By Brian A. Boecherer
It is hard to define what “cool” is, but I have been dedicated to the idea that when we develop our programming, there should always be something cool about it. There is nothing juvenile or naïve about this desire; I think it is really what we should be doing, and this is especially true in the context of our professional development. It is about leaving a spark that lingers past the moment. I love our workshops and really think they offer that spark. They are a wonderful time to come together as a community of academics, exchange ideas, and learn some- thing cool. This year our Faculty Coordinators outdid themselves! We hosted approximately 250 hours of professional development on four UConn campuses, one museum, one town hall, and one extension center. There are too many wonderful moments to include in one magazine, but I wanted to offer you an overview of some of our greatest hits. They will inspire and intrigue you; they are cool—because they are fresh ideas which stimulate contemplation well after we leave the workshop.
I hope you enjoy this magazine and that it sends you into the summer with a smile of satisfaction. You worked hard this year, and your students are better off for it. We thank you, and we look forward to seeing you in the fall. On behalf of our hardworking team in Storrs, have a happy and healthy summer!
BIOLOGY
(APRIL 2018)
Kaitlin Lindhardt, scientist at Brown University, explained her work with CRISPR/Cas9, the process of cutting and inserting DNA sequences which can control for vector-borne diseases.
CHEMISTRY
(MAY 2017)
This year’s guest speaker was Dr. Jessica Rouge, a professor in UConn’s Chemistry Department. As a biochemist she educated our faculty on her research which is at the cutting edge of science —working with nanoparticles and exploring the concept of engineering viruses to enter and reprogram the cell, thereby eliminating cancer.
ECONOMICS
(OCTOBER 2017)
Prof. Wensu Li discussed her research paper, which focused on pollution and its effect on the economy. Prof. Stephen Ross unpacked the mysteries of our State’s economic problems in the context of debt and earning psychology.
FRENCH
(APRIL 2018)
UConn ECE bought the book, Regarde les lumières mon amour, by Annie Ernaux, for ECE French instructors. UConn ECE Instructors attended the session having read the book and then participated in a graduate seminar group discussion of the material.
HUMAN RIGHTS & AMERICAN STUDIES
(OCTOBER 2017)
Profs. Glenn Mitoma, Brendan Kane, and Laurie Wolfley led a training on how to teach polarizing topics in the humanities and social sciences while maintaining professional discourse in the classroom.
POLITICAL SCIENCE
(OCTOBER 2017)
Dr. Jean-Pascal Daloz, Research Professor at the University of Strasbourg, was invited to speak to ECE Political Science Faculty on “Political Representation” — fashion, politics, and how clothes represent political interests across the world.
MUSIC
(SEPTEMBER 2017)
ECE instructors were treated to the beautiful voice of opera singer Melinda Fields as she sang, “Gretchen am Sprinnrade,” by famous Franz Schubert, while Glenn Stanley led a course on musical interpretation.
SOCIOLOGY
(NOVEMBER 2018)
ECE faculty attended their first Sociology workshop, which focused on teaching first—generation students and transnationalism in India and Mexico.
PD Workshops
The Development Plan
By Brian Boecherer
The audience was riveted. Our guest speaker for the October Political Science workshop, Professor Akhil Reed Amar, lit-up the room with his conversation on the election. The last time the country was in a similar position was 1864, he said, when the election had the chance of pulling all four levers of government in the same political direction. Prof. Amar clarified that in this election, just like in Lincoln’s second campaign, it is completely possible to have a result where the president, the House, and the Senate could all shift to either completely Democratic or Republican controlled. If this were to happen, the nominee for Justice Antonin Scalia’s position would also be from the party in power. The next justice, who will be nominated and elected under the new government, will shift the balance of power. As we now know, all four levers of power did/will move in one direction. Professional development workshops should always be so engaging and so informative.
Prof. Akhil Reed Amar is the preeminent scholar on Constitutional law in the country. His expert analysis has been cited in a score of Supreme Court decisions and his name has been mentioned as a possible nomination for Scalia’s seat on the bench (not by the Trump administration though). We were
honored and quite fortunate to have him as our guest speaker, the result of UConn ECE Instructor Aaron Hull (Greenwich High School) who was previously acquainted with him.
The Political Science workshop is an example of a larger UConn ECE effort to deepen our academic impact on the ECE community. A year ago UConn ECE examined budgets and reapportioned funds to deepen our academic investment in faculty and students. We have always been very proud to receive feedback that our workshops are the best PD faculty attend all year. But these comments spurred us to reach even higher. Departments like Biology forged the path already a few years ago, when Dr. Tom Abbott, faculty coordinator, designed his workshops to get ECE faculty back into the labs, the greenhouses, and using equipment that is generally inaccessible to high school faculty.
Departments have been using these new financial resources in unique ways. U.S. History hosted experts from the Pequot Museum in November to lead a discussion on indigenous approaches to teaching U.S. History. Last spring Statistics purchased specialized software called R and organized an online Summer Institute to learn proficiency. Maritime Studies hosted their annual workshop offsite at the Connecticut River Museum. In December, UConn ECE Chinese (pilot program) will host a leading scholar on the teaching and learning of Chinese, where workshop attendees will receive a complementary copy of her
textbook.
The development plan for UConn ECE has always been built around rigorous academic standards. NACEP standards were a guiding light for our development, just over 10 years ago. Now that NACEP
standards are institutionalized, our new endeavors are the deepening of academic resources. Additionally, UConn ECE is hosting a number of small grant opportunities to develop the classroom and the community. There are also student scholarships and opportunities for increased student participation, like the hugely popular UConn ECE Ambassador program. This edition of the newsletter will highlight many of the new development initiatives. We hope you enjoy reading about them, we hope you enjoy participating in them, and we welcome your input always.
