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A faculty learning community is a group of cross-disciplinary faculty (usually 6–12 people) engaging in an active, collaborative program that meets regularly to support each participant's professional development (definition adapted from Miami University, OH). Depending on the chosen book, learning community participants may pick a focus project and agree to apply the ideas, try out innovations, and report back to the group on what they have learned.
The Center for Faculty Development provides you with a copy of the book, refreshments, and a designated “host” for your learning community. At each gathering, you’ll discuss key insights from the assigned reading, questions that arise for you while reading, and, when appropriate, the progress you're making on your own project.
Any Seattle University faculty member, part-time or full-time, can participate in the program.
Radical hope: A teaching manifesto
Higher education nationally is fraught with challenges: its value is frequently questioned, its financial stability is in jeopardy, its inequities have become more apparent in the pandemic, and it is far from immune to the myriad racial and social injustices in society. For many faculty, our current work situation brings deep desolations. Against this disquieting landscape of higher ed, Kevin M. Gannon's book, Radical Hope, offers both a path forward for educators and reasons for hope in our time.
From the publisher: "Radical Hope is an ambitious response to this state of affairs, at once political and practical - the work of an activist, teacher, and public intellectual grappling with some of the most pressing topics at the intersection of higher education and social justice. Kevin Gannon asks that the contemporary university's manifold problems be approached as opportunities for critical engagement, arguing that, when done effectively, teaching is by definition emancipatory and hopeful.
"Considering individual pedagogical practice, the students who are the primary audience and beneficiaries of teaching, and the institutions and systems within which teaching occurs, Radical Hope surveys the field, tackling everything from impostor syndrome to cell phones in class to allegations of a campus 'free speech crisis.' Throughout, Gannon translates ideals into tangible strategies and practices (including key takeaways at the conclusion of each chapter), with the goal of reclaiming teachers' essential role in the discourse of higher education."
In this three-session Learning Community, facilitated by Katherine Raichle, you'll read through the book with colleagues and explore how this material applies to your work as an educator.
Over the three sessions, you'll learn how to:
This community is for any faculty member who seeks to change their teaching practices and curricula in the face of the numerous challenges at the heart of higher ed.
Radical Hope is 152 pages long, and the reading will be split across the three sessions to be manageable for participants.
The three dates in Winter Quarter are:
Please register by noon on Wednesday, January 20.
» Registration is now closed.
