Teaching & Learning Innovation and the ASCEND Program, in collaboration with Bhavya Sharma, Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry, are pleased to announce a lunch and workshop event on February 11 starting at11:30 a.m. that will highlight active learning in the STEM classroom! Open to faculty, staff, and graduate students, join them for a FREE 1-hour lunch to discuss the challenges and successes of active learning. The lunch will then carry over into a 1.5 hour workshop on facilitating active learning within the STEM classroom. Lunch and the workshop will be led by Indiana University’s senior lecturer of Chemistry, Jill Robinson. Registration is required to attend either or both the lunch and workshop. Register and learn more here.

During the week of March 30–April 3 of 2020, we will be celebrating Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week (GPSAW). As part of our primary mission, the Graduate and Professional Student Professional Development (GPSPD) partners plan to focus on using that week to provide opportunities for you to get training, tools and resources for your professional development. Please take a few minutes before January 31 to tell us how we can help you during GPSAW (and throughout the year).

Whether you’ve already presented at a poster session at a conference, or expect to in the future, join us on January 28 from 5–6:30 p.m. in Hodges 128 for the second session in the What’s Your Work About? series: Designing a Research Poster. Participants will explore poster design concepts, research poster elements, software available for poster design, and campus resources to support poster design and printing. Register at workshop.utk.edu.

Teaching and Learning Innovation is offering a number of workshops for spring 2020. These include sessions on online teaching and learning and teaching non-traditional students. Register online for these workshops! Teaching and Learning Innovation is a partner in GPSPD (Graduate and Professional Student Professional Development).

In order to be considered for the spring 2020 Student/Faculty Research Awards, applications must be submitted by 5:00 pm on January 21. Grants up to $5,000 will be awarded to student/faculty pairs who submit proposals for funds to support research or creative projects. To see examples of funded projects, read about the fall 2019 recipients. If you have any questions about the program, please contact Catherine Cox at cathcox@utk.edu.

Are you considering applying for the Student Faculty Research Awards? In fall 2019, sixteen proposals were funded, and you should read more about the winning submissions. Your proposal could be one of the proposals we talk about in spring 2020, so don’t miss the deadline on January 21st!

The Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science is offering a free webinar called “A Guide to Speaking with Humans,” led by Paul Sutter. The webinar is on January 15 from 3-4:30 and you can register at the Alan Alda Center. Graduate and professionals students are encouraged to make this a part of their professional development experience this spring. For more experience in research communication, consider attending any of our What’s Your Work About? sessions.

A key to achieving a good strategic plan for your life is an examination of who you are, what’s important to you, and what drives you. In the first session of the Strategic Planning for Your Life program, graduate students will get the opportunity to engage with this practice of mindfully developing a course for reaching your academic and professional goals. The January 15 session, “Mindfulness—Discovering Your Professional Self,” will be in Student Union 262A and will start at 5pm. This session is part of the Strategic Planning for Your Life program, a series of five sessions designed by the GPSPD to help graduate students develop a strategic plan for achieving their goals. There is no requirement for registration, but you can sign up for our email list, so that we can help keep you informed about the sessions and get access to a Canvas course with related resources.

We are now taking applications for the Student Faculty Research Awards until January 21 at 5:00pm. If you’ve already prepared your proposal, you can now use the online form to submit. Learn more about the award and how to apply!