2020-2021 Conversations about Scholarship and Teaching

Friday, September 4 – 12:00-1:00 PM via zoom
Serie Center Open Sessions for Check in and Reflection
Please join us for any or all of these open sessions for check in and reflection.

Tuesday, September 8 – 4:30-5:30 PM via zoom
Serie Center Open Sessions for Check in and Reflection

Thursday, September 10 – 8:30-9:30 AM via zoom
Serie Center Open Sessions for Check in and Reflection

Friday, September 11 – 12:00-1:00 PM via zoom
Serie Center Open Sessions for Check in and Reflection

Tuesday, September 15 – 4:30-5:30 PM via zoom
Serie Center Open Sessions for Check in and Reflection

Thursday, September 17 – 8:30-9:30 AM via zoom
Serie Center Open Sessions for Check in and Reflection

Friday, September 18 – 12:00-1:00 PM via zoom
Serie Center Open Sessions for Check in and Reflection

Friday, September 25 – 12:00-1:00 PM via zoom
Serie Center Open Sessions for Check in and Reflection

Friday, October 2 – 12:00-1:00 PM via zoom
Serie Center Open Sessions for Check in and Reflection

Friday, October 9 – 12:00 -1:00 PM via zoom
What’s at Stake? (a collaborative program of the KAIGC, the Sustainability Office, and the Serie Center) November 4, 2020
Regardless of how you feel about particular candidates, or even electoral politics more generally, it is clear that the current United States presidential election will be deeply consequential for the future of the US and the world in areas of policy (around climate change, immigration, policing and protests, etc.) and law. Beyond these, many are concerned about a potential constitutional crisis and a further step into fascism. What’s at stake if we are not prepared – both intellectually and emotionally – for how we will enter our classrooms and interact with students and other members of the Macalester community whose differing experiences will shape post-election reactions on November 4th? What’s at stake if we are not thinking now about what will happen at Macalester, in Minnesota, in the U.S., and around the world in the run up to, during, and after the November elections?

Friday, October 16 – 12:00-1:00 PM via zoom
What’s at Stake?: State Surveillance and Academic Freedom
The recent release of New Challenges in Teaching China and related documents/conversations about the consequences of having to teach via platforms that are subject to government surveillance or seizure raise critical issues both about technologically-mediated teaching of sensitive information and about academic freedom more generally. What’s at stake if we are naive to the potential consequence of state intervention in our scholarly lives? What’s at stake if we compromise our academic freedom? Professors I-Chun Catherine Chang (Geography) and Chuen-Fung Wong (Music) will help shape and facilitate this important conversation.

Friday, October 23 – No Program (Fall Break)

Friday, October 30 -No Program (Finance Webinar)

Wednesday, November 4 – 10:00-11:00 AM via zoom
Post Election Day Open Session
All are welcome to this open time for staff and faculty to reflect, process, engage, and strategize in this initial post-election moment.

Wednesday, November 4 – 1:30-2:30 PM via zoom
Post Election Day Open Session
All are welcome to this open time for staff and faculty to reflect, process, engage, and strategize in this initial post-election moment.

Friday, November 6 – 12:00-1:00 PM via Zoom
Open Reflection and Connection Session – Election Edition
All faculty and staff are welcome to reflect, connect, and strategize about next steps as we come to the end of the U.S. election week (if not the end of the implications or outcomes of election week), and the end of the first full week of Module 2.

Friday, November 13 – International Round Table
We encourage all to attend.

Friday, November 20 – 12:00-1:00 PM via zoom
What’s at Stake?: Climate Justice Needs Racial Justice (and vice versa): Shaping the Future of Sustainability at Mac and Beyond
In response to the increasing prevalence of climate change-fueled emergencies around the world, a global movement has arisen for sustainability and climate action. This movement has been criticized for being too white and middle class, and for overlooking the contributions of Indigenous and people of color. With the reimagining of the Sustainability Office at Macalester, we have the opportunity to listen to new voices and let our work be guided by new priorities. Sustainability is about sustaining all humans’ right to well-being. What is at stake if we don’t ground Macalester’s Sustainability programs and practices in a deep understanding of the connections among white supremacy, colonialism, other forms of oppression, and the deep-rooted injustices of climate change? All faculty and staff are welcome to this session.

Friday, December 4 – 12:00-1:00 PM via Zoom
Connection and Reflection: What’s Working?
Please join with faculty and staff colleagues to connect and reflect as we near the end of Module 2. What have you figured out that is working well for you and your students?

Friday, December 11 – 12:00-1:00 PM via Zoom
A Celebration of our Digital Literacy Skills!
Have you stopped to notice how much more digitally competent you are now than you were at the start of the pandemic? Could you have imagined nine months ago that you’d have the technological and digital pedagogy, research, and communication skills you have today? Please join us to celebrate all the things we have all learned each time we sat at a computer and interacted with our instructional environment. We will think together about how this all fits into a framework for digital competencies that students (and all of us!) have gained in this unusual context. Discuss your own critical digital pedagogy skills as we reflect, celebrate, and build collective language about how we move to the next phases of our instructional pedagogy and find ways to make new and refined digital skills and strategies explicit for our students. This session will be facilitated by Aisling Quigley, Louann Terveer, Brooke Schmolke, and Ginny Moran and you, the participants!

Friday, January 22 – 12:00-1:00 PM via zoom
Inclusive Pedagogy Q&A with Dr. Chavella Pittman
Dr. Chavella Pittman (sociology professor at Dominican University and faculty development expert in the areas of inclusive pedagogy, assessing teaching effectiveness, and supporting faculty of color) will tell us about her online workshops on these critical topics and answer questions. You are welcome to attend regardless of whether or not you have already engaged with Dr. Pittman’s online workshops (and, if you have not already done so, you may still register for any or all of the workshops).  

Friday, January 29 – 12:00-1:00 PM via zoom
Works in Progress
2020 was a challenging year on so many levels, including for scholarship. 2021 is already presenting significant challenges, and perhaps also some opportunities. What are your current research ideas and interests? What are you working on now? What would you be working on if you had the time, energy, space to work on it? Come engage in a “round robin” format to share your current scholarly (in the broadest sense of the word) ideas, disappointments, proud moments, and goals. 

February, 5 – 12:00-1:00 PM via zoom
Advancing Access and Accommodations
Our discussion will focus on continuing the work of access/accommodations for students with disabilities in Spring 2021. What have we learned? What is working? What is difficult? How are accommodations different for your classes since moving to virtual format? What are best practices for communicating with students with disabilities? This is a discussion-based forum; please bring your ideas on how DS can best support your work through information sharing. 

Friday, February 12 – 12:00-1:00 PM via zoom
Media Engagement: Playing the Game
Most frustrations with the media – the inaccessibility, some reporters’ lack of comprehensive knowledge, the feeling of being “burned” – can be attributed to cultural misunderstanding. In order to play the media game effectively, it is useful to have a sense of what journalists are looking for and the constraints in which they operate. The goal of this session is to discuss broad strategies for working with the media to ensure positive outcomes and to review the various types of media engagement, from the less time-consuming (becoming a source) to the most (op-eds). Please join Joe Linstroth, Macalester’s media relations director, for this first in a three-part series of workshops designed to offer strategies and tips that can help you achieve your goals as a public impact scholar. Each will build off of each other but attendance at all three is not required to get something out of them.  

Friday, February 19 –  12:00-1:00 PM via zoom
Using institutional data to inform the post-2020 future
Using brief data vignettes from Institutional Research surveys conducted pre-and post-COVID, this session aims to contribute to Serie Center conversations about what a “new normal” might look like at Macalester in the semesters ahead. In some cases, IR data point to pre-existing challenges to student success that may have been magnified by COVID, particularly around student workload, mental health, equity, and shifting student expectations among entering first years. In other cases, IR data point to the value of particular aspects of the Macalester experience that were reaffirmed in novel ways this past year, especially around place-based residential living and learning as well as inclusive pedagogical practices. Finally, IR will reflect on what a “new normal” might look like in our office as well. The presentation of these data vignettes will leave time for and invite discussion. 

Friday, February 25 – 12:00-1:00 PM via zoom
Making Space: Personal and Community Well-Being
This session will provide a short (and very approachable) well-being practice to allow you to focus on your own well-being. We’ll expand from there into a discussion about faculty, staff, and student mental health and the need to move beyond business as usual in our efforts to support the well-being of the entire community.

Friday, March 5 – 12:00-1:00 PM via zoom
Media engagement: How to become a go-to source & what makes a good op-ed
In this session, we’ll go over what it takes to become a go-to expert, the differences between being interviewed for print and broadcast, and then move on to discuss the various types of op-eds and how to start thinking about whether you have an idea that could work. This is part two of a three-program series on media engagement. Each will build off of each other but attendance at all three is not required to get something out of them. 

Friday, March 26 – 12:00-1:00 PM via zoom
Tenure in a post-2020 Landscape? Supporting Innovative and Emerging Forms of Scholarship
The post-2020 landscape provides an opportunity to evaluate Macalester’s support of innovative and emerging scholarship, such as community-engaged scholarship (CES) and digital liberal arts. In the first of ongoing conversations around this topic, members of the CES working group will address: What is CES? In what ways does CES align with Macalester’s commitments to diversity, equity, inclusion, civic engagement, community partnerships, and academic excellence? Drawing from Macalester faculty experiences doing CES, how might college policies better support this work?

Friday, April 2 – 12:00-1:00 PM via zoom
Media engagement: Anatomy and style of an op-ed
Writing an op-ed can be a heavy lift. Most publications require near-perfect timing and have strict word counts. As the adage goes: If we had more time, we’d write less. But the time it takes to write a tight, compelling op-ed is worth it because a well-placed piece can reach tens of thousands, even millions of people. In this session, we’ll review the structural characteristics of the form, discuss do’s and don’ts, and offer tips for how to sit-down and start writing. We’ll also demystify the “Holy Trinity” – the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Washington Post – and discuss why other platforms offer wonderful opportunities too, plus go over the on-campus resources available for idea generation, editing, and placement. This is part three of a three-program series on media engagement. Each will build off of each other but attendance at all three is not required to get something out of them. 

Friday, April 9 – 12:00-1:00 PM via zoom
Mental Health Post-Pandemic
Through small group discussions Liz Schneider-Bateman and Lisa Broek (Hamre Center) will reflect on the lessons learned about our own mental health and that of students during the pandemic. We’ll offer prompts to explore how looking back can inform the way we move forward. 

Friday, April 23 – 12:00-1:00 PM via zoom
The Chauvin Trial: Reflections from the Legal Rights Center and Macalester Faculty
Andrew Gordon from the Legal Rights Center will share his experiences and observations about the Chauvin trial. Professors Donna Maeda and Duchess Harris will provide comments and context, and will open the session for conversations, questions, and reflection. Macalester alum Andrew Gordon ’05 is the Deputy Director of Legal Services for the Legal Rights Center. His work focuses on advocacy, youth organizing, and empowering those for whom the legal system routinely silences and ignores. 

Friday, April 30 – 12:00-1:00 PM via zoom
ITS Listening Session: Technology During the Pandemic and Beyond
With this year of Zoom drawing to a close, ITS wants to hear from our campus community. We’ve never relied so much on technology for teaching as we have during the pandemic. What worked well and what didn’t? Did the tech kit make your life easier? Are there practices from the pandemic that you’ll keep going forward? Where did ITS best support you? How could ITS have served the campus better? Representatives from ITS will prompt attendees for their thoughts on a range of subjects and hold space for general feedback from faculty and staff. We welcome open and honest discussion of your experiences, which will help us immensely as we look into the future of technology on campus.