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Join 5CollDH this Thursday, February 25th at 4:30 PM in Frost Library’s Periodicals Room at Amherst College for another exciting speaker: Ben Chang!

Ben Chang (AC ‘98) is an electronic artist and Associate Professor and director of the Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences (GSAS) program at Rensselaer Polytechnic University (RPI). His work explores the intersections of virtual environments and experimental gaming with contemporary media art.

Using materials ranging from immersive visualization systems to modified surveillance cameras, hacked video games, and antique telegraphs, his work brings out the chaotic, human qualities in technological systems.

Chang’s recent projects include a suite of classic games rewritten for the Microsoft Kinect system, a virtual reality environment about remem- brance in memorial of the Holocaust, and “Becoming,” a computer-driven video installation that interchanges the attributes of two animated figures.

Consider applying to the WPI Center of Project Based Learning’s Summer Institute

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13th, 10:30am – 12:30 pm in the Faculty Staff Lounge in FPH.

If you have ever written a letter of recommendation when you wanted to say no, have struggled with “telling the truth” even when it would deflate a student’s goals, or have bristled at your own course evaluations, this session will have something for you. Critical feedback is difficult to provide and receive. Join us for lunch to talk about why that is and strategies to improve the experience.

Becky Packard, Professor of Psychology & Education, is responsible for Teaching and Learning Initiatives at Mount Holyoke College and is the Director of the Weissman Center. Her research focuses on mentoring, with an emphasis on the experiences of first-generation college students, women, nontraditional-aged students, and persons of color in higher education.

RSVP to Jackie Jeffery at jmjDO@hampshire.edu are not necessary but appreciated.

The Challenging Discussions Series is sponsored by the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Education and the Center for Teaching and Learning.

The 2015 – 2016 5CollDH Speaker Series features scholars and artists whose work investigates the constantly shifting boundaries between physical and virtual space, and how such shifts impact how we engage our social, political, and bodily networks: how our worlds are made, and how we can make them differently.

Click here for the poster, visit the website, or check them out on Facebook or Twitter to learn more about the exciting range of speakers visiting this year!

Preparing our kids for the new innovation era.

October 28th at 7pm in Weinstein Auditorium at Smith College.

You are invited to a screening of Most Likely to Succeed. The film was a 2015 Sundance Film Festival selected documentary based on Tony Wagner’s book by the same name.

Saturday, November 7th

Carole DeSanti, Vice President and Executive Editor at Penguin Random House, will hold a workshop focused on writing, publishing and creative process. The workshop will focus on techniques for becoming your own first editor and best feedback system, address questions about publishing, and engage issues related to shifting from academic writing to addressing a general audience readership.

10:00am-12:00pm, FCWSRC, 83 College Street, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley

Join the CTL in congratulating Beth Lisi. Beth has just been promoted to Associate Director of Grants in the Office of College Advancement.

Many of you have had the pleasure of working with Beth on grant applications or in general discussions about faculty life at Hampshire. If you have worked with Beth, you will know her as an incredible asset to Hampshire. We at the CTL have been happy to have Beth as a collaborator on our programming.

Congratulations Beth!!!

Navigating Challenging Discussions in the Classroom 
Wednesday, September 2, 10:00am-11:45am, FPH Lounge

Building on the significant interest in this topic at May’s Celebration of Teaching, this workshop will engage faculty in sharing and developing strategies for inclusive teaching that involve inviting and facilitating discussion across different perspectives and experiences.

This workshop will be led by Becky Wai-Ling Packard, professor of psychology and education and the Director of the Weissman Center for Leadership at Mt. Holyoke College.  At the Weissman Center, Dr. Packard is responsible for Teaching and Learning Initiatives and new faculty mentoring. Packard’s research focuses on mentoring, with an emphasis on the experiences of first-generation college students, women, nontraditional-aged students, and persons of color in higher education.

While educational inequity is a structural issue that requires institutional and policy changes, there are micro-level interventions that can support students’ success and achievement involving visioning and personal reflection.  If you get a chance, take a look at this 2015 study by Schippers et al. The authors argue for the significance of structured goal setting and reflective writing on student academic performance and retention. The authors note that, “overall, the results indicate that a comprehensive goal-setting intervention implemented early in students’ academic careers can significantly and substantially reduce gender and ethnic minority inequalities in achievement.” While you might find the intervention in the study to be too involved, it’s worth considering how we involve students in academic goal setting and detailed planning very early on in their college experience.  Please share your strategies!