Kendall Center NewsletterDecember 1, 2019

Teachers Talking 

Please join us on Tuesday, December 3 for Teachers Talking. Topic: MAYDAY 2020 - Highlighting Student Activism. Program is at 11:30 am and 12:30 pm. Free lunch at Three Crowns buffet, then meet in the Heritage Room.

Faculty Achievements Publication 

To promote and celebrate the professional scholarly, research, and creative accomplishments of the faculty, The John S. Kendall Center for Engaged Learning is publishing the 7th issue of Faculty Achievements. This edition will collect and celebrate the scholarship, research, and creative work presented, published, or awarded to faculty from January 1, 2018, through December 31, 2019. Visit the Kendall Center website to submit your submission, gac.edu/rsc_entry. 

Blake Couey, Faculty Associate for Research, Scholarship, & Creativity, will be available at the Kendall Center to answer any questions or help you with your submissions on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 10:30 AM-12:30 PM, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2:30-4 PM, and on Thursday, Dec. 5, 3:30-4:30 PM. 
Deadline to apply is Friday, December 6

Faculty Shop Talk 

Jessica Imholte (Senior Continuing Lab Instructor in Chemistry) will present at Faculty Shop Talk on Friday, December 13. Her talk "SoTL Project" will be presented at 4:30 p.m. in the Interpretive Center. Feel free to arrive any time after 4:15 p.m. The abstract for this and future talks may be viewed here. 

Gradingfest 

Join the Kendall Center for Gradingfest in the Konferensrum from 9 am to 5 pm on Tuesday, December 17 and Wednesday, December 18. Fuel up on coffee and treats before heading back to your office to work or stay and enjoy the camaraderie of working alongside others.

From the Faculty Associate for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

In a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable college community, we have lots of opportunities to develop relationships with people from different backgrounds, perspectives, and identities. Despite our best (or better) intentions to develop positive relationships, we will likely make mistakes that can perpetuate negative stereotypes or ideas. In her video "Getting Called Out: How to apologize," Chescaleigh offers honest and compassionate advice for how to respond when we are made aware that something we have said or done has hurt someone else. 

J-Term Reading Groups

There will be 3 different book groups available to faculty this January. Each meeting will be on campus and include refreshments. All books will be provided free of charge to those faculty who have signed up. Please contact Cathy Blaukat (cblaukat@gustavus.edu) by December 20th to reserve a spot. Space is limited, but if there is room, faculty can be part of more than one group. 

Paradise Lost
Meeting times: 1/9, 1/16, 1/23, 1/30 (Thursdays) from 3:00-4:30 PM
Location: Konfersrum
Facilitator: Blake Couey, Religion
Book: Paradise Lost by John Milton

Retelling the biblical story of the creation and fall of humanity, John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost is a masterpiece of English literature. Although it's a 17th-century interpretation of a 2500 year old story, the poem raises important issues that resonate in our time, such as the nature of evil and temptation, the goodness of the natural world, or the appropriateness of rebellion against absolute authority. Readers continue to debate whether Satan is the hero of the poem, or whether Milton's portrayal of Eve is hopelessly misogynistic. And like all good literature, Paradise Lost demonstrates the power and perhaps also the danger of language.

Culture and Agriculture 
Meeting times: 1/13, 1/20, 1/27 (Mondays), 2:30-4 PM.
Location: Interpretive Center
Facilitator: Annika Ericksen, Sociology & Anthropology
Books: No More Food Fights! Growing a Productive Farm and Food Conversation by Michele Payne-Knoper; Farming for Us All: Practical Agriculture and the Cultivation of Sustainability by Michael Bell.

This group will bring together faculty and local farmers to discuss two books that address controversy and change in our food system. The first book is No More Food Fights! Growing a Productive Farm and Food Conversation. Author Michele Payne-Knoper addresses distrust between consumers and food producers and suggests strategies for mutual education and finding common ground. The second book is Farming for Us All: Practical Agriculture and the Cultivation of Sustainability. Sociologist Michael Bell digs into the dynamics through which a group of Iowa farmers transformed their own operations and inspired others to try more sustainable methods. 

Memory and the Learning Process
Meeting Times: 1/15, 1/22, 1/29 (Wednesdays), 1-2:15.
ilitator: Jen Ackil, Psychology
Books: Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Henry L. Roediger III and Mark A. McDaniel; Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning by James M. Lang. 

Memory plays a central role in our ability to carry out complex cognitive tasks such as applying knowledge to problems never before encountered and drawing inferences from facts already known. New insights into how memory is encoded, consolidated, and later retrieved have led to a better understanding of how we learn in a wide variety of subjects. During January, we will read from two books exploring research on memory and what that means for teaching and learning: Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel; Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning by James M. Lang. NOTE: faculty can sign up for this as a reading group or as a special January edition of Camp Kendall. In the latter case, faculty would also receive a $150 stipend and commit to meet twice more as a group during the spring term (around the midterm and towards the end of the semester) to discuss whatever elements of the reading they implemented in a spring class that they were teaching. 

Advisor Development Workshops

The Kendall Center is partnering with the Academic Support Center and the Provost's Office to host three advisor development workshops in January 2020. All Gustavus faculty are welcome to attend one, two, or all three of the workshops. Light snacks, fruit, coffee, and tea will be provided. Please contact Tom McHugh in the Academic Support Center with any questions at tmchugh@gustavus.edu or 507 933 7156.

Workshop #1: What all advisors should know about pre-health advising
Wednesday, January 8, 2020 at 9 AM or 2:30 PM in the Saint Peter Room in the Jackson Campus Center
Register and find more information here.

Workshop #2: Advising for Competitive Majors
Wednesday, January 15, 2020 at 9 AM or 2:30 PM in the Saint Peter Room in the Jackson Campus Center
Register and find more information here.

Workshop #3: Advising Academically Grieving Students
Wednesday, January 22, 2020 at 9 AM or 2:30 PM in the Saint Peter Room in the Jackson Campus Center
Register and find more information here.