Month: December 2025

Faculty Spotlight: Ginny Morriss and April Wynn

What does it look like to bring cutting-edge biotechnology into an introductory classroom—and do it in a way that’s affordable, sustainable, and hands-on for every student? This month, our faculty spotlight features Dr. April Wynn and Dr. Ginny Morriss. In this month’s Q&A, they talk about how the project came to life, what students are learning from it, and where they hope to take it next. Along the way, they also reflect on the teachers who shaped them, the joy of “productive failure,” and a few fun questions we couldn’t resist asking.

January 2026 Preweek

Events scheduled for January 2026 Preweek are focused on digital accessibility support and tackling academic integrity and AI in course design. Check out the opportunities below and mark your calendars!

No Time Read Book Club Author Visit with David Rettinger

Tuesday, January 6th at 1:00 PM via Zoom

The Opposite of Cheating co-author, Dave Rettinger, will Zoom into our meeting for discussion on chapters 5-7. Bring the tough questions and be prepared to share ideas that you hope to bring into your spring courses.

Open Lab Assistance with Panorama for Digital Accessibility

Tuesday, 1/6/26: 3:00–5:00 pm
Wednesday, 1/7/26: 9:30–11:30 am
Thursday, 1/8/26: 11:30 am–1:30 pm
Location: HCC 407

During January Pre-Week, Digital Learning Support will host a series of in-person open lab sessions where faculty can receive assistance using our new digital accessibility tool, Panorama in Canvas. These open labs supplement the live Zoom training sessions offered in December (a recording of a session will also be made available). Additional asynchronous online resources will also be available to faculty by December 18th in preparation for the open labs.

There will be no formal presentation during these sessions; instead, faculty are invited to drop in, ask questions, receive individualized help, and work directly on improving accessibility in their own Canvas courses. Just bring your laptop (we will have a limited number available for those who need them) along with any questions or issues that arose during the online training.  Come anytime during the open lab sessions and stay as long as is helpful to you.

Snacks will be provided, along with plenty of support and opportunities to work through accessibility improvements in your Spring Canvas courses using Panorama.

For further information, updates, and resources please see the Digital Accessibility Resources page.

Virginia AI Symposium: Advancing Teaching and Learning in the Age of Generative AI

Friday, January 23rd, 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM at University of Virginia

Join educators from across Virginia for a day-long symposium on advancing teaching and learning in the age of generative AI. Through a keynote, interactive sessions, and research presentations, participants will explore emerging research, develop practical strategies for navigating GenAI in their teaching, and consider when and how GenAI can meaningfully support student learning. The symposium emphasizes ethical and responsible use of GenAI, sharing adaptable teaching practices, and building a network of educators committed to thoughtful innovation. Participants will leave with concrete tools, resources, and connections to continue this work beyond the event. This event features both an in-person and a virtual track.

The symposium website offers more details and registration links. The symposium has no cost to participants.

EXTENDED DEADLINE! Reimagining the Liberal Arts in the Age of AI Call for Papers

Location: University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, Virginia 

Dates: July 21-23, 2026 

New Submission Deadline: Friday, January 23rd at 5:00 PM (EST). 

Artificial Intelligence is rapidly transforming the landscape of higher education, challenging traditional pedagogies while offering potential opportunities for innovation. This conference invites scholars, educators, instructional designers, librarians, technologists, and administrators from colleges and universities to explore the intersections of AI, teaching, and the liberal arts. 

We welcome proposals that critically and creatively engage with questions such as: 

• What are the practical uses of AI in a liberal arts classroom? 
• How is AI reshaping teaching and learning in specific liberal arts disciplines? 
• How can AI foster new understandings of interdisciplinarity?  
• What ethical and/or cultural frameworks should guide the integration of AI in the college classroom? 
• How can liberal arts educators prepare students to think critically about AI and its impact on society? 
• How can liberal arts educators prepare students to use AI tools after graduation as part of their careers and/or graduate school?  
• How does AI impact accessibility in the classroom?  

Audience: This conference is designed for scholars, educators, instructional designers, librarians, technologists, and administrators working in liberal arts contexts who are looking to participate in constructive and ethical discussions about AI use at our respective institutions.  

Please complete this short form to submit a presentation proposal.  We encourage you to share the call with colleagues at liberal arts institutions who want to contribute to nuanced and critical conversations about AI in college classrooms.

Questions? Contact the conference organizers, Victoria Russell (vrussel3@umw.edu) and Krystyn Moon (kmoon@umw.edu).

No Time to Read Spring Book: More Than Words

Our books have arrived! If you requested a copy, please watch your inbox later today for delivery and pick-up options.

Life After Mary Washington (LAMW) – Faculty Update from Alex Dunn

It has been wonderful to see so many faculty thoughtfully and creatively integrating Life After Mary Washington competencies into their courses this year. Your efforts are helping students articulate their strengths, prepare more confidently for interviews, and connect their academic work to internships, jobs, and post-graduation pathways. This work is already making a visible difference in students’ ability to understand who they are becoming and to pursue experiences after Mary Washington that align with their goals.

As you start to prepare for Spring 2026 classes, please remember the tools and resources available to you related to LAMW!

• You can include the official Life After Mary Washington syllabus statement in your Spring 2026 syllabi. The statement and guidance are available on the Provost’s website.
• The Life After Mary Washington Library Guide provides key resources to support course alignment, including overviews, teaching materials, and training information.
• LAMW icons are available on Canvas Commons and can be added to your syllabus, course homepage, modules, and individual assignments. Note: link works directly on the UMW system or you will need your Duo code number. You can also search Canvas Commons for “Life After Mary Washington Core Competency Icons”.
• Faculty may request customized demonstrations or career-readiness training sessions for Spring courses through the Center for Career and Professional Development.
• The Center for Career and Professional Development also offers tools and resources that can be incorporated into AMW courses, including assessments, planning tools, and guides.
• If you would like one-on-one support—such as revising your syllabus statement, identifying competencies for a course, or designing LAMW-aligned assignments—you can schedule a meeting with QEP faculty co-director, Alex Dunn, by emailing adunn4@umw.edu.

LAMW Preview for Spring 2026

• A new Big Interview template will be available to help you evaluate LAMW competencies in your courses and to support students in translating what they are learning into applied settings and interview responses.
• Additional trainings will focus on integrating Center for Career and Professional Development tools into your classes, including: Big Interview, Focus 2, Forage, Parker Dewey, Network Mary Wash and more. 
• Sessions on grading reflections using mastery grading techniques will support faculty who want to reinforce competency development and deeper student reflection.
• We will also offer expanded guidance on incorporating the STAR method (Situation–Task–Action–Result) into assignments and activities to help students effectively articulate their experiences.
• If you have specific ideas for workshops or course-embedded sessions that would support your Spring teaching, please reach out to Alex Dunn at adunn4@umw.edu with suggestions.
• Mark your calendars! The Spring 2026 Career & Internship Fair is scheduled for Thurs., Feb. 19 (or Thurs., March 19 in case of inclement weather), from 10am-2pm in the Chandler Ballroom. Please encourage your students to attend and consider building it in your courses! More details about the February 2026 Life After Mary Wash week will be coming soon.
• If you would like to partner with the Center for Career and Professional Development, or if you have any questions or ideas, please email CCPD Director Michael Dunn at mdunn2@umw.edu.

Research and Creativity Collaborative News

Congratulations on making it to the end of the semester! In the RCC we have been learning to design a poster and use our large format printer. Contact Betsy Lewis if your students need help with a poster for their presentation.

Our students and faculty have been busy working on their creative and research projects, and presenting their results both off and on campus. This last week of classes there are several end-of-the-semester symposia:

December 4:

• Honors Capstone Symposium. Lee 412 from 1:00 pm to 5:30 pm
• Lively Viewing Party, 3:30 – 5 pm, Univ. Communications Suite 300

December 5:

• History, American Studies, and Sociology Symposium. 9am to 12pm, Monroe 111 and 210.
• Jepson Science Symposium, 4pm. Jepson Science Center.
• Columns Fall Symposium. 5pm. Combs 139

Upcoming deadlines:

• December 5: NCUR Richmond (April 13-15, 2026) Submission Deadline.
• January 21, 2026: Undergraduate Research Grant Application deadline for spring funding.
• January 23, 2026: UMW Summer Research Institutes faculty proposal deadline. Both summer institutes will begin on May 18, 2026. The Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Summer Institute will conclude with a symposium on June 17. The Summer Science Institute concludes with its symposium on July 22. To learn more, see our website, or contact Betsy Lewis: elewis@umw.edu

Spring 2026 Faculty Pedagogy Colloquium

We are pleased to announce our presentations for the Spring 2026 semester. Save the dates–registration will begin in January.

Maria Laura Bocaz (Modern Languages and Literatures): ArcGIS to Explore and Share Treasures of the Hispanic World

Friday, January 23rd, 12:00 – 1:00 PM in Seacobeck 139

In SPAN 320Q, we immerse ourselves in the wonders of the Hispanic world—from archaeological sites to vibrant cultural celebrations. In the fall semester, I experimented with a new type of final evaluation that moved beyond traditional presentations and essays. ARCGIS proved to be an ideal resource, offering an engaging, hands-on project that helped students strengthen their communicative skills in Spanish while building technological competencies.

Sean McDonald (Education): Leveraging AI to Design and Deliver Multimedia Vocabulary Instruction

Tuesday, February 10th, 3:30 – 4:30 PM in Seacobeck 128

The purpose of this scholarly teaching project is to gain initial insights on the potential benefits of generative AI tools for supporting preservice teachers’ knowledge and implementation of multimedia, evidence-based vocabulary practices. Specifically, in this project, preservice teachers will understand, design, and deliver multimedia vocabulary lessons using multiple AI-based platforms (e.g., Microsoft CoPilot, Adobe Firefly) to assist them in producing rich imagery and text with evidence-based routines for word-learning.

Kaitlyn Haynal (Communication & Digital Studies): Deep Research for Argumentation-Leveraging AI to Transform Speaking and Learning

Friday, March 13th, 12:00 – 1:00 PM in Seacobeck 139

How can AI be harnessed to strengthen core learning objectives in the classroom? In this presentation, Dr. Kaitlyn Haynal shares her redesign of a major assignment in COMM 209: Argumentation, where the integration of AI-powered Deep Research tools enhances student learning and practice with debate. By streamlining the research process, students gain more time to focus on evaluating evidence critically, crafting stronger arguments, and practicing the art of debate. This approach re-centers the course toward its core goals, including critical thinking, persuasion, and civic engagement, while modeling innovative ways to integrate AI into the liberal arts classroom.

Melissa Wells (Education): Designing Interactive Simulations with Chatbots

Tuesday, April 7th, 12:30 – 1:30 PM in CRUC 314

Come learn about successes and challenges of programming an AI chatbot to give students practice with applying course content!

Samira Fallah (Business): The Impact of Students’ Mindsets on Job Search Behaviors

Wednesday, April 15th, 3:00 – 4:00 PM in Seacobeck 151

Searching for a job is often an effort-intensive and stressful process for students making the transition from school to work. Their limited experience and smaller professional networks add to these challenges. In this presentation, I will share my research findings on how students’ mindsets, specifically their belief that job search skills can be developed through effort and learning, shape their job search behaviors. I will also discuss practical strategies and classroom interventions that educators can use to foster a growth mindset in students, helping them approach the job search process more effectively.

We wish you speedy grading and a relaxing winter break! The Center for Teaching is available for consultation through December 17th and will be back in the office on Monday, January 5th. Do not hesitate to reach out if we can help with your spring course preparation. The next First Friday post will be on Friday, January 9th with spring programming announcements–we hope you will be ready to PLAY!

What does it look like to bring cutting-edge biotechnology into an introductory classroom—and do it in a way that’s affordable, sustainable, and hands-on for every student? This month, our faculty spotlight features Dr. April Wynn and Dr. Ginny Morriss, who used a Center for Teaching Small Teaching Grant last summer to design and pilot a gene-editing lab for General Genetics. They shared this work at the fall Faculty Pedagogy Colloquium, and in this Q&A, they talk about how the project came to life, what students are learning from it, and where they hope to take it next. Along the way, they also reflect on the teachers who shaped them, the joy of “productive failure,” and a few fun questions we couldn’t resist asking.

Last summer, you all had a CfT Small Teaching Grant and presented about it during a Faculty Pedagogy Colloquium—can you tell us a little about this project? 

      One of the major draws for students to come to UMW is our emphasis on providing high-impact education and authentic laboratory experiences for our students that will better position them to be competitive in both their job searches and in admissions into graduate school and professional schools. Gene editing is becoming a standard technique in labs across the country. Since gene editing technologies are still relatively new, it is cost-prohibitive for large universities to allow students experience using these tools in their labs and this has previously been no different at UMW. Only students taking one of the two research-intensive courses that involve gene editing or working on independent research projects were able to utilize gene editing tools. We wanted to provide a way in which all students who major in biological sciences can gain experience using these tools, so our project was to design a low-cost, sustainable gene editing lab. This lab is integrated within one of our introductory courses, General Genetics, and taken by all biology students, all biochem students, and all pre-med students. We used the bacteria, E. coli, which is a standard model organism used in genetics labs and some other molecular biology tools to have students target and cut the E. coli DNA. Once cut, they repaired that DNA in a way that would create a non-functional enzyme whose function, or lack thereof, could be assessed using colorful indicators. Using these indicators, the students would be able to tell whether their gene editing was successful because the color of the indicator differs when the functional enzyme is present versus when the non-functional (edited) enzyme is present. We rolled out the gene editing lab during the Spring 2025 semester, with positive comments from students about the exercise. While we were piloting the lab with the students, we were also making small changes to the protocol and optimizing it so that we could make the lab even more resource-efficient than the pilot.

How has the incorporation of this work enhanced your classroom setting? 

      Students can learn complex technologies more effectively when they work with the technologies in a hands-on way. This lab enhances not only the ability to learn this emerging technology, but it also served to reinforce concepts learned in the prior labs, review new concepts learned in lecture, and connected the material to other biotechnologies we covered later in the semester in both lecture and lab. Additionally, this investment in staying on the cutting edge of emerging technologies, gives our curriculum relevance for our students. 

Do you have any further plans to continue? 

      Yes. When we started this project, we purchased the original bacteria and DNAs used and prepared them in a way that we could continue long-term use of these biological materials. This included freezing the bacteria in a way that it could be thawed and grown when more was needed and inserting the DNA into a different strain of bacteria that we could also freeze and grow more when needed, rather than re-purchasing. We also amplified the amount of the DNA for long-term storage and isolated the DNA from the special strain of bacteria we obtained from the project. We will have all of these DNA samples sequenced so we can use the system to edit other DNA targets. We will be first using the obtained sequences to have a URES student create a gene-edited strain of bacteria for use in another genetics laboratory exercise and to modify our current CRISPR lab. We will also use the sequenced plasmid DNA to design projects in BIOL 431 (Research in RNA Technology) that explore the function of other E. coli genes using gene editing.

Is there anything that stands out to you that has prepared you or continues to prepare you most for effective teaching?

AW: Talking to students about their experience before coming here, what they are doing in internships and external research and working with dedicated colleagues that take effective teaching seriously. Additionally, the availability of funding for trying new projects that will make the classroom more engaging allows for the space to try new things within the classroom.

GM: I would say that comparing notes with other faculty, whether within department or at professional development sessions, to get new ideas on how to approach certain topics or fun ways to teach any topic helps rethink the way I do things. 

Who was your favorite teacher?

AW: Dr. Pilcher – he taught biology classes and in his last year teaching taught a course on the History of Darwin. It was a great liberal-arts class combining biology, history and sociology. He had taught college for 40 years and cared about promoting learning from the first to the last day he taught. 

GM: There are too many to choose from, but if I could only choose 1, I’d say Dr. Staub, who showed me not only how much fun genetics could be, but also how showing compassion to the students when something seems off can change how they view interactions with faculty and higher education as a whole.

8:00 a.m. class or 4:00 p.m. class? 

AW: 4 pm – no brainer!

GM: I have to disagree with April, 8 am, hands down, is the only way to go when these are the only two options!

What is your dream class to teach? 

AW: A seminar on GMO plants – what worked and what didn’t!

GM: I already get to teach mine – RNA Technology. But, really anything that has to do with genetic engineering sounds like a fun time, even if it is with plants!

What is one piece of advice you’d give a brand-new faculty member? 

AW: Trust yourself! Remember that what you are teaching is new to the students it will be a challenge, and that is where the learning happens. 

GM: You are going to have some ideas that will fall flat with the students. Take the risk and learn the lesson. We become better when we can embrace productive failure.

What podcast, book, or show would you currently recommend?

AW: The Anxious Generation (book)

GM: Braiding Sweetgrass (book)

If you could take any class in the UMW catalog, what would it be? 

AW: Pretty much all the FSEM classes! Or psychopathology.

GM: Historic Preservation courses…so many of them!

What were you like as a student in college? 

AW: Overscheduled and overinvolved – loved every minute of it! That is why I never left the college atmosphere. 

GM: I was also overscheduled and overinvolved. That has not really changed much.