{"id":3099,"date":"2026-08-12T20:31:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T20:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/serie-center\/?page_id=3099"},"modified":"2026-08-12T20:31:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T20:31:13","slug":"serie-center-programming","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/serie-center\/serie-center-programming\/","title":{"rendered":"Serie Center Programming"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Serie Center hosts a wide range of programs throughout the academic year and summer. If you have ideas for new types of programming, or would like to suggest a colleague as a presenter, please reach out to us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conversations about Scholarship & Teaching (CAST)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sessions are held most Mondays and Fridays during fall and spring semesters from noon-1 p.m. in the\u00a0Serie Center (Room 338 in the DeWitt Wallace Library)\u00a0unless otherwise noted. Lunch is provided, and all faculty and staff are welcome!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Faculty Seminar<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tenure track faculty in their first year of teaching participate in a weekly conversation with campus colleagues and partners to support their transition to faculty life. Invite only; Wednesdays from noon-1 p.m. in the\u00a0Serie Center (Room 338 in the DeWitt Wallace Library)\u00a0unless otherwise noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Faculty Orientation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Workshops and conversations with campus partners to help orient faculty to teaching at Macalester. Programming is continuously updated, but examples of sessions include: Advice from New-ish Faculty, Using the Library Effectively for Your Teaching and Scholarship, Supporting Students with Disabilities: Creating a Culture of Inclusion, An Orientation to AI at Macalester, and Academic Technology Services: Using Moodle and Tech Tools to Support Teaching & Learning. Workshops are held about two weeks prior to the start of fall semester (late August) as well as a one day session the week before classes begin in both the fall and spring semesters. All new faculty (including visiting faculty, instructors, part-time\/full time, and teaching staff) welcome; all campus faculty are welcome to attend any sessions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faculty Reading Groups<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every semester faculty can suggest books to read, with several planned meetings for discussion with colleagues. Books can range from novels, reflections on administrative challenges, problems facing Higher Education, and novel approaches to teaching. Books are typically ordered in late spring once interest is determined; all faculty and staff are welcome to join!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retired Faculty Seminar<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Each semester the Serie Center welcomes retired faculty back to campus with morning coffees or afternoon happy hours. These gatherings of old friends and colleagues highlight ongoing scholarly research by our retired colleagues or informal talks by current faculty and administrators. In person and Zoom options available for those living elsewhere!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transforming Pedagogies Institute (TPI)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The TPI initiative<\/a> focuses on practices that can help us (re)member who we are, who we have been, and who we want to\u00a0be as humans, as cultural and social beings, and as teachers and learners and scholars. The model of reflective practice combined with regular meetings has been supported through external grants and partnerships; past programming has occurred as part of a Summer Institute with additional connection time during the academic year. Application-based participation is limited based on available funding; typically 4 faculty per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mid-Course Interviews (MCI)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Mid-Course Interview<\/a> is one way to garner feedback from students at midterm about how your class is going.\u00a0Colleagues conduct a scheduled class interview to find out more about your class and your concerns, and they report to you afterward on the general themes and student perspectives they heard in the interview. The process is completely confidential, i.e. you are the only person the interviewer will talk to about the results of the interview. All teaching faculty and staff are encouraged to participate; sign-ups take place about a month into the fall and spring semesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connected Colleagues<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

During the second and\/or third years of tenure-track faculty life, you are partnered (by request) with a tenured colleague outside of your department (explicitly separated from any review or tenure process) in order to ask questions and further adjust to faculty life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serie Center Mentoring<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Have questions that you’re afraid to ask your department chair? Struggling in your class with leading discussions? Wondering what other grading options are out there, or how other faculty navigate AI use in their classes? We have many online resources available, but we are also happy to meet with you individually to have confidential conversations (explicitly separated from any review or tenure process), observe your classes, and generally offer a a shoulder to lean on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specialized Workshops<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Serie Center staff regularly run programming to support faculty at various stages of the professorial life cycle and faculty responsibilities (e.g., professional development plan (PDP) workshops in preparation for pre-tenure and tenure reviews, mid-career conversations on engaging in campus leadership, meetings with non-tenure track faculty around career advancement\/promotion, programming related to pressing teaching concerns such as AI use in the classroom). Programming supported by Serie Center staff and open to relevant faculty & staff; please contact us with ideas\/suggestions!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Serie Center hosts a wide range of programs throughout the academic year and summer. If you have ideas for new types of programming, or would like to suggest a colleague as a presenter, please reach out to us! Conversations about Scholarship & Teaching (CAST) Sessions are held most Mondays and Fridays during fall and […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1559,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3099","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/serie-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/serie-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/serie-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/serie-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1559"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/serie-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3099"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/serie-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3191,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/serie-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3099\/revisions\/3191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/serie-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}