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  • CTC = Cross-Disciplinary Teaching Circle

  • DTC = Departmental Teaching Circle

  • SA = Summer Academy Teaching Circle

  • Table of current Teaching Circles. Table details if a Teaching Circle is DTC, CTC, SA, open or closed, a description, and name and contact information for facilitators.

Table of Current Teaching Circles
Type of Teaching Circle Open or Closed Name of Teaching Circle Goals of Teaching Circle Facilitator
DTC Closed English 100a/b - 101 Discussion of teaching first-year writing Bryna Siegel Finer, brynasf@iup.edu
CTC Open Teaching Writing Across the Curriculum this is an open Teaching Circle- Any faculty member amy join Bryna Siegel Finer, brynasf@iup.edu
CTC Open FLY-deas Teaching Circle Share ideas for activities for teaching the FLY course. Mimi Benjamin, mbenjami@iup.edu 
CTC Open The Caring University To explore the concept of the ethics of care at the university level, beginning with reading The Caring University by Kevin McClure. Tanya Heflin, heflin@iup.edu 
CTC Open AI Teaching Excellence in Higher Education — Networked Academics Build shared fluency. Help members understand what current generative AI can and cannot do in higher-ed teaching, including limits, bias, privacy, and academic integrity. Redesign for learning, not detection. Co-create and test assignments, rubrics, and assessments that treat AI as a thinking partner when appropriate—and that still measure real student learning. Practice in public (safely). Each member runs at least one classroom experiment (prompt set, bot, feedback workflow, AI-literate syllabus language, or revised major assignment) and brings results back to the circle. Grow student AI literacy. Develop short, reusable modules so students learn when to use AI, how to cite or disclose it, and how to evaluate its output in the discipline. Create shareable tools. Produce a living resource bank: prompt libraries, sample policies, rubric language, syllabus statements, and “what worked / what failed” cases across disciplines. Turn practice into scholarship. Support SoTL, conference proposals, and publications that grow out of the circle’s experiments. Veronica Paz, vpaz@iup.edu 
CTC Closed Building Healthcare Leaders: Course Design, Assessment, and Scholarship in Health Professions Education
 The purpose of this Teaching Circle is to collaboratively develop, implement, and evaluate a new undergraduate course, Leadership for Health Professionals (HLSC 205), while establishing a sustainable framework for assessing leadership development among healthcare students. Through interdisciplinary faculty collaboration, participants will explore evidence-based pedagogical approaches, develop assessment tools, and generate scholarship related to leadership education, interprofessional collaboration, and student professional development in health professions education. Lei Hao, leihao@iup.edu 
CTC Closed Developing Post-Baccalaureate Teaching Certificate Guidelines The goal of this Teaching Circle is to collaboratively explore and develop guidelines for a post-baccalaureate teacher certification program at IUP. Faculty members will examine state certification requirements, review best practices from comparable educator preparation programs, and discuss pathways that support career changers and degree holders seeking teacher certification. Through these discussions, the group will identify program structures, coursework considerations, field experiences, and candidate support strategies that can strengthen teacher preparation and address workforce needs in education. Michelle Tweardy, mtweardy@iup.edu 

Valerie Long
DTC Closed Effectively Using AI in Graduate Nursing Education The goals of this teaching circle are to: 1) Investigate and share innovative ways to integrate AI tools and strategies into graduate nursing curricula to improve student learning outcomes and engagement, and 2) Provide opportunities for nurse educators to build skills and confidence in using AI technologies through workshops, peer mentoring, and resource sharing. Meigan Robb,
mrobb@iup.edu 
DTC Closed Chairing with Confidence: Supporting Doctoral Scholars 1. Describe the dissertation chairperson role.
2. Recognize common barriers that impede student progress.
3. Identify effective mentoring and chair strategies.
4. Discuss techniques to provide supportive feedback and develop student writing.		  Kristy Chunta,
kchunta@iup.edu 
DTC Closed Online Graduate Instruction: Practical Strategies for Better Teaching The goals of this teaching circle are to:
1. Discuss evidence-based and practical strategies for better teaching.
2. Incorporate teaching resources tailored to online graduate education.
3. Share resources that support faculty role and well-being.		  Kristy Chunta,
kchunta@iup.edu 
CTC Closed Enhancing Learning of Students through use of Interprofessional Simulation To facilitate learning opportunities for students through the use of simulation experiences. Pao Ying Hsiao,
pyhsiao@iup.edu 

Erin Clark