Daily Grind
Center for Faculty Excellence, 316 Gannett Center
The Daily Grind welcomes faculty weekdays from 8:00 - 10:00 am for coffee. Please drop by to chat with colleagues, watch the news, or just get ready for the workday.
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NOTE: Events are listed in order by date.  Please scroll down. 

Events are open to faculty and staff. 
Registration is encouraged; walk- ins are always welcome.

MAY

Preparing a Winning Book Proposal  
Wednesday, May 17, 2017, 10:00 - 11:45 a.m. (Limited to the first 20 registrants)
Center for Faculty Excellence, 316 Gannett Center
With Sheri Englund of Englund Literary Services
If you will be spending this summer preparing a book manuscript, it’s not too soon to think about approaching publishers. Is your manuscript ready? How can you create and narrow a list of suitable presses? And what will you need to do to introduce acquisitions editors to your manuscript—and seize their interest? This workshop will deliver the key know-how and strategies that new authors need to approach presses. We will discuss acquisitions editors and what they look for, book proposals and writing samples, submission strategies, and the peer review process. Through guided writing exercises and group brainstorming, you will work with colleagues to complete a polished “elevator speech” about your book project, an important step toward an effective book proposal. There will be plenty of time for questions, and you will leave the session with a carefully crafted, marketable description of your project and a clear understanding of how to craft a complete, effective book proposal.
Note: This session lays the groundwork for additional faculty development opportunities through the summer. Faculty who register, prepare for, and attend the May workshop will be eligible to apply for individual on-campus consultations with Sheri Englund, funded by the Center for Faculty Excellence.
Dr. Sheri Englund owns and operates Englund Literary Services, a freelance editorial business specializing in nonfiction in the social sciences and humanities. A former Ivy League acquisitions editor, Englund is a seasoned publishing professional who has worked directly with writers for twenty years. She is one of only a handful of editors in the nation currently offering formal advice on scholarly book proposals. Read more about Englund Literary Services.
Registration is now full. Please email cfe@ithaca.edu to be added to the waiting list.

Assessment Summit 2017
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
Clarke Lounge, Campus Center
9:00-2:30, Campus Center

(Register here)


9:00-12:00 Assessing What Matters Most
What must students need to be able to know and do when they complete your course or program? How do you know if they think differently about the world, internalizing core concepts, as a result of the learning experience? This hands-on session will guide you through a series of prompts about your goals with students and current practices in order for you to think about, contextualize, and convey your work in new ways. We will explore tools and apply concepts from backward design, critical thinking, and the assessment cycle.

During this session participants will:

  • Reflect, distill and share lessons learned from experiences in and outside the classroom regarding the interrelationship between learning, goals, disciplinary concepts, and assessment.
  • Strengthen your ability to apply core concepts of backward design, critical thinking and assessment to your particular disciplinary or work context.
  • Gain insights into the process of intentional design of your course, curriculum, or program for students.

Facilitator: Patricia (Patty) Payette, Ph.D.
Patty Payette, PhD. is the executive director of the Quality Enhancement Plans (QEP) at the University of Louisville and serves as the senior associate director of the institution’s Delphi Center for Teaching and Learning.  Patty brings to these roles her expertise in faculty development, curriculum design, organizational change, and higher education training and development.  

12:00-1:00- Lunch in Clarke Lounge

1:00-2:00 pm Afternoon Break-out sessions

Session A: Making it Meaningful: Best Practices for Closing the Loop
Clarke Lounge
Facilitator:  Dr. Patty Payette
“Closing the loop” in our work ensures that assessment never becomes an empty exercise or simply a  series of administrative hoops to jump through.  In this session, you will have an opportunity to step back with your colleagues and think about the opportunities you have in organizing, sharing and applying your assessment data in order to bring more meaning and clarity to your goals and processes.  We will use the central best practices in closing the loop to think expansively about how we can apply those principles to improving and informing our courses, programs and our work at the institution level.

During this session participants will:

  • Explore and apply best practices in linking assessment results to courses, experiences or practices.
  • Identify at least two new strategies for closing the loop in your work

Session B: Take the Pulse of Your Students: Classroom Assessment and Feedback Techniques
Taughannock Falls Room, Campus Center    
Facilitator: Dr. Deborah Rifkin
Associate Professor, Department of Music Theory, History, and Composition
What low stake techniques can you use to have students learn about their own learning while gaining information on how and what to teach?
During this session participants will:

-Consider uses of formative assessment
-Utilize technological tools for formative assessment
-Apply Bloom’s Taxonomy to formulate student learning outcomes
-Analyze assessment techniques and strategies using Bloom’s Taxonomy

2:00-2:30 Lessons Learned/Wrap Up

PAST EVENTS

JANUARY

Student Accessibility Services Informational Sessions
Wednesday, January 18, 3:00 p.m.
Friday, January 20, 9:00 a.m.
Monday, January 30, 11:00 a.m.
As we begin our spring semester, faculty and staff should be aware that more than13% of our student population is registered with Student Accessibility Services.  As a faculty member, it is likely that you will work with students on campus with a variety of disabilities including, but not limited to, learning disabilities, visual and hearing impairments, physical impairments, psychiatric or psychological conditions, and other health related needs. Topics that will be covered in this informational session include:
* process and procedures of the SAS office
* roles and responsibilities
* academic accommodations and other areas of interest
There will also be time for questions and answers. 

Presenters include: 
Leslie Reid, Manager, Student Accessibility Services
Jean Celeste-Astorina, Student Accessibility Specialist

FEBRUARY

Advancing Sustainability Initiatives Across Campus and Curriculum: Lunch, Presentation, and Discussion
Friday, February 10, 12:00-1:30 p.m.
Clark Lounge
Please join us for a lunchtime presentation and discussion on advancing sustainability across the campus and across curriculum at Ithaca College.  At this third event in a series of gatherings this year, we will hear from Greg Lischke, Director of Energy Management and Sustainability, and Mark Darling, Sodexo Sustainability Coordinator, about the work their offices are doing to promote sustainability on campus. Additionally, Kathryn Caldwell will facilitate a conversation with attendees to identify a priority list of campus/community sustainability initiatives, and discuss ways to promote cross-campus dialogue and cross-curricular collaboration in advancing these initiatives. A light vegetarian lunch will be served, compliments of the Office of Energy Management and Sustainability.
Co-Sponsored by the Office of Energy Management and Sustainability and Center for Faculty Excellence.

The TELE Collaborative (Library, Center for Faculty Excellence, TLT/DIIS) hosts: Digital Literacy Webinar
The webinar is organized by the New Media Consortium (NMC), of which Ithaca College is a member
Wednesday, February 22, 9:00-10:00 a.m.
Center for Faculty Excellence, 316 Gannett Center
From NMC:  “Digital literacy goes beyond gaining isolated technological skills to generating a deeper understanding of the digital environment, enabling intuitive adaptation to new contexts and co-creation of content with others. Institutions are charged with developing students’ digital citizenship, ensuring mastery of responsible and appropriate technology use, including online communication etiquette and digital rights and responsibilities in blended and online learning settings and beyond. This new category of competence is affecting curriculum design, professional development, and student-facing services and resources.”

The webinar will feature a panel who will discuss established frameworks and strategies for implementing digital literacy initiatives and activities.  The panel includes Bryan Alexander, a well-known speaker and writer in the field of how technology transforms education;  Helen Beetham, a writer who co-authored “Rethinking Pedagogy for a Digital Age” and “Rethinking Learning for a Digital Age”;  Cheryl Brown, who has studied  the role of personal devices play in students learning in a developing context and the development of students' digital literacy practices; and Yves Punie, who focuses on the potential of digital technologies to innovate education and training practices, improve access to lifelong learning and to deal with the rise of new (digital) skills and competences needed for employment, personal development and social inclusion.

Pronouns Matter: A webinar on creating inclusive environments through language
Wednesday, February 22, 2017, 2:00-3:30 p.m.
Ithaca Falls Room, Campus Center
Please join the Office of Title IX and the Center for Faculty Excellence for the webinar, Pronouns Matter: Create Inclusive Policies and Practices To Help Students Feel Welcome; Increase Satisfaction & Engagement, features Luca Maurer, Director of the Center for LGBT Outreach, Education and Services.
Language matters! Little changes in grammar and vocabulary can affect how your institution recruits, admits and retains trans and non-conforming members to its community. Avoid frustration and marginalization of your community members by ensuring inclusive language is used in institutional policies and practices to combat traditional identity language. Join your colleagues from across the country for an interactive webinar where you will learn how to interact with students on your campus to create, adapt and implement strategies for enabling community members to indicate their pronouns safely and with respect. These changes will help your community members feel welcome, increase satisfaction, encourage engagement — and will reflect positively on your institutions reputation.
Though not required, an RSVP is appreciated. Please email Tiffani Ziemann at tziemann@ithaca.edu if you plan to attend so we can ensure our space is appropriate for the number of attendees.

Making Excellence Inclusive: Teaching, Learning and Classroom Climate
Monday, February 27, 2017, 3:00-6:00 p.m.
Klingenstein Lounge
Join us as we  continue to address the challenges of inclusion, cultural fluency, and global citizenship and what they will mean for Ithaca College we invite you to participate in Making Excellence Inclusive: Teaching, Learning, and Classroom Climate, a panel presentation and discussion.

Featured Ithaca College faculty panelists include:

  • Jonathan Ablard
  • Derek Adams
  • Ellie Fulmer
  • Annette Levine
  • Matt Mogekwu
  • Judith Pena-Shaff
  • Raj Subramaniam

This session will yield perspectives on and approaches to ensuring that Ithaca College remains committed to excellence for all its students, even as it experiences change. Our understanding of excellence and inclusion as it informs our curricula, interactions, and support services will shape the future of the College and its appeal to a diversity of scholars and students. Light refreshments will be served.

Please also reserve Monday, April 17th, from 3pm to 6pm, for the final event in the 2017-18 Symposium Series. Additional details will be provided soon. The Symposia are a collaborative effort of the Center for Faculty Excellence, the Office of the Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion and Interim Chief Diversity Officer, and the Office of International Programs and Extended Studies.
Submitted on behalf of the Inclusion, Cultural Fluency, and Global Citizenship Committee.

MARCH

Digital Images for Faculty: Finding High Quality Images for Lectures, Presentations, and Publications
Wednesday, March 1, 2017, 3:00-4:00 p.m.
Center for Faculty Excellence, 316 Gannett Center
Presented by Randi Millman-Brown, Visual Resources Curator
Finding high quality digital images for teaching and for publishing can be a complicated and time-consuming process. Learn how to find images online, understand copyright issues, practice a critical eye for identifying credible sources, and use/cite digital images properly.

VoiceThread Pilot: Potential for Teaching and Research
Wednesday, March 8, 2017, 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Center for Faculty Excellence, 316 Gannett Center
VoiceThread is a long standing multimedia teaching tool known for high interactivity and personalized learning. Please join Dr. Heather Hill and Dr. Jennifer Wofford for an hour of reflection and conversation.  They will share their initial use  and thoughts about VoiceThread, ways of using technology to teach and research issues of equity, diversity and social justice.
Dr.  Heather Hill is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education and Dr. Jennifer Wofford is a Lecturer in the Writing Department.

VoiceThread: Multiple Capacities for Student Engagement

Friday, March 31, 11:00-12:00 p.m.
Center for Faculty Excellence, 316 Gannett Center
Please join Rachel Gunderson, faculty in Women's and Gender Studies/School of Health Sciences and Human Performance, as she discusses teaching strategies and student engagement via her use of VoiceThread. VoiceThread is an interactive, multimedia slide show tool that enables users to hold conversations around images, document and videos.

Integrating Sustainability into Our Courses Across the Curriculum
Friday, March 31,  2017, 12:00-1:00 p.m.
Center for Faculty Excellence, 316 Gannett Center
Join us for our final offering of a year-long series of discussion hours on integrating sustainability content into courses across the curriculum.
All who are interested in learning about sustainability education and/or who have pedagogical experiences in this area are invited to join us and help shape the conversations and sharing of ideas and best practices.
This month will highlight the work of two faculty, who will be sharing their tools for teaching sustainability in their courses:

  • Srijana Bajracharya (HSHP) will present teaching strategies she applied for her class on sustainability during her London Sabbatical Program using Burns model of sustainability education.
  • Bradley Rappa (Park School) will be sharing some of the key texts and films that he uses in his Cinema and Photography course.

APRIL

Nudging Students to Success: The Integration of Academic Advising and Motivational Psychology
Thursday, April 6, 2:00-3:00 p.m.
319 Gannett Center
How do academic advisors effectively motivate students to take advantage of student success offices and academic planning tools? In Nudging Students to Success:  The Integration of Academic Advising and Motivational Psychology, presenters from past highly-rated NACADA conferences come together to address this question, of which academic advisors across the globe are all too familiar.  Despite the fact that most higher education institutions now offer a wealth of student success resources, survey data suggests that these offices are under-utilized by students.Presenters will discuss the micro and macro factors that contribute to this issue, and will argue that academic advisors play an essential role in the solution.  Utilizing techniques found in Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein’s "Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness," advisors are able to nudge students into making good decisions by altering predictable behavior through incentives such as intentional acts of persuasion and guidance to produce outcomes while maintaining a student’s agency. Read more on nudges here.

Travel Safety Planning in Short-term International Travel with Students
Thursday, April 6, 3:00-4:30 p.m.
Center for Faculty Excellence, 316 Gannett Center
The Office of International Programs and Extended Studies (OIPES) invites all faculty and staff interested in taking students abroad to join us for a workshop about the development and planning of faculty/staff-led short-term study abroad programs. Our workshop facilitator and presenter will be Lex Enrico Santí, Coordinator for International Travel Safety at Cornell University.  His presentation will focus on travel safety and best practice in the field of international education for faculty/staff-led study abroad programs.

The adage is “Failing to plan is planning to fail”.  No one knows this better than someone who has weathered his own missteps as a young program developer at George Mason’s study abroad office and learned from his mistakes. Lex Enrico Santí now manages the development and travel safety plans of over fifty programs a year at Cornell. In this presentation, Santí will go over how travel safety fits into the overall plan of short-term study abroad travel management. Designed to be an interactive presentation, there will be a lot of group discussion and team exercises on scenarios dealing with travel safety issues.  

Lex Enrico Santí has been Cornell’s first Coordinator for International Travel Safety since 2011. He has worked in higher education at Washington University in Saint Louis, Webster University, George Mason University and Hobart and William Smith. He has traveled and worked extensively around the world, visiting over 20 countries and has lived in Spain, South Korea, and Romania. He was a Peace Corps volunteer in Romania and returned to Romania in 2006 as a translation scholar. He holds an MSW from Washington University in Saint Louis with a concentration in Social Justice and Mental Health and an MFA in creative writing from George Mason University. He speaks fluent Spanish and Romanian and can say thank you in over 20 languages.
Participants are invited to stay for a reception and light refreshments with the workshop facilitator and International Programs staff from 4:30-5:00

Living Pictures: Inclusive Pedagogy
Monday, April 10, 4:00-5:15pm
Center for Faculty Excellence, 316 Gannett Center

Facilitators: Dr. Sherry Deckman, Assistant Professor, Department of Middle and High School Education, Lehman College and Judith Ross-Bernstein, Assistant Director, Center for Faculty Excellence

Please join faculty at the CFE as we investigate the potential of using classroom tableaux vivant, or “living pictures.” Tableaux asks students to envision the action and events they read about in a text by portraying ideas in a concrete form, “statues,” without the use of language. In this workshop, we will interrogate a short reading and concepts as your would with your students using tableaux, and consider, how could this technique be applied to your discipline?

In the process of creating tableaux, students are involved in developing their senses, building and activating background knowledge, asking questions, determining what is important, making inferences, and synthesizing the material they have read. As an active and dramatic teaching activity, tableaux supports student development and promotes inclusive classrooms.

Faculty in this workshop will:

  •  Identify dramatic activities that promote inclusive classrooms and educational development settings
  • Consider scenarios about diversity across disciplines or educational contexts to consider alternatives and possibilities
  • Apply insights about diversity and theater-based activities via critical reflection

Forum Theater: Inclusive Pedagogy
Tuesday, April 11, 10:50-12:05
Center for Faculty Excellence
Facilitators: Dr. Sherry Deckman, Assistant Professor, Department of Middle and High School Education, Lehman College and Judith Ross-Bernstein, Assistant Director, Center for Faculty Excellence

Please join faculty at the CFE as we investigate the potential of using Forum Theater in the classroom. Forum Theater in the classroom asks students to enact a scenario, taking on multiple perspectives, and envisioning myriad approaches and outcomes. Teachers can apply this technique to nearly every discipline. In the process of participating in Forum Theater, students are involved in developing their senses, building and activating background knowledge, asking questions, determining what is important, making inferences, and synthesizing the material they have read. As an active and dramatic teaching activity, Forum Theater supports student development and promotes inclusive classrooms.

Faculty in this workshop will:

-Identify dramatic activities that promote inclusive classrooms and educational development settings
-Consider scenarios about diversity across disciplines or educational contexts to consider alternatives and possibilities
-Apply insights about diversity and theater-based activities via critical reflection

Taking Teaching Beyond the Classroom Walls: Using the VoiceThread Online Platform to Broaden Students’ Horizons
Thursday, April 27, 2017, 12:00-1:00 p.m.
Center for Faculty Excellence, 316 Gannett Center
Please join us as Dr. James Rada shares his use of VoiceThread, an online platform that allows faculty to create an asynchronous discussion group between students and sources.   See a demonstration on how to draw external sources into the discussion while at the same time allowing students to interact outside the classroom.