Kendall Center NewsletterApril 1, 2022

Gustavus Trivia Night!

Trivia maestros Anna DeGraff and Whitney Dirks marshalled an intense crowd of answer-seekers through the 2nd Annual KCEL Trivia Night Challenge on Friday, March 11. Three teams dueled through five rounds of brain-wracking questions (plus a generous dose of trivia about the co-host's "weird" habits and interests) in a quest for prizes, glory, and the soon-to-be-famous Smarty Cat travelling trophy. This year's winners are ARTEEM (Vita Faychuck, Annalise Rivas, Matt Rightmire, Kyle Johnson and Bri Miller), who claimed an overtime victory to clinch this year's title. A third Trivia night is planned for Friday, May 20th.

1st place ARTEEM 
Vita Faychuck, Annalise Rivas, Matt Rightmire, Kyle Johnson and Bri Miller

2nd place was the STE(a)M Rollers
Imre Tuba, Pam Kittelson, Jillian Downey, Ella Burnham, Laura Hildreth, and Janie Frandsen

3rd place was the Human Beans
Martin Lang, Yurie Hong, Sean Easton, Sean Cobb, and Laura Maki

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Grants (SoTL)

The Kendall Center's Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) grants support faculty in projects examining teaching and learning practices in their discipline(s) in a systematic way by using systematic research methods and by making the results known to the campus community. This initiative provides support for eligible faculty to develop, implement and assess a pedagogical approach intended to address a specific challenge to student learning encountered in a semester-long course offered on a regular basis. The grant application and information is on the John S. Kendall Center for Engaged Learning website, under Grants. Deadline to apply is April 1, 2022. 

Curriculum Development and Revitalization Grants

The John S. Kendall Center for Engaged Learning is offering support for faculty designing a new semester-long course, or substantially re-designing an existing semester-long course, to reflect a global, multicultural, or interdisciplinary curriculum. Funds for these grants are limited; thus, grants are competitive. Priority will be given to applications submitted by tenured, tenure-track, and continuing instructor faculty because of the long-term benefit their initiatives afford the Gustavus curriculum. Please see grant guidelines and timeline on the John S. Kendall Center for Engaged Learning website under Grants. Deadline to apply is April 1, 2022. 

Teachers Talking - Assessment 

Please join us on Friday, April 1 for Teachers Talking. Topic: Assessment. Overwhelmed by rubrics, SLOs, and reports? Wondering why we have to assess in the first place? At this Teacher's Talking, Faculty Director of Assessment Sarah Ruble will share some tips for manageable assessment and strategies to get at what assessment is really all about: deciding what we want students to know and be able to do, determining whether they know and can do it, and discerning if we should change our pedagogy or curriculum in response. Program is at 11:30 am and 12:30pm. Free lunch (Marketplace coupons), then meet in the Heritage Room. For a full list of sessions please visit the Kendall Center webpage under Teachers Talking.

Faculty Shop Talk - Jeff La Frenierre 

Jeff La Frenierre (Associate Professor, Geography ) will present at Faculty Shop Talk on Friday, April 1. His talk “Mapping Middle Turtle Island: The Cultural Landscape of the Upper Midwest in 1800” 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 on the Kendall Center website.

New Faculty Orientation Session - The Power of the Liberal Arts 

Join us on Thursday, April 7 for a New Faculty Orientation Session. Topic: The Power of the Liberal Arts. This discussion will broadly cover: the role of the liberal arts in our students’ educational experience; how faculty can enhance our students’ understanding of what the liberal arts means, and how students can leverage their degree from a liberal arts college. We also can discuss how teaching or scholarship could be re-conceptualized when you are working in a liberal arts context, and how the liberal arts can cultivate aspects of our broader lives. Free lunch at Marketplace (grab a coupon from David Stamps), then meet in the St Peter Room. 12:30 to 1:20 p.m.

Respectful Conversations Protocol Workshop 

Would you like to make class, field, laboratory, and studio experiences more welcoming to ALL students? Please register for the Respectful Conversations Protocol workshop with creator and facilitator, Amy Anderson (Executive Director of Center for Youth Voice). This protocol offers an opportunity to increase quieter and minoritized voices, a powerful way to deepen faculty and students' connection to each other and the topic, and a tool to talk about divisive and diverse issues. If you are interested about and incorporating this protocol in your work with students, please sign up for the sessions below. Space is limited. Sessions are April 7: 6-8pm Nobel 1412; April 8: 9-11:30am AND 214; April 8: 2:30-4:30pm Nobel 1412. Sign up here. This opportunity is made possible by the HHMI grant and Lind Endowed Professor funds. For more information, contact Bri Miller (Education Department), brimiller@gustavus.edu or Margaret Bloch Qazi (Biology Department), mqazi@gustavus.edu, co-chairs of the Community/Classroom thread of the HHMI grant leadership team. 

Teachers Talking - Nobel Conference 

Please join us on Friday, April 8 for Teachers Talking. Topic: Nobel Conference 2022. Nobel 58 Co-Chairs, Marie Walker, Psychological Science and Angelique Dwyer, MLLC, Spanish and LALACS, will provide insight into the 2022 conference theme "Mental Health (In)Equity in Youth" and the Nobel speaker line-up, as well as helpful resources for faculty to incorporate in classes, as relevant by topic: trauma, identity, technology, youth, ethnicity, disability, sexuality, gender and the intersection of these topics to address critical digital literacy, microaggression, online racial discrimination, public health, nurturing mental health environments, loneliness, decolonization as innovation, supporting transgender and gender diverse youth and critical media access. Program is at 11:30 am and 12:30pm. Free lunch (Marketplace coupons), then meet in the Heritage Room. For a full list of sessions please visit the Kendall Center webpage under Teachers Talking.

Faculty Shop Talk - Sharon Marquart 

Sharon Marquart (Associate Professor in Modern Languages, Literature, and Cultures; French; and Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies) will present at Faculty Shop Talk on Friday, April 8. Her talk “Irony without Victims: Humanitarian Encounters in Guy Delisle’s Burma Chronicles and Jersusalem Chronicles” 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 on the Kendall Center website.

Faculty Writing Retreats at Gustavus and ASI

The Kendall Center is hosting monthly Writing Retreats at Gustavus and at American Swedish Institute (ASI). April Writing Retreats will be held on Saturday, April 9 at American Swedish Institute, Mpls ($15 toward lunch) and on Sunday, April 10 at Gustavus (Konferensrum). Faculty can participate in a full day 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. devoted to writing. We’ll provide lunch. Please visit the Kendall Center website for upcoming dates and info. Please email Cathy Blaukat (cblaukat@gac.edu) to sign up.

Faculty Social

Please join faculty for a Faculty Social on Tuesday, April 12 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the St Peter Room. No agenda, just come, relax, and enjoy some great conversation and appetizers.

New Faculty mentor/mentee Social

All new faculty and mentors please join us on Wednesday, April 13 for a wine and cheese social from 4:30 pm to 6 pm in the St Peter Room. This is a social for new tenure-track faculty and their mentors, as well as all new faculty. New faculty (and their mentors) from the past two years are also invited.

Teachers Talking - Writing and Feedback

Please join us on Friday, April 29 for Teachers Talking. Topic: Writing and feedback facilitated by Nissa Parmer and Eric Vrooman. Providing effective feedback on student writing requires instructors to negotiate SLOs, new technologies, academic norms, changing sociocultural realities, student wants and needs, and faculty time constraints. This “Teachers Talking” will provide participants the opportunity to discuss their challenges and successes. They will also have the chance to get student perspectives on writing feedback via the Writing Center tutors. Program is at 11:30 am and 12:30pm. Free lunch (Marketplace coupons), then meet in the Heritage Room. For a full list of sessions please visit the Kendall Center webpage under Teachers Talking.

Classroom Management Workshop  

Finding more disruptive behaviors in your classroom? Unsure of strategies that may be helpful? Join Megan Rubles, Assistant Vice President for Student Life, Valerie Banschbach, Associate Provost and Dean of Sciences and Education, and Amy Vizenor, Associate Professor in Education for a discussion on effective strategies in difficult classroom management situations. Join faculty on April 19 at noon to 1 pm for lunch in the St Peter Room.

New Faculty Orientation Session - Religious diversity and the College's Lutheran affiliation 

Join us on Thursday, April 21 for a New Faculty Orientation Session. Topic: Religious diversity and the College's Lutheran affiliation. Learn how Gustavus’ Lutheran heritage and affiliation impacts who we are today, our mission, our commitment to religious diversity and inclusion, and our vision for the future. Free lunch at Marketplace (grab a coupon from David Stamps), then meet in the St Peter Room. 12:30 to 1:20 p.m.

Faculty Outdoor Hike on Friday April 22

Bundle up and join Kathy Lund Dean and Barb Larson Taylor at 4:30 p.m. on April 22 outside the Interpretive Center for a walk hike around the Arb. Show up or RSVP to Cathy Blaukat (cblaukaIt@gustavus.edu).

Hiking at the Arb on Tuesday April 26

Partake in what many Scandinavians call friluftsliv or open-air living. Spending time outside, no matter the conditions, enhances our wellbeing. Bundle up and join Pamela Kittelson at 4:30 on April 26 outside the Interpretive Center for a walk, snowshoe or ski in the cold. The type of transportation will depend on conditions, interest, and will be updated on the Kendall Center website and via email. See this article for more information about the value of friluftsliv. RSVP to Cathy Blaukat (cblaukat@gustavus.edu).

Nobel Conference free Book for Faculty

The Kendall Center is pleased to offer faculty the book, The Vanishing Half, in connection to this fall's Nobel Conference. The Vanishing Half is a story about identity, race, discrimination and the long-term effects of trauma. Estelle and Desiree are light-skinned Black identical twins growing up in a small Southern town. They run away from home as teenagers to escape the limitations of their upbringing and the trauma they experienced. As they grow older, Desiree returns to her home with a daughter much darker skinned than herself and Estelle passes for White, leaving her Black identity behind. Their differing responses to their identities lead them to different communities, relationships and opportunities. The story of the twins and the intersection of the lives of their young adult daughters reveal the impact that White privilege has on these women who look the same but have taken different life paths. Email Cathy Blaukat (cblaukat@gustavus.edu) and a copy will be placed in your campus mailbox.

Kendall Center Grant Reception & Info

KCEL invites the winner of KCEL grants from the last three academic years and anyone interested in applying for KCEL grant to join us for a reception to celebrate KCEL grants on Thursday May 19th from 4:30-6:00PM in the St. Peter Room. Come and learn about all the various types of grants and projects that KCEL grants have made possible. Drinks and appetizers will be served.