Spring 2026 Archive
Spring 2026 EventsJanuary 2026 January 2026 Wednesday Writing Workshops The CILA “Writing Wednesdays” workshop series, led by Diane LeBlanc, Professor and Director of Writing, offers time, space, and guidance as you engage with your scholarly and creative work during and beyond January. Please click here to learn more and sign up. “Sharing Your Experience Publicly” Community of Practice Co-sponsored by CILA, the Boldt Chair, and the Svoboda Center for Civic Engagement Faculty and academic staff are invited to participate in a January community of practice on “Sharing Your Expertise Publicly.” Each Tuesday from 3:30-5:00 pm in January will feature reflection on what it means to be a “public scholar” in this particular moment and discuss the means and methods to informally share your expertise through a variety of public channels alongside weekly guest presenters. Honorariums and hospitality provided. Click here to learn more and register by December 12! Spring 2026 Considering the Low-Tech or No-Tech Classroom March 5, 2026, 3:45-5:00, CAD 202. Led by Doug Casson and Tom Williamson. Click here to add to calendar. In response to a wave of new research, student concerns, and our own experiences with technological distractions in the classroom, we have both been experimenting with minimizing or eliminating tech in our classrooms. For us, this has meant creating a space where students can take a break from their phones and laptops and focus on paper books, handwritten notes, and discussion. We have also tried to minimize tech outside of the classroom, encouraging students to spend time preparing for class away from tech and communicating as much as possible face-to-face during class and office hours and not through online teaching platforms. Although some students have been surprised, the response has been overwhelmingly positive with fewer accommodation challenges that we anticipated. During this session, we hope to share our reasoning and our experiences, and hear from colleagues about the benefits as well as the drawbacks of this approach. Click here to RSVP! And click here to add to calendar. Difficult Classroom Conversations March 10, 2026, 3:30-5:00, TOH 308. Led by Chris Chapp, Director of the Institute for Freedom and Community. Click here to add to calendar. Challenging social and political conversations are everywhere, from our personal lives to public discussions. The classroom environment raises a unique set of challenges around these conversations ranging from positionality to neutrality to academic freedom. Drawing on the experiences of a faculty community of practice that met in the fall of 2024 we present a framework for getting the most of these conversations with our students. We will both present the findings of the community of practice and workshop classroom scenarios to co-create a set of best practices to guide participants in their teaching. Click here to RSVP! And click here to add to calendar. Core Strength: Assessing and Bolstering our GE Curriculum March 19, 2026, 3:45-5:00, HH 502. Led by The Academic Assessment Committee. Click here to add to calendar. We want to know: How is the OLE Core working for YOU? In Fall 2021, St. Olaf launched its current general education (GE) curriculum – the OLE Core. Approval of the OLE Core included a sunset provision of ten years, at which point the faculty must either re-approve it (with or without revisions) or approve a new GE curriculum. It is not too early to start gathering information and reflections in anticipation of this re-approval/revisions process. The Academic Assessment Committee (AAC) is grateful to collaborate with CILA in providing time and space for faculty and staff to share their experiences with the OLE Core. We welcome you to what we are calling an “open conversation with gentle facilitation” – we will provide initial prompts to launch conversation, then structure discussion to pursue ideas that are of the most interest to participants. Click here to RSVP! And click here to add to calendar. Faculty and Staff Celebration of Works and Recognition Week March 23-27, 2026, Rolvaag Memorial Library The Provost’s Office — in collaboration with St. Olaf Library and IT Services (LITS), Center for Innovation in the Liberal Arts (CILA), and Government, Foundation, and Corporate Relations (GFCR) — will host a weeklong event in Rolvaag Memorial Library from March 23-27 highlight faculty and staff’s published work, performances, awards, or other professional recognition. The event will also include works from the LITS Celebration of Faculty/Staff Scholarly Work Spring 2025 event. Click here for the calendar event, and click here to submit your work. Cake with CILA: Celebrating Tenure and Promotion March 25, 2026, 3:00-4:30, CILA Office, RML 300. Come celebrate our colleagues’ tenure and promotion with cake and conversation. No RSVP required! Click here to add to calendar. I Asked AI to Write This Title (and Other Things I Use It For Every Day) April 10, 2026, 12:00-1:00, RML-4-DiSCO Loft. Led by Jason Engbrecht, Associate Provost and Professor of Physics. Click here to add to calendar. All staff and faculty are invited to a casual, show-and-tell session about how AI has become part of my everyday work as an administrator. This won’t be a talk about AI in the classroom, and it definitely won’t be a deep theoretical dive. Instead, I’ll walk through real, practical examples of how I use AI to do things like track down obscure information, catch errors in my writing, make sense of scattered notes and data, and even write simple programs to get tasks done faster. I’ll also share a few things I’ve done with AI purely for the fun of it. Most importantly, I’d love to hear from you. If you’ve been experimenting with AI in your own work — or you’re just curious about where to start — come ready to share, ask questions, and kick the tires together. It should be a good time. Click here to RSVP. P.S. — This invitation was written by AI. I just told it what to say. The Pedagogies of Abolition (co-sponsored by CILA) Thursday April 16, 2026, 6pm (Reception starts at 5:15), Viking Theater. The Pedagogies of Abolition Keynote Event will feature a roundtable discussion with leading scholars about abolitionist approaches to education inside and outside the academy. How can educators use pedagogies derived from social movements within their classrooms? What does socially-engaged pedagogy look like in the belly of the beast? What responsibility do educators have to their communities and what are they willing to risk for justice? Joining St. Olaf’s own Drs. Lau Malaver and Jaden Janak are Dr. Qui Alexander, Assistant Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Trans Studies at the University of Toronto, and Page Regan, Visiting Assistant Professor of Education and Feminist & Gender Studies at Colorado College. This event is sponsored by the departments of Race, Ethnic Studies, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and History. The hosts also received funding from the Leraas Fund, The First-Year Experience and Sophomore Thriving, Cassling Family Fund, Social Justice Award, and Mellon Foundation. collage/poetry May 7, 2026, 3:45-5:00, CAD 202. Led by Nicole Yokum, Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy, and Juliet Patterson, Associate Professor of Practice in English and Director of Environmental Conversation. Click here to add to calendar. As academics, we’re constantly surrounded by texts. We learn to read closely, interpret generously, and write with care—whether that’s sentences, essays, or whole books. But there’s also something really valuable in stepping away from our usual habits of linear thinking, tight logic, and polished arguments—especially through more experimental, creative ways of working with text and image, like collage/poetry. In this workshop, you’ll explore new ways of engaging with text and image by cutting, rearranging, layering, and reimagining as you create collage/poetry. We’ll share some techniques—like redaction or blackout poetry, firelogging, worded images, and imaged words—and offer space to experiment. You can bring a concept or argument from your research to play with, or just show up and see where the process takes you alongside others. Click here to RSVP. |
Fall 2025 Archive
Fall 2025 EventsComing Together to Practice AI Skepticism
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How I learned to stop worrying and start adopting open educational resources:
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Spring 2025 Archive
CILA January Writing WednesdaysThe CILA “Writing Wednesday” workshop series, led by Director of Writing and Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies Diane LeBlanc, offers time, space, and guidance as you engage with your scholarly and creative work during and beyond January. The series takes a writing group approach, offering accountability and workshop activities in a small group. Each workshop provides practical support, writing time, community for sustaining progress, and opportunities to explore and practice different aspects of writing and creativity. Individuals may attend any or all of the workshops. Please complete this brief Google form by 4:00 p.m. on Friday, December 13, 2024. Wednesdays – January 8, 15, 22, and 29, 2025 Time: 10:30 am – 12:00 pm OR 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm January 8, 2025 – Balancing Multiple Projects
This workshop draws from professor and writing coach Katelyn Knox’s framework of serial and parallel writing to help you navigate multiple projects with attention to each. We’ll consider the purpose and goals of your different projects, including but not limited to conference proposals, book manuscripts, articles, artist statements, and book reviews. We’ll create a project grid to identify your high priority and high interest projects, with an eye toward sustaining progress. Exercises will be mindful of work/life equilibrium for participants at different stages of life and career. Participants will leave with a feasible writing schedule for January and/or Spring semester and one accomplished task.
January 15, 2025 – Drafting with Storyboards
To help you move a project from concept to structure, this workshop guides writers through simple storyboard techniques to generate both broad ideas and details. We’ll use visual planning to group ideas, map a narrative or argument, sequence evidence, and bridge sections. Storyboard techniques are useful for organizing an early draft or understanding the logic of an existing draft, so this workshop welcomes writers at all stages of the process. Come experiment and move a project one or two steps forward.
January 22, 2025 – Carving Away Excess
In “Overcoming the Clinandrium Conundrum,” Carrie Strand Tebeau reflects on how she learned to write honestly for academic audiences by drafting with sources then reducing the draft to four essential sentences that became the beginning of her original contribution to a conversation. In this workshop, we’ll take a paragraph or more from work in progress and carve away excess to find the essence. We’ll experiment with a few exercises in voice and register to begin redrafting or revising. Participants will identify one or two signature moves in their writing to strengthen or avoid.
January 29, 2025 – Writing through Change This final workshop invites you to shift your habits and mindset from January writing to a new semester rhythm. First we’ll consider how changes, big and small, internal and external, impact our focus and energy. We’ll refine a project planner and experiment with writing strategies that include chipping away, writing alone together, and managing expectations. We’ll practice dedicated writing time to get words on a page or into a document. Participants will come away with word count progress and a realistic plan to sustain projects, at a self-determined pace, through and beyond Spring semester.
Please complete this brief Google form by 4:00 p.m. on Friday, December 13, 2024. |
Cake with CILA: Celebrating Tenure and Promotion
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AI Spring Seminar Session 1: AI Tools for ResearchJoin us for the first of a two-part series on AI.Join members of the LITS AI Impact team to learn about AI research tools that could be useful for you and your students. These may include NotebookLM or other research assistants. This session will also be offered on March 13. Thursday, February 27, 2025 Brown bag lunch – lunch will NOT be provided, please bring your own. |
Free Like Kittens, or Free Like Textbooks?: An Introduction to Open Educational Resources
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Cultivating Belonging in the Classroom with Eduardo Pazos Palma,
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AI Spring Seminar Session 1: AI Tools for Research (reprise)Join us for the first of a two-part series on AIJoin members of the LITS AI Impact team to learn about AI research tools that could be useful for you and your students. These may include NotebookLM or other research assistants. Thursday, March 13, 2025 |
The Boldt Chair Breakfast and AI Workshop #1Using AI in College Teaching: Practical Use Cases and DemonstrationCo-sponsored by the Boldt Chair in Humanities and CILACurious (or anxious) about using AI in your class and not sure where to start? Join Sean Killackey (Romance languages – French) for a demonstration-rich session showcasing real classroom uses that amplify your work, save time, or redefine what is possible in learning and teaching. Tuesday, March 18, 2025 |
Cultivating Belonging in the Classroom with Eduardo Pazos Palma,
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The Boldt Chair Luncheon and AI Workshop #2Supercharging Grading and Feedback Efficiency with AI – What’s Possible?Co-sponsored by the Boldt Chair in Humanities and CILAGrading and providing meaningful feedback can be time-consuming, but AI tools can help streamline the process without sacrificing quality. In this session, we’ll explore practical ways AI can assist with rubric-based grading, automated feedback, and Google Sheets gradebook enhancements. You’ll see examples of how AI can help you save time while improving student learning. (link to slides) Tuesday, March 25, 2025 |
AI Spring Seminar Series 2: AI Tools for TeachingJoin us for the second of a two-part series on AI.Join members of the LITS AI Impact team to learn about AI research tools that could be useful for you as a teacher. These may include SchoolAI or other instructional assistants. This session will also be offered on April 10. Thursday, March 27, 2025 Brown bag lunch – lunch will NOT be provided, please bring your own. |
AI Spring Seminar Series 2: AI Tools for Teaching (reprise)
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Teaching and Support Q and A with Susie Smalling, Director of Faculty Community & BelongingJoin Susie Smalling, Director of Faculty Community and Belonging, for discussion of both challenges and success strategies for teaching and self-sustaining during these uncertain times. Friday, April 11, 2025 |
Pedagogy of Kindness Learning Communities
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The Boldt Chair Luncheon and AI Workshop #3Optimizing Your Gradebook and Feedback Process with AI – A Practical SessionCo-sponsored by the Boldt Chair in Humanities and CILABring your grading challenges and ideas. Whether you want to analyze student performance, automate feedback, or streamline your gradebook workflow, this hands-on session will guide you in crafting effective AI prompts and building functional tools you can use immediately. Tuesday, April 15, 2025 |
Celebration of Scholarly and Artistic Works
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Fall 2024 Archive
Practicing Democracy: 150 Years of St. Olaf Students’ Civic EngagementCo-sponsored event with Flaten Art Museum, the Institute for Freedom and Community, and The Smith Center Visit the current exhibit at Flaten A and learn how you can engage students and build a visit into your teaching this semester. Tuesday, September 10, 2024 |
CILA Lunch
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Cake with CILA: Celebrating Community
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Record Lectures or Flip Your Class: Using Panopto for Student EngagementCo-sponsored event with LITS Wednesday, October 2, 2024 |
Cracking the Moodle GradebookCo-sponsored event with LITS Wednesday, October 9, 2024 |
CILA Book Club: A Pedagogy of Kindness
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CILA Lunch
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CILA Keynote: Cate Denial
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CILA Workshop with Cate Denial
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Using AI in World Language Teaching: Practical Use Cases & DemonstrationProf. Sean Killackey, Romance Languages-French |
CILA Workshop
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CILA Lunch
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CILA Lunch
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Spring 2024 Archive
NSM Inclusive Teaching in STEM Learning CommunityIn collaboration with the Carleton’s Perlman Center for Learning and Teaching and supported by the Associate Dean of Natural Sciences and Mathematics |
Teaching in the Context of AI: Flash TalksPresenters Include: Menevis Cilizoglu, (Political Science), Averill Earls (History), Sean Killackey (French) Come hear from colleagues across campus on how they are using AI in teaching. If you have anecdotes or activities that you have tried please come and share your experiences (successes and less-successful)! Thursday, February 22, 11:30 a.m. |
CILA Bookclub Lunch and DiscussionJoin us in reading I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times by Mónica Guzmán. Tuesday, February 27 |
Choose Your Own Adventure: Honoring Students’ Lived Experiences in DEI TrainingPresenters: Ryan Sheppard, Courtney Humm, and Jodi Malmgren Want to move beyond typical assignments and a one-size-fits-all approach in teaching DEI-related material? Presenters developed a student self-assessment and adaptable DEI curriculum to honor students’ individual histories and knowledge and help them select course material to meet their learning needs. We share one study-away case, one on-campus example, and research findings from six additional pilot courses. Participants will be guided to apply this model to their own teaching. |
Teaching in Context of AI: A Look Under the HoodPresenters: Sravya Kondrakunta and Melissa Lynn, Computer Science Join us for an overview of some of the details and hidden mysteries of AI from the perspective of two computer science faculty! Thursday, February 29, 11:30 a.m. |
Art Assisgnment: Teaching and Learning with FAM’s CollectionThe Flaten Art Museum works with faculty across academic disciplines to customize museum visits and design assignments that align with course objectives. Student engagement can happen during a single class period or a sequence or related visits. Resulting projects may include conversation in a foreign language, creative writing, research papers, soundscapes, dance, musical performance, drawings, personal reflections, exhibition labels, blog posts, and more. In this session, museum staff and faculty will share tips for object-based learning, and provide adaptable prompts and assignments for teaching with art at the college level. Presenters: Tuesday, March 5 8:30 -9:45 a.m. Learn more about FAM’s current exhibit Art Assignment and the associated Teaching Guide. |
Annual Academic Freedom Workshop with Mónica GuzmánInstitute for Freedom and Community |
Inclusive Excellence SummitTuesday, April 2, all day |
Teaching in the Context of AI: Authentic Writing AssignmentsPlease join us in our last CILA event under the theme of “Teaching in the Context of AI”. Participants will hear from several faculty members on their experience developing and implementing writing assignments in this world that includes generative AI.
Presenters:
Bridget Draxler (Writing Program, Academic Success Center) Diane Leblanc (Writing Program, English) Bill Sonnega (Theater, Film and Media Studies)Date: Thursday, April 4 Time: 11:30 a.m. (community Time) Location: Valhalla RSVP by March 28 |
Fall 2023 Archive
CILA/Assessment WorkshopCo-sponsored with St Olaf Assessment |
All-Community Read Book LaunchCo-sponsor: The Lutheran Center for Faith, Values, and Community |
CILA Book Club Lunch and Discussion: Jenae Cohn’s book Skim, Dive, Surface: Teaching Digital ReadingThursday, September 28, 2023 |
STEM Inclusive Teaching Learning CommunityCo-sponsors: Associate Dean for Natural and Mathematical Sciences, Tina Garrett; Carleton’s College’s STEM Board and Perlman Center for Learning and Teaching (LTC). |
Teaching in the Context of AI: Learning Community Kick-OffCo-sponsored with LITS (Library and IT Services) Instructional Staff |
CURIous about Collaborative Undergraduate Research & Inquiry (CURI)? Faculty Panel and Discussion of New OpportunityJill Dietz, Professor of Mathematics, MSCS Department & Director, Collaborative Undergraduate Research & Inquiry |
Practicing Democracy Learning Community Kick-offAlyssa Melby, Program Director for Academic Civic Engagement |
OLE Core: Demystifying First Year Seminar Faculty PanelHeather Campbell, Associate Professor of Education & Director of First-Year Seminar |
How do we align and critique values in our teaching and mentorship?Guest Marit Trelstad, Professor of Constructive and Lutheran Theologies, Pacific Lutheran University, An All-Community Read: Flourishing for All Event co-sponsored with the Lutheran Center for Faith, Values, and Community |