سԹ

A Faculty/Staff Learning Community (FLC) is a small group of faculty and staff members working together to increase their knowledge and/or skills on a topic of mutual interest.

An FLC provides the structure and support for this group to discuss, share, and encourage one another to reach their full professional potential. In addition to shared learning, FLC members work on personal projects that put into practice what they are learning. Finally, the community is expected to share their knowledge and accomplishments with the wider university community.

Fall 2026 FLC Preview

Full details about FLCs beginning in Fall 2026 will be be posted as they become available. See below for both Fall 2026 FLCs and full year 2026-2027 FLCs.

Fall 2026 FLCs

First-Year Student Success Faculty Learning Community

Fall 2026

Are you a faculty member who teaches first year students? Join the fall 2026 First-year student success OER FLC to learn more about our first-year students at سԹ, the challenges they are experiencing, and ways we can support them in making meaningful connections in our courses. We will also collaborate on visioning for future first-year student programming at سԹ. This will be an exciting opportunity to connect with colleagues and the possibilities for meaningful teaching and learning at سԹ.

Meeting Days and Times

Thursdays from 12:30 – 2 pm, in person (9/3, 9/17, 10/1, 10/15, 10/29 and 11/12)

or,

Fridays from 11-12:30 on Teams (9/4, 9/18, 10/2, 10/16, 10/30 and 11/13).

Please pick a series and commit to that time for the semester!

Sign up here:

Questions?

Contact Emily Ragan ([email protected])

Open Educational Resources (OER) FLC

Fall 2026

The Open Educational Resources (OER) Faculty Learning Community will support faculty in adopting or adapting OER for use in one or more of their courses. The FLC is co-facilitated by Emily Ragan (Professor, chemistry and biochemistry, and سԹ OER coordinator) and Brian Healy (Lecturer, communication studies).

All sessions will be held on Fridays from 11 am – 12:30 pm in Microsoft Teams. The specific meeting dates are:

  • Sept 11
  • Sept 25
  • Oct 9
  • Oct 23
  • Nov 6
  • Nov 20
  • Dec 4

Space is limited and faculty taking the FLC for the first time will be prioritized. We will reach out about acceptance into the FLC a week before sessions start.

Participants will be expected to attend at least 5 out of 7 possible meetings to be eligible for the $500 OER FLC stipend.

Sign up here:

Visit the OER Faculty Resources Page or contact Emily Ragan ([email protected]) with any questions

Fall 2026 - Spring 2027 FLCs

Teaching at سԹ: Finding Joy and Belonging

Fall 2026 – Spring 2027

Would you be interested in thinking about joy in your life, and especially about how to cultivate it and sustain it in your teaching? Join us for a faculty learning community where we focus on simple practices that allow us to consciously incorporate joy into our daily lives as faculty at سԹ.

By joining this FLC, participants will

  • Consider and discuss the difference between joy (something that is happening within us) and happiness (something that is happening around us)
  • Explore and discuss sources of joy and understand the diverse ways it can be experienced
  • Share their joy practices with colleagues at meetings around campus, serving as informal ‘joy ambassadors.’
  • Document simple things we can do to consciously incorporate sustainable joy practices into daily life through a joy journal (a “joynal!”)
  • Potentially find renewed joy in teaching

Meeting Dates

Meetings will occur every 3 weeks on Thursdays from 11:00am-12:30pm.

Aug 27 – In person with snacks
Sept 17 – In person or virtual
Oct 8 – In person or virtual
Oct 29- In person or virtual
Nov 19 – In person

Spring dates will be determined later but may also occur on Thursdays at the same time.

We are intentionally building a small community through this FLC and ask participants to commit to attending all meetings to the extent possible.

Link to Sign up:

Questions? Contact:

Krista Griffin, [email protected]

Ingrid Carter, [email protected]

Bridget Arend, [email protected]

The First-Gen Connection: Building Belonging and Success

Fall 2026 – Spring 2027

At سԹ, 55-60% of undergraduates are the first in their families to pursue a 4-year college education. This community of students are typically referred to as “first-generation-to-college,” or “first-generation college students.” Understanding our first-generation students, who are the majority of Roadrunners, is crucial to سԹ’s ongoing mission of constructing an equitable and socially just institutional culture.

Research demonstrates that faculty and staff play a powerful role in supporting student retention and are crucial to the success of first-generation students. Relationships with faculty and staff are especially central to the success of first-generation students, who may face heightened alienation and isolation in higher education. These sessions will encourage and empower the Roadrunner community to embrace and celebrate these students.

Sessions will include a student panel, explore topics such as the hidden curriculum, the  Community Cultural Wealth Model (CCW), which is an asset-based approach examining the skills, talents, strengths, and lived experiences that first-generation college students bring to higher education settings, as well as provide a space for idea and resource sharing during each session.

Tentative Schedule for Fall 2026

  • Friday, September 11th – 10am-12pm (Hybrid)
  • Friday, September 25th – 10am-12pm (Hybrid)
  • Friday, October 9th – 10am-12pm
  • Friday, October 23rd – 10am-12pm
  • Friday, November 6th – 10am-12pm (In-person Only)
  • Friday, December 4th – 10am-12pm

Link to sign up:

Questions? Contact:

Rosmina Garcia at [email protected]

Spring 2026 FLCs

سԹ Fundraising Academy

Spring 2026

In today’s funding climate, faculty innovation depends on creative resource development. The سԹ Fundraising Academy—a faculty learning community co-sponsored by University Advancement (UA) and the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Design (CTLD)—equips faculty with the tools to turn great ideas into funded initiatives.

Led by Dr. Andy Thyrring, UA’s 2025–26 Faculty Fellow and Executive Director for the Office of Education Solutions, the Academy brings together UA leadership for six interactive workshops focused on building donor relationships, crafting compelling cases for support, and navigating the many funding avenues available—from crowdfunding and individual donors to foundation and corporate grants.

Faculty participants will apply their learning by developing a real-world project to pitch in an end-of-semester funding competition, with prizes of $5,000 for first place and $2,500 for second and third. Participants also receive individualized consultation and support to prepare successful سԹ Day of Giving campaigns and other funding initiatives.

Join a community of changemakers advancing سԹ’s mission—and learn to bring your boldest ideas to life through strategic fundraising and collaboration.

All sessions will occur 9 – 11 AM

This year’s sessions include:

Facilitator: Dr. Andy Thyrring, [email protected]

“Remembering and Forgetting in the Age of Technology” Book Club

Spring 2026 

Participants in this Book Club FLC will read the book, Remembering and Forgetting in the Age of Technology. As we read each chapter over the semester, we will apply concepts from the book to our own courses and discuss strategies and challenges.  Bonus: the author will be visiting campus in February as part of the CTLD-hosted .

(West Virginia University Press, 2022), is written by Michelle D. Miller, This book takes a deep dive into how memory works—and what that means for how we teach. In an era of instant information and generative AI, how can technology help as well as hinder our ability to remember? Drawing on both classic research and current findings, this book offers practical strategies for helping students build meaningful, lasting knowledge while navigating a digital world.

FLC Meeting Dates and Times

The FLC will meet 5 times during the spring semester and active participants receive a copy of the book.

Meetings will be on Mondays, 2:00-3:00 pm, virtually via Teams. Meeting dates:

  • Feb 2
  • Feb 23
  • March 16
  • April 6
  • April 27

If you are interested in joining this FLC, .

For questions, contact:

Bridget Arend at [email protected]

The First-Gen Connection: Building Belonging and Success

Spring 2026

At سԹ, 55-60% of undergraduates are the first in their families to pursue a 4-year college education. This community of students are typically referred to as “first-generation-to-college,” or simply “first-generation.” Understanding our first-generation students, who are the majority of Roadrunners, is crucial to سԹ’s ongoing mission of constructing an equitable and socially just institutional culture.

Research demonstrates that faculty and staff play a powerful role in supporting student retention and are crucial to the success of first-generation students. Relationships with faculty and staff are especially central to the success of first-generation students, who may face heightened alienation and isolation in higher education. These sessions will encourage and empower the Roadrunner community to embrace and celebrate these students.

Sessions will be developed using frameworks such as Tara Yosso’s Cultural Wealth Model, also called Community Cultural Wealth Model (CCW), an asset-based approach examining the skills, talents, strengths, and lived experiences that first-generation college students bring to higher education settings. “Placing FGCS’s assets in the context of CCW serves to explicitly validate the wealth they possess using language valued by the institutions they inhabit. Further, framing assets using the concept of CCW, because of its broader attention to oppressive institutional practices, acknowledges the barriers and challenges faced by FGCS while illuminating the cultural capital they bring to higher education and that may be leveraged at particularly trying times such as we are currently facing” (Hands 2020, 613).

Session Dates and Times

  • Wed, February 4, 2026 | 2:00 – 4:00pm | In-person TBD
  • Wed, February 25, 2026 | 2:00 – 4:00pm | Hybrid
  • Wed, March 18, 2026 | 2:00 – 4:00pm | In-person TBD
  • Wed, April 8, 2026 | 2:00 – 4:00pm | Hybrid
  • Wed, April 29, 2026 | 2:00 – 4:00pm | Hybrid
  • Wed, May 6, 2026 | 2:00 – 4:00pm | In-person TBD

 

.

Questions? please contact:

Rosmina Garcia at [email protected]

Co-design of an Interprofessional Course on Statistics for Health Fields

Spring 2026

This Faculty Learning Community will provide a space for colleagues to develop evidence-based practice (EBP) resources in designing an interprofessional education (IPE) statistics course focused on students interested in medical professions. The course development team will continue work initiated in Fall, 2025 using Interprofessional Education guidelines as put forth by the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (2023) and tools from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2025).

This Faculty Learning Community builds upon the work of the FLC that created guiderails and tools for IPE collaboration in Fall 2025, through the development of an interprofessional co-design of a health focused statistics course.

Faculty facilitators Chris Randell and A.J. Alejano-Steele will serve as liaisons between the six departments (Biology, Health Professions, Nursing, Psychology, Social Work, and Speech, Learning & Hearing Sciences) involved in the FLC.

Open Educational Resources (OER) FLC

Spring 2026

The Open Educational Resources (OER) Faculty Learning Community will support faculty in adopting or adapting OER for use in one or more of their courses. The FLC is co-facilitated by Emily Ragan (Professor, chemistry and biochemistry, and سԹ OER coordinator) and Brian Healy (Lecturer, communication studies).

Participants are expected to attend at least 5 out of 7 possible meetings to be eligible for the $500 OER FLC stipend. All sessions will be held on Fridays from 11 am – 12:30 pm in Microsoft Teams. The specific meeting dates are: Jan. 30, Feb. 13 & 27, Mar. 13th, Apr. 3 & 17, May 1. Please plan on a small amount of work between sessions so you can apply what we are learning to one of your courses.

Participants will give a short presentation during one of the last two sessions sharing about their OER discoveries (as related to one or more courses they teach).

Visit the OER Faculty Resources Page or contact Emily Ragan ([email protected]) with any questions

Fall 2025 FLCs

“Small Teaching Online” Book Club

Fall 2025 

Participants in this Book Club FLC will read the book, Small Teaching Online together as they apply concepts from the book to their own courses and discuss strategies and challenges.

, by Flower Darby and James Lang, builds from James Lang’s popular book Small Teaching in the Classroom. The concept of small teaching is that certain small and strategic changes have enormous power to improve student learning. Instructors face unique and specific challenges when teaching an online course. This book offers practical and feasible applications of theoretical principles to help online students learn. It includes current best practices around educational technologies, strategies to build community and collaboration, and small but impactful adjustments that can result in significant learning gains.

FLC Meeting Dates and Times

The FLC will meet 5 times on Tuesdays, 2 – 3 pm, during the fall semester and active participants receive a copy of the book.

If you are interested in joining this FLC, pleaseDzԳٲ:

Bridget Arend at [email protected]

How Can I Further Engage My Students in Applying Their Knowledge? An Exploration of Experiential Learning

Fall 2025

Are you interested in learning more about and/or expanding experiential learning opportunities in your courses?  Join us for the faculty learning community to stretch your thinking and engage in rich discussion with colleagues across campus.

FLC Meeting Dates and Times

Every other Friday, 11am – 12:30pm

This FSLC is full for the Fall 2025 semester. We hope to offer it every fall, so check back for a Fall 2026 offering.

Interested in learning more about Experiential Learning at سԹ now? Please see the following resources/opportunities:

For questions, contact:

Ingrid Carter ([email protected])

or Cassie Mullin ([email protected])

Teaching Digital Literacy at سԹ

Fall 2025 

This FLC will support سԹ faculty to create or revise courses to meet a future General Studies (GS) requirement in Digital Literacy. This FLC will address a key aspect of our سԹ mission:  to prepare “students for successful careers, post-graduate education, and lifelong learning in a…technological society.”  Our new Digital Literacy requirement will help students explore critical and ethical implications of digital technology, in additional to supporting them with key applications. The Faculty Senate General Studies Committee has proposed a new GS designation within the existing curriculum and has widely vetted student learning outcomes in Digital Literacy that can focus the work for participating faculty.  Faculty participants will investigate and develop new strategies for teaching Digital Literacy skills in their disciplines as well as the General Studies Program as a whole.

If you are interested in joining this FLC, contact:

Todd Laugen ([email protected])

or Daniel Pittman ([email protected])

Open Educational Resources (OER) FLC

Fall 2025

The Open Educational Resources (OER) Faculty Learning Community will support faculty in adopting or adapting OER for use in one or more of their courses. The FLC is co-facilitated by Emily Ragan (Professor, chemistry and biochemistry, and سԹ OER coordinator) and Brian Healy (Lecturer, communication studies).

Participants are expected to attend at least 5 out of 7 possible meetings to be eligible for the $500 OER FLC stipend. All sessions will be held on Fridays from 11 am – 12:30 pm in Microsoft Teams. The specific meeting dates are: Sept. 12, 26, Oct. 10, 24, Nov. 7, 21, and Dec 5. Please plan on a small amount of work between sessions so you can apply what we are learning to one of your courses.

Participants will give a short presentation during one of the last two sessions sharing about their OER discoveries (as related to one or more courses they teach).

Visit the OER Faculty Resources Page or contact Emily Ragan ([email protected]) with any questions

Interested in Facilitating a FLC?

FLC Facilitator Applications are now accepted throughout the year

Past FLCs