"Teaching and Learning Center" Archive

Faculty, staff enhance ability to facilitate diversity in classroom

pedagogy

Faculty and staff participate in the Summer Institute for Intercultural Professional Development and Pedagogy

This is a guest post from Office of Diversity and Inclusion:

This fall, 30-plus faculty and staff from across the University will be more equipped to facilitate diverse experiences in their educational offerings and to promote inclusion and equity at the University. They participated in the Summer Institute for Intercultural Professional Development and Pedagogy this past July.  Advanced by members of the Curricular Changes and Faculty Development sub-committee of the Campus Climate Implementation Team, the Institute emerged from recommendations provided by the campus community in fall 2014 as part of the Deliberative Dialogue Series on Inclusion.

Jose Villalba, senior associate dean for faculty, evaluation, and inclusivity, and Shayla Herndon-Edmunds, director of diversity education, spearheaded the effort with support from Barbee Oakes, chief diversity officer, Lynn Sutton, vice provost, and Catherine Ross, director of the Teaching and Learning Center. Former Wake Forest Fellows Muhammad Siddiqui and Nia Evans also contributed greatly to the development and implementation of the Institute.

Participants in the Institute were selected after completing an application for admission and were assigned pre-readings for discussions during the two-day, overnight experience at Graylyn International Conference Center. The Institute covered a wide-range of topics, including facilitating difficult dialogues in the classroom and campus settings, the role that self-awareness plays in cultural competence, and best practices for creating inclusive spaces. Each participant left the Institute with a personal action plan to continue to strengthen their skills, and they also reported significant increases in their confidence and ability to manage complex discussions around difference, empathize with others, among other measures of intercultural competence according to a pre- and post-test administered by Dr. Villalba.

“What I find most impactful about the Institute is that faculty and staff now have more tools and skills at their disposal to improve interactions with students, shape campus departments, and create programs,” said Villalba. “Their willingness to challenge themselves to be more inclusive and aware as educators is a great model for our campus community and hopefully will inspire others to do the same.”

The Institute is a part of the Dean of the College’s “Maximizing Inclusivity + Minimizing Apathy (MIMA)” professional development series for faculty and staff. MIMA offers skills-based workshops in the fall semester and awareness/theoretical sessions in the spring. This October, faculty and staff can look forward to a session that addresses the complex mental health concerns of students on campus. The session is co-sponsored by the Learning Assistance Center, University Counseling Center, and Office of Academic Advising. For more information, contact Jose Villabla at villalja@wfu.edu.

Categories: Guest Post

July 2016 staff milestones

See a list of staff milestones for July 2016: Read more

ACE Fellows announced for 2015-16

Twelve Wake Forest faculty members have been named to the University’s 2015-2016 class of Academic Community Engagement (ACE) Fellows.

In its 17th year, the ACE Fellowship program provides support for selected faculty members interested in integrating some form of community engagement into classes. Each year, up to 12 fellows are selected by the faculty director of the ACE Fellows Program, the ACE Advisory Council, the director of the Teaching and Learning Center and the Dean of the College.

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Categories: Faculty News

TLC's Teaching Renewal Retreat continues to grow

20150610_tlc_graylyn_004A guest post by Catherine Ross, director of Wake Forest’s Teaching and Learning Center:

When assistant professors begin their careers, most colleges and universities have a process in place for mentoring and supporting these newest teachers and researchers. Only a very few college teaching and learning centers offer programming for mid and advanced career faculty dealing with issues and concerns such as: how to teach and connect with increasingly diverse students, how to get and keep students engaged in learning, and how to keep ourselves engaged in teaching year after year!

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Categories: Faculty News

June 2015 faculty and staff milestones

Kriss Dinkins in Information Systems, Margaret Lankford in the School of Law and Frederick Harris in the School of Business are celebrating 25 years at Wake Forest.

See other faculty and staff  celebrating milestones in June 2015.

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Categories: Faculty NewsStaff News

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