Office of the Provost

Faculty Food for Thought Archive

Informal lunchtime conversations that focus on issues of interest to teaching and learning, higher education and best practices in pedagogy.

Spring 2011

Recruiting Students for National Fellowships and Post-Graduate Awards
Thursday, March 24, noon - 1 p.m. in AU111, 4-5 p.m. in JH109
Harry Truman, George Mitchell, William Fulbright, Morris Udall, David Boren, Jacob Javitz, Barry Goldwater. What do these former U.S. legislators (and one president) have to do with Butler students?  Each has had a national scholarship or fellowship program named in his honor for which Butler students are eligible! 

All faculty are invited to a special lunch conversation to learn more about post-graduate fellowships and grants and how to identify Butler students for these awards.  Each year hundreds of U.S. undergraduates apply for nationally competitive scholarships and fellowships. Some awards take on mythic proportions and appear to be the exclusive province of students from the most elite U.S. colleges and universities. The reality is that high-achieving Butler students make very competitive candidates for these and the myriad of national scholarships and fellowships available each year.  You can play an important role in identifying students for these awards. 

Please join colleagues to learn more about identifying and recruiting top Butler students for national scholarships and fellowships; the discussion will be led by CHASE Office Associate Director Mariangela Maguire. 

Speaking Across the Curriculum
Thursday, February 17, noon - 1 p.m. in AU111, 4-5 p.m. in JH109
Please join faculty colleagues for a workshop on developing a course that fulfills the speaking across the curriculum expectation of the new Core curriculum. Led by Butler faculty with expertise in the discipline, learn how to create a speaking across the curriculum course, develop assignments and projects, and how to assess or evaluate student work in such a course.

Student Disability Services/Counseling
Thursday, January 27, noon - 1 p.m. in AU111, 4- 5 p.m. in JH109
Join Michele Atterson, Director of Student Disability Services, and Keith Magnus, Director of the Counseling Center, to talk about how best to work with students with disabilities; what accommodations are appropriate; what documentation is necessary; and ways that faculty can most successfully work with students who have identified disabilities, or have need of counseling.

  

Fall 2010

Planning for a University Teaching and Learning Center
Wednesday, November 3, 8:30-9:30 a.m.
Monday, November 8, 4-5 p.m.
Thursday, November 18, 11-noon and noon-1 p.m. (lunch provided)
Monday, November 22, 9:30-10:30 a.m.
Thursday, December 2, noon - 1 p.m., JH109
Teaching and learning centers emerged at colleges and universities more than 15 years ago and brought together much of the high-quality faculty development work that was happening in multiple areas on campuses. At Butler, faculty development efforts currently come out of each of the colleges and the Provost's Office. As new initiatives are added, and as the needs of faculty continue to evolve, it is time to develop a faculty-driven teaching and learning center, as the strategic plan articulates. A center will provide the leadership, resources, and communication network needed for responsive and responsible faculty development at the University. A center will provide programming that changes and develops according to the focus and interests of the faculty, the needs of students, and the issues confronting us as an institution of higher education.

Transforming Teaching through Technology Presentations
Thursday, November 11, noon - 1 p.m., AU302
Join colleagues, Shelly Furuness (Education) and James McGrath (Philosophy and Religion), who participated in the summer "Transforming Teaching through Technology" workshop, present on how they are incorporating technology into their classes. Furuness will present on "digital makeovers" that are helping students articulate and show their thinking process online. McGrath will talk about how he is using electronic texts in his course, "The Bible," and how he is exploring what electronic texts offer us that printed texts cannot.

Spring 2010

Working with Students with Disabilities
Thursday, February 18, noon-1 p.m., University Club, AU111
Join Michele Atterson, Director of Student Disability Services to talk about how best to work with students with disabilities; what accommodations are appropriate; what documentation is necessary; and ways that faculty can most successfully work with students who have identified disabilities.

Faculty Food for Thought: SENCER
Thursday, January 28, noon-1 p.m., University Club, AU111
SENCER (Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities) is a program that focuses on improving science education by focusing on real world problems. Join Joe Kirsch (Chemistry), Tara Lineweaver (Psychology), Meredith Beilfuss (Education), and Phil Villani (Biological Sciences) for a discussion of how they've used the SENCER model to develop courses focused on real world challenges.

Fall 2009

Faculty Food for Thought: Teaching with Twitter?
Tuesday, October 27, 5-6 p.m., University Club, AU111
Join colleagues for a conversation about how social media - online video, blogs, wikis, podcasts - may be changing the way we teach, and the way students learn. 

Digital Storytelling,
Thursday, September 3, noon-1 p.m., University Club, AU111
Join colleagues to learn about digital storytelling, the practice of using computer-based tools--a mixture of images, computer-based images, text, or recorded audio narration--to tell stories. 

Incorporating Service Learning into Courses
Thursday, September 10, noon-1 p.m., University Club, AU111
A focused Countdown to the Core conversation to introduce the concepts of service learning and provide examples of how Butler faculty have successfully enhanced their students' learning through community connections.