapter 3 from bell hooks’ Teaching to Transgress. You do not have to have attended the first session to come to this one. Advance reading of the chapter is desired, but not required, in order to participate. You can access the reading in this google drive.

Friday November 17

Why study predators? Because they are scary!
Stotra Chakrabarti (Biology)

Apex predators like lions, wolves, and leopards don’t mix well with humans. We compete for space, and food, and they threaten our lives and our livelihoods . While perpetually in conflict, we have remained fascinated by predators – from cave paintings in Chauvet and Bhimbetka, to mascots and emblems, we have chosen them to represent us and our societies. As a kid growing up in a rural society at the foothills of the Himalayas, Professor Chakrabarti understood quite early on that predators were dangerous yet awe-inspiring. Such a conundrum led him to ask questions about whether we can learn to better coexist with such dangerous animals in the Anthropocene. How do we reconcile predator conservation with human development in an age when the odds between predators and humans have intensified? In this conversation, Professor Chakrabarti will walk us through a journey: i) starting with his positionality in ecological research, ii) then will give a brief overview of where, how, and why his new (Conservation and Behavior) lab at Mac studies predators, iii) how carnivore-science can create opportunities to diversify outlooks in research and education, and iv) will finally end with some future ideas where he envisages multi-departmental collaborations at Mac.

Friday December 1

Healthy Minds Survey:  What Faculty and other Educators Need to Know and Can Help us Learn
Jen Jacobsen, Tiger Simpson, and Audrey Seligman (Hamre Center for Health and Wellness)

In October 2022, 601 (~30%) Macalester students participated in the Healthy Minds Survey, a national survey that encompasses a variety of topics, including attitudes and behaviors related to mental health on campus, substance use, and subjects such as community and academics.  With the close collaboration of Institutional Research & Assessment, Jen Jacobsen (Executive Director of Health & Wellness), Tiger Simpson (Director of Health Promotion & Sexual Respect) and Audrey Seligman ’17 (Health Promotion Specialist) investigated relationships between these areas, including through the lens of demographics.  As with any good quantitative survey, the data provides a launching point for further questions and vibrant discussion.  We invite you to participate in making meaning of what we’ve learned and in developing strategies for how to use this information to further support our students’ well-being. 

Monday, December 4
Dilemma Monday
Join us today and every first Monday of the month during Fall 2023 for conversation about pedagogical dilemmas, challenges, and concerns. There is tremendous benefit to being in community and crowdsourcing wisdom and experience.

Friday December 8 8:00-9:30 AM

Supporting Mental Health and Wellbeing: An Invitation to Learn about Question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR)

As mental health and wellbeing continue to rise in importance and saliency, the Hamre Center for Health and Wellness and the Serie Center for Scholarship and Teaching are working together to offer colleagues opportunities to learn about ways to offer hope and save a life. Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) is a nationally recognized, data-informed suicide-prevention workshop that gives attendees the information and skills necessary to assess and intervene in situations of potential suicidal ideation. Suicide is one of the leading causes of preventable death around the world. Join us on any of the dates below (the training will be the same each time) for this chance to learn in community with other colleagues about strategies and options when those you know are struggling.

Friday December 8

Wartime Measures: A Poetry Reading
Michael Prior (English)

Professor Michael Prior will help us close out the semester with a poetry reading from his forthcoming new book, tentatively titled Wartime Measures.

2022-2023 Conversation about Scholarship and Teaching

2021-2022 Conversations about Scholarship and Teaching

2020-2021 Conversations about Scholarship and Teaching