Thank You!

The Office of Undergraduate Education recently hosted the ninth annual Summer Institute, a professional development event that brings together the staff and faculty who participate in the Pathways General Education, First-Year Experience, and Inclusive Excellence programs. 

The two day event, held on May 17 and 18, had record participation with more than 200 faculty and staff representing every college and multiple units in the Provost’s Office and beyond.

The event was successful because of our partners from across campus and we would like to thank the following people and teams:

• TLOS for offering PDN credit, providing support on Canvas, and leading two workshops on leveraging technology to support student learning and ChatGPT
• Laurie Fritsch from Hokie Wellness for teaming up with our keynote speaker Christina Crook to bring her digital well-being program, the Joy Of Missing Out (JOMO), to our students 
• Kara Latapolski and Brianne Merchant from the Office of Academic Integrity for their a workshop for the First-Year Experiences community on technology and academic integrity
• Keri Swaby, Office of Undergraduate Research, Debbie Good and Angela Anderson, Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise, Scott Geller, Department of Psychology, and John Chermak from the Department of Geosciences for leading a session on implementing undergraduate research in the classroom
• Jessica McMillan from VT Engage for leading a session on bringing service learning to the classroom
• Tiffany Shoop, Center for Excellence in Teaching, and Rachel Fitzgerald and Theresa Johansson from the Global Education Office for the step-by-step process of planning and implementing study abroad programs
• Anita Walz, University Libraries, and Laura Neser, Geosciences, for facilitating a session on open-educational resources
• David Hicks, School of Education, for co-facilitating a session on bringing civic learning to general education courses
• Brett Jones from the School of Education and Margaret Ellis from the Department of Computer Science for leading a session on motivating and engaging students
• Emily Satterwhite, Department of Religion and Culture, and Juan Pacheco, former Virginia Tech graduate student, for providing walking tours of the campus historical markers
• Juan Espinosa, director of Undergraduate Admissions, for discussing the overall scope and demographics of the incoming class of first-year students
• Page Fetter, University Studies, Jennifer Hanratty, Department of Political Science, Juan Ortega, Engineering Education, Jennifer Hand, School of Visual Arts, and Jane Evia Robertson, Department of Statistics for participating in the Lighting Talk: Self-Guided and Student Collaborative Concepts
• Alma Robinson, Department of Physics, and her students, Morgan Atkinson, Maria Carrillo, and Hampton Smith for leading a discussion on underrepresentation in STEM

Based on evaluations so far, over 90 percent of attendees agree or strongly agree they learned things they can directly apply to their work and over 90 percent of attendees agree or strongly agree they will attend again next year. As one attendee put it, “It was great. I wish we had more time together!” While another exclaimed “Great institute, I look forward to it again next summer!”

The 2023 Summer Institute was sponsored through a grant provided by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. See the detailed schedule.