Academic Symposium

"The Mind"Fredonia as a Community of Learning

Building Communities of Learning:

Innovative Teaching at Fredonia

Thursday, September 20

"Meet and Mingle" from 3:30 to 4 p.m.

Panel Discussion from 4 to 5:30 p.m.

Williams Center Room 204

The symposium will be moderated by Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Kevin Kearns. Panelists include the following seven faculty members speaking on these topics:

Sam Mason, Associate Professor of Chemistry
Sailing the Great Lakes as a Learning Laboratory

Guangyu Tan, Assistant Professor of Education, and Shazad Mohammed, Assistant Professor of Business
From Local to Global: Lesson Learned from a Cross-cultural Living Learning community

Eric Meringer, Assistant Professor of History
Thematic International Seminars and Student Exchange: Developing a Global Competency

Andrea Zevenbergen, Professor of Psychology
Engaging Students in Community Service, Assessment, and Research: Fredonia Parent-Child Shared Reading Project

Sue McNamara, Visiting Assistant Professor of Business
E-Harmony: Connecting Student Talent to Community Opportunity

Andrew Cullison, Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Make Learning Social: A Brief Introduction to ScholarPress

This symposium showcases exemplary faculty engaged in innovative teaching that reflects Fredonia as a Community of Learning. Panelists will share approaches to teaching that represent strategic actions in the Power of Fredonia (Community of Learning, Engaged Community, Global Community, Sustainable Community). These include using technology to cultivate connections among students and between classes, engaging students in research and civic engagement, helping students bridge their residential and academic experiences through a living-learning community, and developing international exchange programs that foster global competencies. As a whole, this panel demonstrates the many ways internal and external communities enhance learning in the classroom, and models various practices for instructional faculty to consider as they envision how learning communities can revitalize their own teaching. General discussion and Q & A will follow their brief presentations.