Greetings, Friends, 

Welcome to August! Ok, ok, it’s fine: the start of school is still miles away! Plenty of time! It’s just that we don’t want you to miss out on any of our exciting kick-off adventures in August and early September. It’s never too early to start thinking about… 

Our particular welcome goes to those of you who are connecting to GMU and the Stearns Center for the first time. The Stearns Center team uses this monthly newsletter to keep you up to date on good resources, advice, and events that can enhance your teaching.  

We invite you to scroll through this newsletter and to check our Events Calendar to see our upcoming offerings, designed all instructors and faculty at Mason just like you: someone who is an engaged and committed teacher looking for great conversation and new ideas.  

Along with our partners (including the Office of the Provost, Faculty Affairs and Development, Writing Across the Curriculum, OSCAR, CECiL, Mason Core, Graduate Education, GradLife, University Libraries, Classroom and Lab Technologies, and Information Technology Services) we wish you an excellent conclusion to your summer and an energizing start to your Fall 2025 semester. 

E Shelley Reid, Ph.D. 

Executive Director

Have you created a new assignment/activity or redesigned an old one for a course, and need support as you implement it? Join a cohort of participants in this semester-long residency for an initial 2-hour meeting on August 20 to determine teaching goals, create an implementation plan for the semester and confirm subsequent meeting dates/times.

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

Congratulations to these departments on completing the professional development sessions for the AIEM-Teach credential in AY24-25:

Do you want to get your unit (department, program, or other group) involved? Check out the link below for opportunities and customized programming for your instructors!

In this self-paced, 10-hour asynchronous mini course, you will learn how to create a syllabus that aligns your learning goals with your assignments, organizes course content to maximize student learning and makes use of SyllaBright, George Mason’s course design assistant.

Starting Fall 2025, all syllabi should include an AI policy that is specific to the course. If you have questions about determining what might be the best option for your class, or you have more general questions about AI syllabus policy, sign-up for this session happening August 20.

Are you interested in discussing what generative AI means for the academic standards at our university? If so, join this semester's AI book club. We will be discussing the 2025 book by Gallant and Rettinger. The ebook is available through the GMU library.

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.

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. 

Today we published Ep. 20: Level Up Your Teaching with Community Engagement and Civic Learning in which Kristen Wright and Dr. Shauna Rigaud, of the Office of Community Engagement and Civic Learning, join your host, Dr. Rachel Yoho, to discuss opportunities for community-engaged teaching and civic learning and... maybe a little teaching and learning magic! 

Additionally, August 7 is our one year anniversary of publishing our first episode! We would like to thank all of our listeners for over 1,000 downloads - so far! 🎉

Congratulations to our Mason Korea podcast raffle winners of Spring 2025: 
John David McGrew and
Alice Wrigglesworth

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.

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! 

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!

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.

If you haven’t yet had a chance to explore Canvas, now’s the time! Learn more about training resources and support here:

You're invited to attend an Honorlock Training and Best Practices session on August 20 from 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. This webinar will walk you through how to add Honorlock’s online proctoring software to your course, set up your exams, select your preferred level of proctoring, and review exam results.