Year-End Workshops, Grant Opportunity, and New Essay by Andrew Delbanco

The Teagle Foundation, a collective that works to improve teaching and learning in liberal arts and science education, offers opportunities for communities to get engaged in their cause, as well as news to showcase their latest achievements. Explore many ways to get connected and to help support higher education in art and science.

Cornerstone: Learning for Living

Do you have a project that needs funding? Teagle’s Cornerstone: Learning for Living initiative offers grant funding for faculty-led curriculum reform and long-term sustainability. The initiative seeks to revitalize the role of the humanities in general education by embedding transformative texts into gateway courses that promote shared intellectual experiences, foster community among diverse students, and connect humanistic inquiry to students' professional aspirations.

Funding is available through planning grants (up to $25,000) and implementation grants (up to $300,000), with applications due December 1, 2025.

Successful proposals must demonstrate strong faculty leadership, curricular innovation, broad student reach (especially among non-humanities majors), clear assessment strategies, and plans for institutional integration and dissemination. A two-stage application process begins with a 3–5 page concept paper outlining goals, key faculty, potential texts, and alignment with initiative priorities.

Visit the Request for Proposals page for more details.

Year-End Workshop Roundup

Check out inspiring highlights from the past year of workshops sponsored by the Teagle Foundation on how to teach transformative texts so they are accessible and engaging to first-year students and non-humanities majors.

Tara K. Menon, assistant professor of English at Harvard University, presented on how she teaches Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice: https://teaglefoundation.org/Resources/How-and-Why-I-Teach/Resources/Tara-Menon-on-Teaching-Austen-s-Pride-and-Prejudic

Marina van Zuylen, Clemente Chair in the Humanities at Bard College, presented on how she teaches Charles Baudelaire’s "The Bad Glazier": https://teaglefoundation.org/Resources/How-and-Why-I-Teach/Resources/Van-Zuylen-on-Baudelaire-s-The-Bad-Glazier

David Olson, director of education for Retro Report, presented on how to connect transformative texts to contemporary issues using Retro Report's short documentaries and related classroom resources: https://teaglefoundation.org/Resources/How-and-Why-I-Teach/Resources/David-Olson-on-Retro-Report-education-resources

Meghan Sullivan, Wilsey Family College Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, presented on how she teaches Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life": https://teaglefoundation.org/Resources/How-and-Why-I-Teach/Resources/Meghan-Sullivan-on-Teaching-Chiang-s-Story-of-You

New Essay by Andrew Delbanco

Teagle Foundation president Andrew Delbanco's latest essay marks the 100th anniversary of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.

"... first and last, The Great Gatsby is a story of unrequited love that invites rereading or even reciting, as poetry does when there's too much music in the words to be absorbed in a single listening."

Read The Connoisseur of Desire at: https://teaglefoundation.org/Newsroom/News/Articles/Staff-Writing/The-Connoisseur-of-Desire

Explore Professional Development Opportunities this August

As summer winds down, ease back into the rhythm of teaching and learning with the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence. Connect with one of our eight expert faculty instructional consultants & researchers to explore topics ranging from course planning and assessment to feedback and evaluation. Or, get ready for the Fall semester by joining our lineup of engaging workshops.

Explore our August events and find the opportunities that align with your goals—register today!

Rethinking Assessment in the Age of AI: Resilience and Integration

Tuesday, 8/12/2025, 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a. m. Register

Wednesday, 8/20/2025, 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. Register

Examine how generative AI is reshaping the landscape of assessment and why rethinking our approaches is critical for maintaining academic rigor and relevance. Additionally, consider how to build flexibility and resilience into assessments that can adapt to evolving AI capabilities. Participants will leave with strategies to design assessments that uphold learning goals while thoughtfully integrating or accounting for AI.

Setting the Tone for an Inclusive Learning Environment: From Syllabus Design to the First Day of Class

Tuesday, 8/12/2025, 01:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Register

Thursday, 8/14/2025, 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. Register

Inclusive teaching practices aim to support all learners to reach their full potential, and it takes continuous and intentional work to create inclusive environments. Discuss how we can start setting the tone for an inclusive learning environment beginning with our first interaction with students and focus on the learning-centered syllabus and strategies for the first day of classes.

Developing Gen AI Literacy in Students

Thursday, 8/14/2025, 01:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Register

Tuesday, 8/19/2025, 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Register

As generative AI tools like ChatGPT become increasingly available, students need not only technical familiarity but also a critical understanding of how these tools shape thinking, creativity, and scholarship. In this workshop we will discuss strategies to introduce AI concepts in your courses and design activities that help students reflect on appropriate and ethical uses.

Cultivating Students' Sense of Belonging

Friday, 8/15/2025, 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. (in person session) Register

Tuesday, 8/19/2025, 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Register

Did you know that students who feel a strong sense of belonging are more likely to thrive academically and personally? In this interactive session, we will dive into practical strategies to cultivate students' sense of belonging in our courses and beyond.

Inclusive and Ethical Teaching Practices

Thursday, 8/21/2025, 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Register

Tuesday, 8/26/2025, 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. (in person session) Register

Examine what inclusive and ethical teaching is and why it matters for student learning. In addition to discussing practices that can create an inclusive and welcoming learning environment during the first few weeks of the semester, we will also look beyond the critical first weeks and determine a set of inclusive and ethical teaching practices that can be implemented throughout the semester.

Visit our Events page to register for any of our August events!

Reimagining Assessments: 21st Annual Teaching & Learning Conference at Elon University

Join Elon University for their 21st Annual Teaching & Learning Conference on Wednesday, August 13th, 2025! This free, fully virtual event, hosted by Elon’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL) and Teaching and Learning Technologies (TLT), explores the theme “Reimagining assessments: Sparking innovation, equity and impact to promote student learning.” Explore how you can shape your assessments for, and of, learning to be transformative approaches that prioritize diverse student needs, experiences, and outcomes.

This year's conference features two session types:

• Interactive Workshop: 50-minute evidence-based workshop. These sessions seek to engage attendees in applying, creating, and discussing a specific topic. Proposals must include a detailed outline of activities and how they plan on engaging participants.
• Sharing Pedagogies and Practice: 20-minute presentations highlighting a teaching strategy and its impact, and/or scholarship around teaching and learning. (Note: 5 minutes of questions will be allotted at the end of the 20-minute presentation.

Presentations will be aligned with one of four sub-themes:

• Students-as-partners
• Learning technology to enhance learning
• Developing authentic and equitable assessments
• Measuring impact

The Keynote Session

Led by Professor of Classical Studies and the inaugural Trustee Chair of Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching at Elon University in Elon, N.C., Kristina Meinking, the keynote session will examine what current and emerging trends in teaching and learning reveal about a more deeply rooted preoccupation with the purpose of higher education.

Learn more and register for free at: https://www.elon.edu/u/fa/technology/tlt/tlc/