Join us for the 2023 Faculty Symposium: Dec. 5, 2023!

The Office of the Provost and Office of Research and Innovation are pleased to host the annual Faculty Symposium on Tuesday, December 5, 2023, at University Crossing.

Register online for the 2023 Faculty Symposium

The day’s activities will include keynote presentations, lightning talks, a teaching pedagogy panel, the faculty recognitions ceremony and more. Faculty are welcome to attend all or part of the Symposium. We hope you will join us to celebrate your colleagues' successes, learn more about their work, and catch up informally with faculty from across campus.

We welcome broad participation from faculty at all career stages from across campus. Please consider presenting a 90-second lightning talk about your work and opportunities for collaboration. Please register for a lightning talk.

Also, please consider donating a book that you have authored, which will be on display at the Symposium and later shelved at the Faculty Success Center (UC 140) for colleagues to check out or browse. Please complete the online form to donate your book(s).

Agenda

Please see the tentative agenda below. A final agenda will be provided the day of the event.

TimeActivityRoom
1 - 1:45 p.m.ADVANCE Office for Faculty Equity: Insightful Conversation on Faculty Equity: Priorities and ExpectationsMoloney Hall - University Crossing (UCC)
1:45 - 2:45 p.m.Teaching Panel: Challenging Classroom Conversations: Why they are important and how to do them
*Description and panelists below		Moloney Hall - University Crossing
2:45 - 3:30 p.m.Contemplative Pedagogy: Strategies for Improving Student Engagement
**Panelists below		Moloney Hall - University Crossing
3:30 - 3:45 p.m.Break / TransitionUniversity Crossing
3:45 - 4:35 p.m.Lightning Talks (sessions occur concurrently)
  • Session 1
  • Session 2
University Crossing 255 and 490
4:35 - 4:45 p.m.Break / TransitionUniversity Crossing
4:45 - 5:35 p.m.Lightning Talks (sessions occur concurrently)
  • Session 3
  • Session 4
University Crossing 255 and 490
5:35 - 6:20 p.m.Networking and refreshmentsMoloney Hall - University Crossing
6:20 - 6:50 p.m.

Keynotes:
Stephanie Block, Associate Professor, Psychology, Recipient of the 2023 Manning Prize for Teaching Excellence, Authentic Connections: Meaningful mentorships to promote student success

Teresa Lee, Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences, Transgenerational inheritance: what our genomes carry, and what they leave behind

Moloney Hall - University Crossing
6:50 - 7:30 p.m.Recognitions CeremonyMoloney Hall - University Crossing

*Teaching Panel: Challenging Classroom Conversations: Why they are important and how to do them

This interdisciplinary faculty panel will focus on specific skills to shape challenging and controversial conversations in the classroom. We will provide concrete examples of both planned and spontaneous sensitive topics that have come up in class, how to handle inappropriate comments, and how to navigate these conversations in a culturally sensitive way to protect the integrity of the learning environment.

  • Stephanie Block, Associate Professor, Psychology, College of Fine Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, 2023 Manning Prize for Teaching Excellence Winner
  • Amit Deokar, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs, Manning School of Business
  • Cecil Joseph, Assistant Teaching Professor, Physics & Applied Physics, Kennedy College of Sciences
  • Tamara Montag-Smit, Assistant Professor, Management, Manning School of Business
  • Laurie Soroken, Clinical Professor, Solomont School of Nursing, Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences

**Contemplative Pedagogy: Strategies for Improving Student Engagement

Panelists:

  • Marlowe Miller, Professor, English, College of Fine Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, CELT 2022-2024 Faculty-in-Residence
  • Milena Gueorguieva, Associate Teaching Professor, English, College of Fine Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
  • Hilary Lustick, Assistant Professor, School of Education, College of Fine Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
  • Janet Welby, Assistant Teaching Professor, Music, College of Fine Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
  • Suzanne Young, Associate Teaching Professor, Chemistry, Kennedy College of Sciences

Lightning Talks

Please consider presenting a 90-second lightning talk about your work and opportunities for collaboration. Examples of topics included:

  • Current research or creative work
  • Research idea in preparation for a project proposal
  • Community engagement project to encourage interdisciplinary participation
  • Work of a Research & Engagement Center to foster collaboration
  • Teaching innovation that can be adapted to other disciplines
  • University-wide services such as a core research facility, library initiative, media teaching lab that can help faculty advance their teaching, research, and scholarship activities
Please register for a lightning talk as soon as possible, but no later than Thursday, November 23. On the form, you will be able to select your available times to present and submit a presentation slide, if preferred.

All full-time and part-time UMass Lowell faculty and emeriti are invited to donate books that they have authored. In addition to being displayed at the Faculty Symposium, books will be shelved together in the Faculty Success Center (FSC) and will be available for check-out or browsing at the FSC.

Books must have been published while the authors were affiliated with UMass Lowell.

Books can be dropped off at the Faculty Success Center (University Crossing 140), sent via campus mail, or we can send someone to come to your office to pick them up. Please ensure we have your books by Tuesday, November 28.

Please complete the online form to donate your book(s).

Two faculty networking at the 2022 Faculty Symposium. Image by Tory Wesnofske

Six faculty posing at the 2022 Faculty Symposium. Image by Tory Wesnofske

Two faculty members smiling and networking Image by Tory Wenofske