News from the Center

We are pleased to announce four new Provost’s Faculty Teaching Fellows who will be working with the Sheridan Center in 2024-26. The Provost’s Faculty Teaching Fellows program seeks to build a cohort of senior faculty to enhance the culture of teaching and learning at Brown. These colleagues will be joining four returning faculty fellows: Kellie Forrester (Economics), Emily Hipchen (Non-fiction in English), Jeremy Lehnen (CLS and Portuguese and Brazilian Studies), and Emily Kalejs Qazilbash (Education).

Please also congratulate our 2024-25 Head Graduate Student Teaching Consultants and Interdisciplinary Opportunity Fellows:

Programs and Resources for New Instructors

The Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning welcomes new instructors to the teaching community at Brown! Below, find our online resources and orientation events for new faculty, postdocs in teaching roles, graduate student instructors, and undergraduate teaching assistants. Please also contact us at Sheridan_Center@brown.edu if you would like to set up a confidential 1:1 consultation or early student feedback session.

For New Faculty and Postdocs: Teaching at Brown for the First Time

Wednesday, August 28, Noon - 1:00 PM
720 SciLi and Zoom; Lunch served to in-person attendees

In this hands-on, interactive workshop, Dr. Sara A. Misgen (Sheridan Assistant Director, Interdisciplinary Teaching Communities) and Timberley Barber (Sheridan Associate Director, Learning Technologies) will review strategies for creating a motivating, inclusive, and accessible learning environment; provide an overview of Sheridan’s digital teaching resources; and demonstrate how to get support from the Center and other campus partners throughout the semester. This session is designed for faculty and postdocs who did not have the opportunity to attend the Launch New Faculty Teaching Orientation. In-person attendees are encouraged to bring a wifi-enabled device (phone or laptop) for interactive activities, and virtual attendees will be sent links during the session.  Please register.

For Graduate TAs: Teaching Essentials
Online and asynchronous

In this fully online, asynchronous, self-paced program, Graduate Teaching Assistants engage in a reflective exploration of their own practices and beliefs about teaching. For more information and to register, visit our website. For questions, please contact Dr. Sara Misgen (sara_misgen@brown.edu).

For Undergraduate TAs: Teaching Essentials
Online and asynchronous

For Undergraduate TAs interested in creating an inviting learning environment, the UTA Orientation will be facilitated through Canvas and made available for students beginning September 1. It consists of four modules: reflecting on your teaching values; preparing to teach; different teaching contexts; and resources. We strongly suggest that students be compensated by their departments at the unit’s hourly pay rate. Students can fill out the UTAO google registration form; registration is required to be enrolled in the Canvas site, which will be updated weekly. UTAs interested in an academic course that explores many of these same topics, with a community of other UTAs, may be interested in the Problem-Solving Fellows Program, which involves enrollment in UNIV 1110: The Theory and Teaching of Problem Solving this Fall. For questions about the UTA Orientation or the Problem-Solving Fellows Program, please contact Dr. Christina Smith (Christina_Smith2@brown.edu).

Fall Programs

The Sheridan Teaching Seminar - Now open!

The Fall 2024 Sheridan Teaching Seminar is now open for registration. In the Sheridan Teaching Seminar, participants engage in an interdisciplinary community of teachers at Brown with the goal of improving their skills as instructors and their students’ learning. For program dates and to register, see the Sheridan Teaching Seminar website. Space is limited.

Junior Faculty Teaching Fellows

Applications for the Junior Faculty Teaching Fellows Program are now open. We welcome Lecturers and Assistant Professors to join this learning community centered around evidence-based pedagogy in higher education. To learn more and submit an application, visit the Junior Faculty Teaching Fellows website. Applications for the 2024-2025 program year must be received no later than August 26.

Look Closer: Brown-RISD Workshop Series

How can close looking support active learning? This in-person workshop series, a collaboration among the Sheridan Center, Brown University Library, and the RISD Museum, focuses on strategies for intentionally incorporating art, design, and primary sources into your instructional practices. The series will help instructors learn how to craft an engaging lesson plan, course, or assignment based on your course’s learning objectives. Learn more and register for the series here. Please contact Dr. Sara Misgen (sara_misgen@brown.edu) with questions.

Brown Learning Collaborative

The Brown Learning Collaborative provides opportunities for undergraduate fellows to collaborate with faculty and peer partners in key academic areas: Data Science, Problem Solving, and Writing.

Partner with a Data Science Fellow

The Data Science Fellows program, co-managed by the Data Science Institute and the Sheridan Center, provides the opportunity for junior- and senior-level undergraduate students to partner with faculty on the integration of data science content and approaches in their courses, while earning course credit with Dr. Linda Clark in DATA 1150. Faculty from all disciplines are encouraged to express their interest in working with a Data Science Fellow in the Fall 2024 semester. Please contact linda_clark@brown.edu with questions.

Recommend UG Students for Writing Fellows Course

There are still spots available in “The Teaching and Practice of Writing” (ENGL 1190M), taught by Dr. Jenna Morton-Aiken (Senior Associate Director, Writing and English Language Support) this fall semester! Though this course is required for students interested in working as Writing Fellows, it’s designed to support all students interested in learning more about the writing process and power of communication in a variety of situations and disciplines. The seminar-style course unpacks and engages with writing theory and pedagogy, best practices to support revision habits for (in)experienced writers, and effective methods for responding to writing in a/synchronous formats. The class is interdisciplinary, and we especially welcome students from STEM fields to join us, so please encourage undergraduate students to register. Override codes will be given in the first two weeks of class. Questions? Please contact jenna_morton-aiken@brown.edu. 

Partner Programs

Retreat on Community-Engaged Teaching & Research
Thursday, August 22, 9:30 AM - 3:30 PM
South Street Landing, 350 Eddy St., 4th floor

This interactive event aims to build community and capacity for high-quality engaged teaching and research and mutually beneficial partnerships within Rhode Island and beyond. A panel with recent engaged faculty award recipients and their community partners, as well as other sessions, will introduce some of the ways colleagues are collaborating with community partners, how that work aligns with the University’s priorities, and the resources available to support their related goals and activities. Participants will also reflect and strategize together on issues they identify as important. The retreat is open to faculty, postdocs, and visiting scholars at Brown, as well as staff involved in community-engaged teaching or research. It is co-sponsored by Advance RI-CTR, OVPR, the Sheridan Center, the Swearer Center, and others. Registrations for this event have reached maximum in-person capacity, so please email  julie_plaut@brown.edu to be added to the waiting list and/or to arrange to watch the panel discussion (being held from 11-12:15) via Zoom.

Asynchronous Programs

Recorded presentations available upon request for the Brown community include:

- Fostering Student Mental Wellness
- AI and Teaching (Brown faculty panel)​​​​
- The New Landscape in Higher Education
- Relationship-Rich Education
- A Call to Innovation: Hope, Joy, and Risk 
- Towards Anti-Racist Pedagogy 

To view these recordings, please complete this brief request form.

Creating a Teaching Portfolio

This online, self-paced Canvas workshop from the Sheridan Center guides participants through the process of writing a teaching statement and creating a teaching portfolio. For more information and to register, see the Sheridan website.