Food for Thought is the Grove Center’s semester series of informal interactive conversations about interdisciplinary teaching and learning. The topics for these discussion sessions are announced at the start of each semester, and the sessions themselves are usually hosted over the lunch hour. The list of upcoming topics can always be found in our website Calendar. Any faculty, staff, postdocs, and students involved in any aspect of instruction are welcome to join the discussion!
The Grove Center’s primary goal in hosting the Food for Thought discussions is to support and nurture a culture of learning, continuous growth, and collaboration within our educational community. Each session focuses on educational topics curated from recent innovations, current challenges, or areas of interest identified by practitioners in our community.
Food for Thought Discussions
Fall 2026
The Food for Thought series convenes faculty and staff to share ideas, explore practical challenges, and learn from colleagues and campus experts. Join the Grove Center for Excellence in Science Education for targeted events focused on teaching strategies, student support, and professional growth.
Thursday, October 8, 2026, noon to 1:00 p.m.
16 Ritenour Building (in-person)
"Identifying Common Skills in our Courses"
Discussion facilitators: Jennelle Malcos, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and Meredith Defelice, Assistant Dean for Curriculum and Teaching and Interim Director, The Grove Center for Excellence in Science Education.
Goals of this session:
- Brainstorm which skills are common in out courses (i.e., problem solving, critical thinking, etc.)
- Identify common language in syllabi about skills.
Links to AI generation of professional skills:
Attendees are asked to bring a syllabus with them.
Pre-Class Work??
If you have the space, please look over the skills outlined from our professional societies above. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) also has a nice website with eight career competencies that can help students. Please use this form to input your top skills (max five) and how you would define them to a student, including behavior that exemplify the skill.
What skills do you want your students to master? - Fill out form
Outcome: At the end of the session, attendees will have identified four to five agreed upon skills and what they mean to students.
Registration Link: 09.24.2026 Food for Thought Discussion – Fill out form
Thursday, October 22, 2026, noon to 1:00 p.m.
Join the Grove Center for Excellence in Science Education for a Food for Thought discussion:
- Identify common assignments and messaging for ECoS courses.
- Identify consistency of lab reports and assignments.
Outcome: Create list of common assignments and consistency of lab reports and assignments
If you’d like more information, have a topic you would like us to host, or want to be added to our community LISTSERV, please contact us.
Previous Sessions
- "Using Available Data to Get to Know Your Students"
- "Capturing Classroom Engagement Data for Instructor Reflection (CCEDIR)"
- "Helping Students Develop Professional Skills"
- “Assessment and Immediate Feedback Part 1 and 2”
- “Writing Science with Artificial Intelligence (AI) Assistant”
- “Beyond the SRTE: Gaining Valuable Feedback from Students”
- “Faculty Focus: Supporting Multilingual Student Writers”
- “Beyond Editing: Giving Effective Feedback to Multilingual Student Writers”
- “Open Discussion: Incorporating Sustainability into Your Curriculum”
- “Incorporating the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals into Your Teaching for Engaging and Empowering Learning”
- “Using SharePoint to Support an Instructor Community”
- “Graphic Syllabus Design and Liquid Syllabus Design Workshop/Discussion”
