Greetings, Friends, 

September is one of our favorite months: All that fresh energy, all the new faces, maybe a hint of pumpkin spice, and the excitement of our annual Innovations in Teaching and Learning Conference.  

And September is a great month to start something, so we’d like to invite you to put a Stearns Center Hour on your calendar. Maybe you stop by the Conference for a bit (online Thursday 9/25 and in person with free food Friday 9/26). Maybe you pick one of our new workshops on Ethical AI Use, Engaging STEM Students, or Faculty Mental Health. Or maybe you find your own personal hour to listen to our Podcast or investigate one of our First-Year Five readings. Whatever you try, we look forward to seeing you soon! 

E Shelley Reid, Ph.D. 

Executive Director of Engaged Teaching 

Registration is now open for this year's ITL conference! The theme for the 2025 conference is Teaching for the Future: AI, Analog and Beyond. Our hybrid conference will take place via Zoom on Thursday, September 25, 2025 and in-person at the Johnson Center on Fairfax campus Friday, September 26, 2025. Registration closes September 19. Visit our website for more information and to view our conference program.

We are excited to announce that our keynote speaker on Friday is
Dr. Amarda Shehu, Inaugural VP and Chief AI Officer!

Students, faculty members, or administrators may nominate a faculty member for any 2026 Teaching Excellence Award (no self-nominations). Learn about these awards on our website.

Sunday Sept. 28: Nominations for full-time faculty TEAs due (for broadest eligibility, nominate by this deadline!)

Sunday Nov. 2: Nominations for Adjunct Faculty TEAs due

Sunday Nov. 2: Nominations for Online Teaching Excellence Awards due

Teaching Insight Week (September 29-Oct 6) offers group and one-on-one opportunities to learn about classroom-based inquiry: how to plan and conduct research on teaching and learning. There will be two live meetings with asynchronous/solo work in between.

Monday, Sept. 29 and Monday, Oct 6
12:00 p.m. - 12:30 p.m. OR 7:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
via Zoom | Facilitator: Breana Bayraktar

September 8: This interactive workshop is designed to help you effectively communicate with students about ethical AI use in your courses. In this session, you will create a coherent AI policy tailored to your courses and gain practical strategies for guiding your students in responsible AI use.

Are you interested in earning a Continuing Professional Development credential in STEM Education? Register for all four events running Thursdays at 10am this fall. Topics include getting students to actually do the reading, motivating students in a post pandemic world, and using reflective practices to help yourself and your students in the learning process.

What do other faculty actually do in their courses? How are they adapting to new opportunities, engaging their students, providing feedback, managing their time, and supporting long-term learning? If you joined a Teaching Square for a two-part conversation with people from across campus, you could find out! 

Come meet your Stearns Center liaison and other new and returning STEM faculty at GMU. Share stories about your first month (back) at Mason and build community with your colleagues. Coffee and tea will be provided. Please register by Monday, September 22nd. 

Campus Champions group members will participate in workshops, review resources, and provide feedback on content developed for broadly inclusive teaching and learning practices that support all students and faculty.
The group will also engage with each other through community building and campus leadership development opportunities. Please see our website for more information.

Join the First Year Five program in your first year (or couple of years) at Mason. Participants engage in five hours of professional development of their choice around programming that supports all students and faculty. Flexible options, community building, and recognition highlight this unique opportunity!

Last month, we published Ep. 21: Podcasting as a Transformative Communication Strategy. Dr. Leigh McCue and Philip Wilkerson joins your host, Dr. Rachel Yoho, to discuss how podcasting can be a transformative for your course, research, department, or even as a hobby to make professional connections. We also encourage you to check out our cross-over episode on their podcast, The Mason Mechanical Engineer!

This week, we published Ep. 22: The Learning Services Office is Supporting Student Success. Vicki Dominick joins Dr. Rachel Yoho to discuss the resources and opportunities available through the efforts of the Learning Services office. 

Look forward to September 18 when we will have our first external-to-Mason guest, Zach Greenberg, from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), to discuss academic freedom and free speech in higher education!

Are you interested in a teaching professional development opportunity that you can engage with at your convenience? Are you looking to build community with other Mason faculty across disciplines - and do so asynchronously? Please join us for the faculty professional development credential based on the Stearns Center's Keystone Concepts in Teaching podcast.

This fall consider participating in an AI mini course. From November 11 to December 9, the Introduction to AI Inspired Pedagogies mini course will run for faculty who are interested in updating their assignments in the age of Generative AI for the spring. Registration will be limited to the first 40 participants.

If you regularly teach courses within the Mason Core program, consider participating in the Mason Core Instructor Certification Program (MC-ICP). MC-ICP is open to all George Mason University instructors who have taught one or more Mason Core courses in the past two years. Instructors may complete one or multiple levels as they have time and interest.

Learn to incorporate civic learning and community engagement into your course in this three-part series! Explore fundamentals, best practices, partner collaborations, reflection design, and student learning assessment strategies. Attend all sessions this fall or a single three-hour session in January. Questions? Contact Kristen Wright at kwrigh22@gmu.edu or visit our website.

Join ITS September 9 for the Copilot Chat Prompt-A-Thon, a hands-on event hosted by George Mason and Microsoft. This event, open to students, faculty, and staff, is designed to help you explore how Copilot Chat can enhance your daily routines through generative AI. Each session offers expert-led prompt training to help users learn how to maximize Copilot Chat’s capabilities. https://its.gmu.edu/prompt-a-thon

Looking for a meaningful way to highlight your community-engaged work? Collaboratory, Mason’s public-facing community engagement database, allows faculty and staff to showcase how their teaching, research, and service make real-world impact. 

Interested in learning more? Join an upcoming session:

September 10 | 10:00–11:00am | What is Collaboratory? | An introduction to the platform, how it works, and how to get started.

September 30 | 1:00–2:00pm | Telling Our Story: Leveraging Collaboratory Data for Campus Impact | Explore how Collaboratory data supports institutional priorities and how your contributions help tell Mason’s collective story.

Contact Shanelle at shighsm2@gmu.edu for more information.

Sign up for one of CECiL's virtual workshops to learn about the application process, benefits and resources involved in gaining a course designation. Questions? Contact Cara Snider at csnider3@gmu.edu. For more information, visit our webpage.