Faculty Pedagogy Colloquium
Please join us for our November and December Faculty Pedagogy Colloquium presentations! The deadline for reserving a lunch for the November sessions has passed, but please plan on joining us for both talks. The December session will have snacks, coffee, and tea for all!
Mapping German American Stories: A Student-Created Walking Tour of Fredericksburg with Dr. Marcel Rotter (Modern Languages and Literatures)
Monday, November 9th, 12:00 – 12:50 pm in CRUC 314
This presentation explores Dr. Rotter’s work with students to create a GIS-based walking tour of German American history in Fredericksburg. By connecting historical research with digital mapping, students bring local stories into the streets and places where they unfolded. The project demonstrates how collaborative, place-based learning can engage students in sharing the histories of their community.
But I Just Got Here: Integrating LAMW Competencies into a Sophomore-Level Course with Dr. Karen Anewalt (Computer Science)
Tuesday, November 17th, 12:30 – 1:30 pm in Seacobeck 139
Students often select a major early but lack a clear picture of the careers connected to their academic interests, and internship and skill-building opportunities arrive before they feel prepared to pursue them. This session shares how Dr. Anewalt designed a one-credit course for second-year students that uses the Life After Mary Washington (LAMW) competencies as a framework for career preparation. She will show how low-stakes practice and structured reflection help students build a stronger professional identity and an honest understanding of their strengths and growth areas. She will also share lessons learned so far and how faculty in any discipline can modify these ideas to include career connections in any course.
Designing an Online Course with Cognition “in Mind” with Dr. Marcus Leppanen (Psychological Sciences)
Tuesday, December 15th, 2:00 – 3:00 pm in Seacobeck 128
This presentation will focus on the role that cognitive science plays in student learning and how it can impact the way we design online courses. Dr. Leppanen will discuss important overarching principles supported by psychological research on cognition in education and examples of how they can be implemented into an online course. The goal is to learn about how leveraging research on attention, memory, and cognitive resources can improve our students’ learning.
What’s an A? Alternative Grading Learning Community: Standards-Based Grading
Zoom session: Thursday, November 19th at 3:30 pm (What’s an A? meeting link)
All faculty and staff are welcome to join us for our online November meeting where Dr. Kelli Slunt (Chemistry) will share her strategies and lessons learned from using standards-based grading across different chemistry classes.
In-person meetings for November have been cancelled. We encourage all participants as well as interested faculty and staff to join us for the Zoom session on November 19th.
Friday Writing Group
Every Friday, 3:30 – 5:00 pm over Zoom (Friday Writing Group Zoom)
Working on a book proposal, manuscript, article, or dissertation? Looking for a friendly group that provides gentle accountability towards your weekly writing goals? The Friday Writing Group facilitated by Maya Mathur (English & Linguistics), meets every Friday over Zoom from 3:30-5:00 pm to support focused writing time and progress. You can join and exit the Zoom at any time–all are welcome who have a writing goal to achieve. Contact Maya (mmathur@umw.edu) for more information or with any questions.
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough…or Stroll Down Campus Walk Too Far
The Center for Teaching is here and ready to help with any and all classroom questions and challenges. AI or no AI, assessment options, activity ideas, or even ’blow it up’ course redesign–whatever you need, we can help. Consultations are available in-person and virtually, and can be scheduled individually or for a small group. Book a meeting through our consultation scheduling link. If you have a special situation (e.g., need a longer meeting or an evening virtual session) or would like us to come to a department meeting, please email Victoria (vrussel3@umw.edu) to make arrangements.
Partner News and Programs
Office of Undergraduate Research
Director, Betsy Lewis (elewis@umw.edu)
URES 197
Are you thinking about involving students in a research project? URES 197 could be the perfect way to help students learn about research in your discipline. URES 197 is a course in which a student conducts individual or group research as a part of a faculty member’s research project. This guided research experience is open to all students, including first- and second-year students, who meet the qualifications set by the faculty member in charge of the research project. Students serve as research apprentices who conduct important tasks with the faculty member on his or her project and learn about the process and products of the research as a result. Credit for URES 197 is variable, 1-3 credits per semester, requiring 3 hours of weekly work for each credit earned. Students may repeat URES 197, up to 6 total credits.
Find more information, FAQs, and a link to the online Dynamic Form to register on the URES 197 page on our RCC website or contact Betsy Lewis to discuss your ideas for engaging students through research!
Upcoming November Events and Opportunities
- Wednesday, Nov 4, 4:00pm, Research and Creativity Collaborative Space, Simpson Library. Opening reception – “The Artistic Journey: Documenting the Creative Process from Aix to Arrowmont.” We will be celebrating the new student art installation in the RCC space, and hear from artists Vic Koutsouftikis, Camden Franklin, Thomas Cruz about their work last summer in UMW-sponsored programs in France and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN.
- Tuesday, November 24: Deadline to submit to present at NURVa Posters in Richmond event. Please send the following to Betsy Lewis elewis@umw.edu by November 24, 2026: student and faculty sponsor names, institutional affiliation, department/field of study, clear title, abstract (of no more than 250 words) and an impact statement. Abstracts should be written for a general audience and be complete, concise, clear, and cohesive. The Impact Statement is a 150-200 word statement describing the project and its broader impact to a legislator to include the significance of the work and the progress made toward completion (to-date).
- Tuesday, November 24: Deadline to submit a paper for publication in the spring issue of the COPLAC online journal, Metamorphosis. Submissions must be made through our undergraduate research office, so please send the two required documents described on the Metamorphosis website to Dr. Betsy Lewis.
December and January Preview
- December 4, 4:00pm. Jepson Science Symposium.
- December 4, 5:00pm . Columns Humanities and Social Sciences Symposium. Place TBA (check our RCC announcements and events page)
- December 4: Deadline for applications to National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR). NCUR will be held April 12-14, 2027 in Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Friday, December 11: Faculty proposals due for Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Summer Research Institute. Departmental faculty selections due for the Irene Piscopo Rodgers ’59 Summer Science Institute January 19, 2027. The next deadline to apply for URG funds. You can find more information about Undergraduate Research Grants, and the link to the application on the Undergraduate Research Grant page of our Research and Creativity Collaborative website.
Got a great student research or creative project story you would like to share? Just fill out this brief form, upload a couple of photos, and see your students featured on the Beyond the Classroom Blog!
Life After Mary Washington: November Faculty Update
Finish the Semester Strong: 4 Easy Ways to Make Learning Visible
As the semester winds down, help students recognize the valuable skills they’ve developed in your courses. No new assignments or major changes needed. Here are four quick ways to connect their classroom experiences to LAMW competencies:
- Reflect on It! Ask students to identify one LAMW competency they’ve developed in your course, describe a specific assignment or experience that helped them build it, and explain how they might use that skill in the future.
- Interview for It! Ask students to respond to a prompt such as, “Tell me about a time when you demonstrated teamwork, leadership, communication, critical thinking, or professionalism in this class.” Encourage them to use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to organize their response. Remember, students can also practice these questions using Big Interview through the Center for Career and Professional Development!
- Look Back at It! Have students look back at an assignment or project they completed earlier in the semester. Ask them to identify which competencies they used, what they would do differently now, and what evidence shows they’ve improved.
- Exit Ticket! During the final week of class, ask students to complete two sentences: “One skill I developed in this course is…” and “One example that demonstrates this skill is…” This can be done in Canvas, on paper, or as a brief class discussion.
We Want to Hear From You!
Have a few minutes? Help shape future LAMW faculty resources and programming by completing our brief, anonymous faculty survey. Your feedback will help us better understand what’s working and where additional support would be useful.
Coming Soon: “Don’t Just Assign It. Teach It!”
We’re refreshing our LAMW resources to help faculty move beyond identifying competencies to teaching and developing them. Look for quick classroom activities, observable student behaviors, and simple strategies for scaffolding leadership, teamwork, communication, critical thinking, and professionalism. In the meantime, explore our LAMW Faculty Resources for more ideas!