Santa Clara University

Convocation for the 2012-2013 academic year will be held on Tuesday, September 11, at 4:00 p.m. in the Mission Church. All faculty and staff are invited and encouraged to attend the convocation to launch the new academic year.

EVENT DATE: Thursday, April 12
Pedagogy in Perspective: Cultivating a Growth Mindset in Our Classrooms
11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.
Donohoe Alumni House , First Floor Board Room
Come hear faculty panelists Sharon Merritt (English), Stephen Carroll (English), and Denise Krane (English) discuss how they use the work of Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck (Mindset: The New Psychology of Success) in their teaching. Dweck argues that a fixed mindset presumes talent alone determines academic success and that talent is a fixed trait; a growth mindset, on the other hand, emphasizes resilience, dedication and hard work--stuff we can all muster in the right circumstances. To learn more about how Dweck's important work can help us motivate students to do their best work our courses this term, join us. Lunch will be served, RSVP REQUIRED - email Anne Riconosciuto, x2746.

EVENT DATE: Monday, April 23 – OR – Tuesday, April 24
Rank & Tenure Information Session
12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Learning Commons 234
A discussion for faculty planning to apply for tenure and/or promotion in the near future. Eileen Razzari Elrod (Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Development) along with a recent member of the Rank and Tenure committee will briefly review the process, consider shared features of successful petitions, discuss what to include in your application and how to organize it, and show some recent successful examples. Feel free to bring draft materials for your own petition.

EVENT DATE: Tuesday, January 31st

VITAL - Vitality in Teaching and Learning

Tuesday, January 31
12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Learning Commons 234
A longstanding reading and discussion group, VITAL (Vitality in Teaching and Learning) offers an opportunity to gather with peers across the disciplines to talk about teaching. This quarter we will discuss How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching by Susan Ambrose and other teaching faculty at Carnegie Mellon University's Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence. This book strikes a useful balance between new knowledge from the field of cognitive science and practical applications for everyday pedagogy across the disciplines.  Lunch will be served, RSVP required.

RSVP to Anne Riconosciuto, ariconosciuto@scu.edu, x2746, to get a copy of the book. For more info about the book see this review in Tomorrow's Professor or the publisher's website.

EVENT DATE: Thursday, January 19

Getting Support for Your Work (Off-Campus), Part 2
12:00 – 1:15 p.m.

Forbes Conference Room , First Floor Lucas Hall (126)
Co-Sponsored by Sponsored Projects and the Faculty Research Committee

Last quarter we talked about ways of getting support for faculty research on campus. Now let’s talk about off-campus opportunities for more substantial support and opportunities across the disciplines. Hear from the Sponsored Projects Office, successful faculty grant recipients, and faculty who have served on federal and other major funding agencies' selection committees. Panelists include Linda Campbell (Sponsored Projects Office), Betty Young (Physics), Sally Wood (Electrical Engineering), and Amy Shachter (Associate Provost for Research & Faculty Affairs.) Lunch will be served, RSVP required.

Event Date: Friday, January 27

Pedagogy in Perspective
Syllabi: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

12:00 – 1:15 p.m.
Forbes Conference Room , First Floor Lucas Hall (126)

What do you expect your syllabus to do for you? For your students? What's in? What's Out? 15 pages? 1 Page? Paperless? Consecutive? Text? Graphic Displays? How much space for leaning outcomes? Join us as faculty panelists Lisa Goldstein (Education), Fred Parrella (Religious Studies), and Craig Stephens (Biology and Public Health Science), discuss their recent thinking about syllabus design and presentation. Lunch will be served, RSVP required.