Announcements and News
Supporting Effective Learning Environments: Resources for Faculty
Over the past two years, members of the Working Group for Inclusive Teaching (supported
by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute) worked to broadly understand
the campus’s values around teaching and learning. The seven guiding principles for
effective learning environments have been endorsed by CEPP and include: (1) Transparent
and intentional design, (2) exploring concepts and practices across theoretical, cultural,
and/or social differences, (3) fostering belonging, (4) ongoing pedagogical and professional
growth and development by faculty and staff, (5) acknowledging and working to alleviate
the impact of structural inequities on learning, and (6) promoting equitable access
to learning. They have developed an extensive annotated bibliography to support faculty who would like new ways to incorporate guiding principles in their
teaching.
National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD)
Don’t forget that Skidmore is an institutional member of the NCFDD, which provides free access to many excellent professional development tools, including
a Tuesday, Oct. 22, webinar, How to Effectively and Efficiently Revise and Resubmit your Manuscript, and a Friday, Nov. 15, Zoom conversation, Beyond Burnout: Faculty Well-Being: Individual and Institutional Approaches.
Student Support Services
In addition to the in-person services provided by the Counseling Center — Skidmore provides teletherapy services offered through BetterMynd. Students have up to 12 sessions of teletherapy per academic year. In addition, students
will be able to access up to three group skill-building workshops per year. The Student Assessment and Intervention Group (SAIG) remains a resource to share non-emergency concerns about your students (e.g., attendance).
You may find the SAIG form here.
Funding for new Black Studies courses
We are pleased to announce that due to the generous support of the Mellon Foundation
— for a three-year grant: Africana Studies and the Humanities at Skidmore: Transnational
Explorations in Social Justice — we are able to offer stipends of $1,000 to faculty
who successfully create courses cross-listed with the Black Studies Program (BST). Note
that in order to be compensated, you need to submit a Guidelines Form to the BST Advisory Board by Nov. 1, 2024, as well as a proposal to Curriculum Committee
(CC) by Dec. 15, 2024. Stipends cannot be distributed for courses already counting
toward the Black studies minor; however, they could include existing courses with significant
revisions. For additional support in developing a course for BST, consider joining
one of the Racial Justice Learning Communities offered each semester and piloting the course for the Racial Justice Teaching Challenge.
For additional information, please contact the co-PIs, Professor and Director of Black
Studies Winston Grady-Willis and Professor of American Studies and CLTL Director Beck Krefting.