On Wednesday, April 26^th, UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for Art, Prof. Cora Lynn Deibler, met with ECE Art instructors for their virtual professional development session. Dr. James J. Hughes was invited to speak with the group about AI in the art world. Dr. Hughes is an American sociologist and bioethicist. He serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and as Associate Provost at UMass Boston. He is the author of Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Human of the Future, co-edited Surviving the Machine Age, and writes and speaks often on topics of bioethics, technology, and Buddhism. Dr. Hughes holds a doctorate in sociology from the University of Chicago, where he served as the assistant director of research for the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics. Dr. Hughes lives in Willington CT with his wife, UConn professor of art Monica Bock.

The group listened to Dr. Hughes’ presentation and engaged in a lively conversation discussing the rise of technological art-generating tools that use artificial intelligence. While students are interested in new AI tools, established artists are skeptical – even fearful. The group discussed strategies for talking about, contextualizing, and using or discouraging use of AI artmaking in our classrooms.

UConn Art courses offered through Early College Experience.

On Tuesday, April 4^th, UConn Early College Experience and the faculty from Educational Leadership met with EDLR 2001 Contemporary Issues in Sport Instructors for a virtual professional development meeting. UConn Adjunct Faculty member, Doug Glanville, discussed contemporary issues in sports and held a short question and answer period with participants. Later the group discussed EDLR 2001 and course updates.

UConn Educational Leadership courses offered through Early College Experience.

On Tuesday, April 25th UConn Early College Experience Environmental Science Instructors met with faculty from UConn’s NRE Department. ECE Faculty Coordinator for NRE, Dr. Morty Ortega invited Dr. Cynnamon Dobbs to share her talk, “Urban Forests for a Resilient Future” with the group.

Dr. Dobbs is an Assistant Professor in Urban and Community Forestry with University of Connecticut. Her research focuses on urban forest ecosystem services and its link to the sustainability and resilience of urban areas. She uses quantitative data from biophysical and social factors to distinguish drivers of change, and to produce evidence for improving urban decision making. She obtained her Ph.D. degree in Ecology at the University of Melbourne, Australia; her MS degree at the University of Florida; and her BS at the Universidad de Chile, Chile. Dr. Dobbs has a large number of publications in scientific journals, book chapters, and extension journals. As a teacher, she has instructed courses such as Forest and climate change, Urban ecology, Landscape ecology, and many others.

After the presentation, the group discussed class activities to teach about Urban Forest and their courses as they are dealing with post-covid student behavior and other struggles.

UConn NRE courses offered through Early College Experience.

On Thursday, May 18th UConn Early College EDCI (Education Curriculum and Instruction) and EDLR (Educational Leadership) Instructors met virtually with UConn ECE EDCI and EDLR Faculty Coordinators, Tom Levine and Danielle Derosa for their annual professional development workshop.

Instructors discussed the concept of justice as it relates to equity, within education specifically, and society broadly. In preparation for this portion of the workshop, instructors read “Justice a Short Story” by Mariame Kaba and engaged in a restorative justice workshop as a group. Later in discipline specific breakout sessions, instructors discussed effective instruction specific to the course taught.

UConn Education courses offered through Early College Experience.

On Tuesday, May 2^nd Early College Experience Allied Health Instructors visited the Storrs campus for a professional development workshop. After a welcome by Allied Health Sciences Department Head, Dr. Justin Nash, the group introduced themselves and discussed AH 4092: EMT Training, AH 1100: Introduction to Allied Health Professions, and AH 2001: Medical Terminology in roundtable sessions discussing best practices and strategies for engaging with students.

UConn Allied Health Sciences courses offered through Early College Experience.

On Wednesday, April 26th UConn Early College Experience Earth Science Instructors met with faculty from UConn’s ERTH Department. ECE Faculty Coordinator for ERTH, Dr. Robert Thorson led a walking tour around campus. After leaving Rowe, they headed east to Augustus Storrs Hall, the oldest masonry building on campus, which set the precedent for the campus layout in 1906 to follow the glacial grain. Crossing Swan Lake, they examined in sequence: the Stone Pavilion, a rubble of glacial slabs, the local bedrock (the Paleozoic Hebron Gneiss), and ended the walking tour with a walk up to experience the view from Horsebarn Hill. Returning to the center of campus, the group stopped in Beach Hall—home to UConn’s Earth Sciences Department. They toured the building, visited teaching labs for introductory geoscience courses, research labs, and met with Department Head, Tracy Frank.  After lunch the group engaged in presentation by Prof. Thorson on the Connecticut Landscape. Thor shared an article from CT insider that he wrote and highlighted the Climate Underground podcast.

UConn Earth Sciences courses offered through Early College Experience.

On Thursday, March 10th UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from Anthropology, Dr. Alexia Smith and Dr. Noga Shemer, Assistant Professor-in-Residence of Anthropology at UConn met with certified ECE Anthropology Instructors for their annual professional development conference.

This workshop focused on practical strategies for teaching anthropology today. The focus was on some of the recent changes within the field, “hot topics,” participation agreements, accessibility issues, and engagement modalities.

Dr. Alexia Smith serves as an Associate Professor of Anthropology, the Director of Undergraduate Studies for Anthropology, and the ECE Anthropology coordinator. She regularly teaches Anth 1500 Great Discoveries in Archaeology which includes ongoing discussions of cultural heritage.

Dr. Noga Shemer served as a guest facilitator for the workshop. Dr. Shemer is an Assistant Professor-in-Residence of Anthropology at UConn, where she also serves as an Affiliate faculty member of El Instituto (Institute of Latina/o, Caribbean, and Latin American Studies) and as an Assistant Director of Faculty Development at the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. She is a cultural anthropologist who has many years’ experience teaching Anth 1000W, a writing intensive version of Peoples and Cultures of the World, Anth 2000W Social Anthropology, Anth 3152 Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism, Anth 3029 Caribbean Cultures, and Anth 3251 Psychological Anthropology. She provides workshops across the university focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the classroom and has published journal articles focusing on her use of person-centered ethnographies to build empathy.

The group explored “Teaching Anthropology Today” through guided discussions, interspersed with mini-presentations/responses from Dr. Shemer. The workshop concluded with a more open-ended discussion regarding teaching experiences and questions from the instructors.

UConn Anthropology courses offered through Early College Experience.

On Tuesday, March 21st, UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for Classics, Associate Professor Sara Johnson met with certified ECE Classics Instructors for their annual professional development conference.

Associate Professor Roger Travis spoke with the group about UConn’s CAMS 1103 course and discussed the process for certification to teach the course in a partner high school. Teachers must audit Prof. Travis’ course and work with him to develop a version of the syllabus that works in the high school classroom.

After a short break, the group discussed “Circe” by Madeline Miller.

UConn Classics courses offered through Early College Experience.

On Wednesday March 29th, UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinators for Political Science, Department Head and Associate Professor Oksan Bayulgen and Assistant Professor Evan Perkoski met with certified ECE Political Science Instructors for their annual professional development conference.

After introductions, a panel of UConn Political Science Faculty spoke with the group about “Challenges and Opportunities of Teaching Introductory Political Science Courses”. Panelists included Associate Professor Thomas Hayes, Professor Jeremy Pressman, and Associate Professor Fred Lee.

After lunch the group engaged in an interactive conversation with Professor Tom Deans on “AI in Academic Writing”.

UConn Political Science courses offered through Early College Experience.

On Thursday March 23rd, UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for German, Professor Anke Finger met with certified ECE German Instructors for their annual professional development conference.

The group discussed Intercultural Literature in the German Classroom and discussed their UConn courses.

UConn German courses offered through Early College Experience.