This year, as part of our commitment to providing ongoing and specialized professional development opportunities to faculty, our office sponsored our first Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs). This model of faculty development, created at the U of Miami, provides faculty members with a peer cohort experience that is selective, time-based (usually one or two semesters), and topic-driven. For our initial offerings, we partnered with two central offices to offer two different types of experiences, one learning community focused on extending participants’ previous experience with the OGI Inclusive Teaching Seminar and another learning community focused on fostering Course-Based Undergraduate Research projects in STEM courses.
Despite the challenges of busy schedules and full workloads, these two faculty cohorts carved out the time to discuss their teaching experiences and explore effective pedagogical practices in a collaborative learning environment with colleagues.
The Teaching for Belonging (TFB) Learning Community completed its first year with a final, in-person celebration and discussion on May 6th at the King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center. Comprised of eight faculty members who successfully completed the Office of Global Inclusion, Diversity, and Strategic Innovation’s (OGI) Inclusive Teaching Seminar, the TFB Learning Community met online monthly to explore the challenges today’s students face while evaluating the potential course design and pedagogical approaches instructors can employ to promote learning and belonging in their courses and disciplines. Sessions were led by the participating instructors and covered a wealth of topics, including the hidden curriculum, ways to promote active participation in the classroom, and balancing flexibility and accountability. Given the success of the 2024-2025 program, we will begin recruitment for the next iteration of the program this summer in addition to developing opportunities for the TFB alumni to stay connected through formal and informal means. Interested faculty alumni of the OGI Inclusive Teaching Seminar should let us know they would like to participate in the 2025-2026 TFB program by emailing us at asteaching@nyu.edu.
Left to right: David Cregar, Blagovesta Momchedjikova, Trace Jordan, Leah Souffrant, Janet Hendrickson, Shaina Dymond, Kimberly Bernhardt, and Jordana Mendelson (not pictured, Lorena Hernandez Ramirez)
The STEM Faculty Learning Community, led by faculty colleague Rohini Qamra, and supported by the Arts & Science TEI group as well as Ethan Youngerman, Director of Undergraduate Research in the Provost’s office, was formed in January 2025 and will continue to meet through Fall 2025, with final projects implemented in Spring 2026. The group of six faculty, representing the Chemistry, Math, and Biology departments, spent the Spring 2025 semester investigating CURE (Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience) pedagogy. Departments were represented in pairs to ensure that the spirit of community, connection, and mutual support continues and grows during the project implementation phase in Spring 2026 courses and beyond.
Back Row Left to Right: Eugene Plavskin, Hesam Oveys, Trushant Majmudar
Front Row Left to Right: Katie Schneider Paolantonio, Rohini Qamra, Trinanjana Mandal, Lucy Appert
If you have an idea for an interdisciplinary faculty learning community, please reach out to us. We would love to support you!