Fall 2016

CTL 

FALL 2016 0171_Trinity_150831_hi_res_for_printing

 Advising as Teaching/Learning to Advise

  • Co-Sponsored Event
  • CTL Fellows
  • New Faculty Seminars

 What makes a liberal arts college different? One important   distinction is a deliberate focus on the importance of advising and mentoring of students. This year, the CTL will explore the unique connections between advising and student learning that can thrive at an institution like Trinity. Liberal arts colleges are known for their personalized advising, for small classes, and for the ability to engage students in and out of class through learning and community networks. The fall events profile ways that faculty can understand where students are in their educational development, can think about advising differently, and can help students acquire the skills to become independent learners.

Practice for Life: Making Decisions in College

Presented by Lee Cuba (Wellesley College) and Nancy Jennings (Bowdoin College)

Thursday, September 22, Common Hour**

College students spend four or more years making decisions that shape every aspect of their academic and social lives. Some students embrace decision-making as an 0037_CTL_160922_Decisions_photojaneopportunity for growth, while others seek to avoid risk. Sifting data from a five-year study of more than 200 students at seven New England liberal arts colleges, we found that undergraduates do not experience college as having a clear beginning and end but as a continuous series of new beginnings. Students, parents, and faculty place enormous weight on some decisions, such as declaring a major, while overlooking the small choices that significantly shape their daily experience.

 

Bringing TrinityX Back to On-Campus Teaching and Learning

Thursday, October 6, Common Hour**

How might Trinity’s foray onto MOOCs enrich the courses we offer here on campus? 0047_161006 TrinityX_Mike_ShauckFaculty members who taught the first four TrinityX online courses will discuss specific connections they see between their online    experience and teaching and learning in a residential liberal arts setting.: Kathleen Archer (biology), Henry DePhillips (chemistry), Dan Lloyd (philosophy), and Ralph Morelli (computer science)

 

Clearing the Path to Learning: Advice that Matters

Thursday, October 20, Common Hour**

Meaningful academic advising is often more 0015_Trinity_Sophomore_Survey_photoiristhan providing advice regarding course selection, choosing a major, and deciding whether or not to study away. Sophomores in particular have these issues and much more on their minds as they face the daunting task of finding their path through college. This panel will share data from Trinity’s current sophomores and discuss how we as advisers can assist them in achieving academic success: Lisa-Anne Foster (biology), Rob Lukaskiewicz (associate dean of students), and students

 

Raising the BAR: Belonging, Acceptance, and Resilience  

Presented by Susan Averna, Ph.D., School Mental Health Consultant

Thursday, November 10, Common Hour**

More than ever before, college students are succumbing to overwhelming stress, having 0045_CTL_Avernadifficulties bouncing back from setbacks, and feeling disconnected. In the classroom, students take fewer risks, desire certainty, and are grade obsessed. College faculty and staff are in a unique position to support student exploration and well-being while challenging their social, emotional, and intellectual growth. Learn how the teaching and advising relationship can be the basis for developing resilience in students while maintaining high expectations and academic rigor. We will discuss the toll these challenges take on faculty and how to support faculty well-being. A spring semester workshop will follow.

 

2016 -2017 CTL Fellows

 The CTL Fellows program supports full-time faculty undertaking a project of innovation in their teaching. This year’s Fellows will sustain a wide-ranging conversation about   pedagogy, meeting once per month in a colloquium to discuss their projects. They will present the results of their yearlong teaching projects at the end of the spring semester and prepare a written product to share with the Trinity community. 

Ian Adelstein, “Flipping the Classroom in Math 332: Analysis II”

Tanetta Andersson, “Campus Sexual Assault: Nesting Data, Theory, and Praxis Modules within Sociology Courses”

Lisa-Anne Foster, “From Box Checking to Teaching: Developing Academic Advising Materials Designed to Help Students Learn”

Dan Lloyd, “Strategies for Effective Student-Faculty Research Collaborations”

Kevin MacDermott, “Applied Improvisation: Collaborative Creativity in the Classroom”

Seth Markle, “Archiving the Trinity International Hip-Hop Festival: Theory and Praxis”

Dan Mrozowski, “The Art of Revision”

Nichole Szembrot, “Controversy in the Classroom: A Collaborative Approach”

Maurice Wade, “Deep Reading”

 

New Faculty Seminars 

Tenure-track and long-term continuing faculty participate in a seminar program designed to help facilitate their transition to life at Trinity College. A centerpiece of the center’s ongoing efforts with new faculty, the seminars cover a wide range of topics and provide a safe space for new faculty to share ideas and concerns about teaching. The first-year    participants are:

Michael Grubb, Assistant Professor of Psychology

Mareike Koertner, Assistant Professor of Religion

Luis Martínez, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience

Amber Pitt, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Biology

Amie Senland, Lecturer and Laboratory Coordinator in Psychology

Ewa Syta, Assistant Professor of Computer Science

Vincent Tomasso, Assistant Professor of Classics

*Please note: All Common Hours will take place in Dangremond Family Commons,   North Wing-Hallden Hall