Faculty Resources

From the Director of Faculty Development

Data Bites is back! Faculty and staff are invited to join us for the first Data Bites of the year on Thursday, Sept. 24 from 12:15-1:30pm in the CREATE lab. We’ll be covering “Academic Alerts 101”. Have you ever wondered if you’re submitting academic alerts correctly and, more so, what they’re used for? The Class Deans will spend some time reviewing the academic alert process and how alerts are used in their work with students. Snacks will be provided.

Advising Handbook: Please don’t forget that there is an Advising Handbook that gets updated each year!

Fall 2026 Educator Resource Institute materials: If you missed it or want to look back at the materials, you can find the full schedule here (which also contains links to the slide decks that our presenters used, as well as other resources). Whether you attended or not, please fill out this survey to give us feedback on the Fall ERI and future ERIs!

Sabbatical/Pre-Tenure Leave Reports: If you had a sabbatical or pre-tenure leave during the 2025/26 academic year, please remember to submit your leave report using the form on this page. For fall one-semester leaves, reports were due by March 31. For spring one-semester leaves and two-semester (fall/spring) leaves, reports are due by October 31. Questions can be directed to Lisa (lwhitena@allegheny.edu).

Allegheny Awesome: If you have a cool pedagogical thing that you’re doing and would like to share, please email me! If you’ve seen a colleague doing something awesome in the classroom or while advising that people should know about, please let me know! If you’ve discovered the key to staying productive in your scholarship while juggling all of the things, send me an email! From there, I will follow up with folks and work with them to write a paragraph or two for a future Faculty Development Digest.

Updates from the Library

Resource Showcase: Project Muse: Project Muse provides full text access to over 400 scholarly, peer-reviewed journals in the humanities and social sciences. Multidisciplinary content in literature, history, gender studies, political science, psychology, economics, art, music, theater and philosophy. Click here to access.

Come and Get it: Podcasting Equipment! Did you know you can borrow from a large collection of media equipment at the Pelletier Library.  This collection contains laptops, cameras, handheld recorders, projectors, and much more.  As a brand new addition to this collection, we recently added two mobile podcasting kits:  everything you need for a two person recording setup. This is a perfect starter kit for new projects or class assignments. Help us to help you, do you have a permanent podcast studio or equipment available on campus that students can use?  Let us know and we’ll spread the word!  Email details and reservation requirements to amiller3@allegheny.edu.

Merrick Archives upcoming events:

• Blue & Gold Weekend: A History of Homecoming Pop-Up Exhibit: Friday, September 18, 2:00 pm-3:00 pm, our entire Allegheny Community is welcome! Stop by the Merrick Archives Reading Room to view a pop-up exhibit on the History of Homecoming at Allegheny College. The display is part of the campus-wide Blue & Gold Weekend activities schedule.

• Out of the Vault: A History of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department, Wednesday, September 23, 4:30 pm-5:30pm, our entire Allegheny Community is welcome! Faculty are welcome to join us in the Merrick Archives to learn about the research of Allegheny student Reagan White. Reagan spent the past summer researching the history of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) Department. Reagan will showcase many of the documents and artifacts that shed light on the experiences and accomplishments of women and LGBTQAI+ people that, in part, provide early histories that contributed to the development of the WGSS Department. Reagan’s ongoing project includes a digital timeline that, when finished, will help commemorate the 50th Anniversary of WGSS while capturing the rich histories that are crucial to understanding what creates community at Allegheny College.

Research Desk: Refer students to the Research Desk to speak with a friendly and knowledgeable librarian. Looking for research help with your Senior Comp, citation help or other research support? Schedule a research appointment with a librarian here, or stop by the Research Desk which is staffed 3:00 pm – 9:00 pm, Monday – Thursday, with additional hours throughout the day (located at the front entrance of Pelletier Library).

From Global Education

Readings, Slides, and Guides

Guides from CREATE: Did you know that CREATE has a website with some very useful guides? Now you do! You can find guides on teaching, research, and more on our site.

Are office hours pointless? Tim Franz and Lauren Vicker argue in their Inside Higher Ed piece that no, they’re not, but we need to change how we’re approaching them. Some of the suggestions in this article are probably things you are already doing, but it’s worth checking out.

For department chairs: Shout out to Julia for passing along this resource for chairs – Leading From the Middle from the Chronicle.

On oral exams: This article, also from the Chronicle of Higher Ed, talks about the pros and cons of oral exams, including some data.

Thinking about going up for full professor soon? Check out this article posted on NCFDD’s website. Also, don’t forget that those nominations are due October 15. See Section 5.3 of the Faculty Handbook for more information.

Upcoming Opportunities

Free virtual teaching workshops: The University of Arizona is offering a series of free teaching workshops over the next two months. You can find the full schedule and information about registering here.

Free virtual workshops about AI and teaching: Stony Brook University’s Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching invites you to its AI CELT Deep Dives, which they describe as “a new workshop series for educators ready to move beyond introductory AI conversations and make thoughtful, practical changes to their teaching.” Workshops will take place over the fall semester. You can see the full schedule and information about registering here.

CUR awards: The Council of Undergraduate Research (CUR) has a series of awards for faculty mentors across disciplines (STEM, humanities, social sciences). Due dates for the various awards are coming up but vary across disciplines. Please see their website for more information for specific awards.

Webinars from the GLCA: Every semester, the GLCA offers free webinars for your faculty development enjoyment. Here is the fall schedule:

• August:  Looking for ways to get students engaged and ready to learn in minute one?  Join your GLCA colleagues to learn about some energizing and successful classroom warm-up ideas. You can access the recording here.

• Sept 3:  Regan Gurung (Oregon State University) A Foot in the Door to Inspiring Learning: Creating Student Centered Syllabi <recording coming soon>

• Oct 22:  Lindsay Masland (Appalachian State University):  A Permission Slip to Say No: Sustainable Teaching in Unsustainable Conditions

From the Director of Faculty Development

Welcome back to our returning faculty & staff, and welcome to Allegheny for those who are new! I hope that everyone had a summer that gave them everything they needed. After a lot of summer travel, including a conference in New Orleans, I’m well-fed and about 50% butter (seriously, it’s impossible to eat even a little healthy in NOLA). Anyway, we’re on the precipice of a new academic year, and with that comes various professional development events and reminders. Here we go!

Fall 2026 Educator Resource Institute: The Fall 2026 ERI is Monday, August 17, with programming starting at 8:30 am (breakfast ready at 8 am!) and ending at 4:20 pm. If you’re planning on attending the ERI, please register here by Monday, Aug. 10, so we can get an accurate count for food. You can find the program schedule here.

Fall 2026 Teaching Circle: A teaching circle is a group of up to a dozen faculty members who meet on a regular basis throughout the semester to share issues, ideas, and advice connected to their teaching in a confidential and supportive setting. We are still looking for someone to lead the teaching circle for fall. If you’re interested in doing so, please contact Lisa Whitenack (lwhitena@allegheny.edu) for more information!

Dates for your Fall 2026 syllabus: In a fit of grading procrastination this spring, I made this Google Sheet that has tabs for three different class meeting schedules (MWF, MW, TuTh); each tab has the class date and information about deadlines, holidays, and no-class days. I also set the permissions to “comment” so that if there’s an error, folks can note that. If you have another class meeting schedule (e.g. MTuWTh), you can use this syllabus maker by Caleb McDaniel to make your schedule. This is the tool I use every semester! Regardless of which resource you use (if any), please be sure to consult the official Academic Calendar to double-check dates!

Sabbatical/Pre-Tenure Leave Reports: If you had a sabbatical or pre-tenure leave during the 2024/25 academic year, please remember to submit your leave report using the form on this page. For fall one-semester leaves, reports were due by March 31. For spring one-semester leaves and two-semester (fall/spring) leaves, reports are due by October 31. Questions can be directed to Lisa Whitenack  (lwhitena@allegheny.edu)

Oracle stuff: It’s not a 2026 Faculty Development Digest unless there’s something about Oracle, right? I took some time to update the Oracle instructions for faculty travel and ASC funding. Note that there are now several tabs in the document instead of having one long set of pages. In particular, there are updates for non-US travel, what to name your expense reports, and how to order items directly for ASC funding.

ASC funding reports: If you received an ASC grant for the last fiscal year (July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026), please remember that the Funding Report submission form was due by June 30. This form and further details are available on the ASC Grant Applications page. Please contact ASC Chair Teresa Herrera (thererra@allegheny.edu) or Lisa Whitenack (lwhitena@allegheny.edu) with any questions. Please note that if you do not turn in this report, you are not eligible for ASC funds in future award cycles until we’ve received your report. Note that this form is separate from the sabbatical/pre-tenure leave report.

Sabbatical/Pre-Tenure Leave Reports: If you had a sabbatical or pre-tenure leave during the 2025/26 academic year, please remember to submit your leave report using the form on this page. For fall one-semester leaves, reports were due by March 31. For spring one-semester leaves and two-semester (fall/spring) leaves, reports are due by October 31. Questions can be directed to Lisa (lwhitena@allegheny.edu).

Faculty travel funding: This academic year, we are piloting getting rid of the 2/3 rule, which previously stated that if you weren’t presenting at a conference (or running a workshop, etc), you could only be reimbursed for 2/3 of your confernece travel expenses. The pre-approval form will stay the same so that we can track how this pilot will work.

Allegheny Awesome: If you have a cool pedagogical thing that you’re doing and would like to share, please email me! If you’ve seen a colleague doing something awesome in the classroom or while advising that people should know about, please let me know! If you’ve discovered the key to staying productive in your scholarship while juggling all of the things, send me an email! From there, I will follow up with folks and work with them to write a paragraph or two for a future Faculty Development Digest.

Writing accountability groups: Do you have scholarly writing projects you need to complete, and just have a hard time finding the time? Do you like to have camaraderie while you work? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, please join us for a writing accountability group. We will have two versions of this for the upcoming academic year!

• WAGS, which is for untentured faculty, will continue to meet one Saturday per month from 9 am-4 pm in CREATE. All dates are TBD. If you are interested in attending, please contact Chris Normile (cnormile@allegheny.edu)
• We also have a group for tenured faculty, which will meet Fridays from 1:30-4 pm in CREATE starting on Sept. 4. There is no need to RSVP to this group, and it is meant to be “come when you can”. Please contact Lisa Whitenack (lwhitena@allegheny.edu) if you have questions for this group.

Setting Up Your Courses

Check out the Preparing for a New Semester page for reminders and tips for the new academic year. In particular:

• Take a look at the Syllabus Checklist page as a reminder of the required and recommended syllabus content. This page summarizes the information found in Section 9.1 of the Faculty Handbook.
• Don’t forget to update your syllabus statements if you’re reworking a syllabus from a previous semester.
• If you are teaching a course that has an QR or IP distribution requirements tag, please make sure you are able to identify at least one assignment that will assess that learning outcome. The rubrics that will be used to assess those learning outcomes can be found here (QR) and here (IP).

Reports of Student Experience (RSEs): The fall RSE survey will be open during the week of November 30, so please make sure that you set aside time for students to complete the survey during class that week. This survey is administered via the RSEs link that appears in the navigation menu in each of your Canvas courses. For this reason, all courses that are eligible for RSEs must have published Canvas sites, preferably by the Add/Drop deadline so that reminders don’t need to be sent out to instructors. This doesn’t mean that entire courses need to be managed through Canvas. You can find instructions on how to create a minimal Canvas course in this document.

You may also want to make time to administer a midterm course reflection, followed by a post-semester course reflection.

Honor Code Reminders: As faculty write syllabi and assignments, please remember to give students clear guidance on what is and is not acceptable in each course. This guidance should be repeated to students at appropriate intervals, especially as tests and assignments are coming due. Faculty teaching classes with first-year students should be especially mindful to teach academic integrity to students, as the standards and habits these students are used to may not be the same from high school to college.

As a reminder, the Honor Code was revised by student vote in Spring 2024, but nothing has changed in terms of the expectations or process for faculty to report suspected Honor Code violations. The Honor Code reporting form is here and the up-to-date Honor Code is here (just click on “Read the Honor Code”).

Mandatory Honor Code training is built into Week of Welcome for first-year students – this will also include a discussion of AI. This means that there will have been Honor Code training BEFORE we ask students to swear to uphold the Code.

Office hours – Intentional Athletic Study Hall partnership: Chris Calliari and Aacha Brown-Gregg are again partnering with coaches to encourage athletes to attend weekly Intentional Athletic Study Halls, structured study sessions for students — primarily first-years — to complete coursework in a supportive environment. Tutors, writing consultants, and CCPD staff will also be present to provide assistance. They would like to invite faculty from your departments to help connect and build relationships with our students.  Our students will have the opportunity to seek help and ask questions they may not have done on their own. Study halls will take place in Pelletier 311 every Monday from 4pm to 6pm, starting on September 14th.  Participating faculty may choose the level of participation that works best for them — whether that means attending for 30 minutes one time or coming multiple Mondays throughout the semester. These hours would be part of the standard six office hours per week, as described in the Faculty Handbook (§9.5), not an additional commitment beyond those hours. If you are interested in joining us please reach out to Chris at ccalliari@allegheny.edu . Thank you for partnering with us!

Updates from the Library

Course Reserves: Pelletier Library is getting ready for the upcoming Fall 2026 semester! Please see the steps below for submitting books, videos, or audio materials to Course Reserves:

1. Fill out the Course Reserves Google Form and indicate if the item is already part of our library collection or if you will be stopping by with a personal copy.

OR

2. Stop by Pelletier and speak with Kirsten Hauser about placing Pelletier items or personal copy items on course reserves.

Email libraryservices@allegheny.edu with questions.

Collaborate with CREATE!:

• Looking to improve course design and accessibility?
• Want to support and guide students with information literacy skills and AI literacy skills?
• Looking for research support or citation guidance for your students?
• Want to learn about digital tools for classroom or individual project use?
• Want information on faculty publishing support?
• Want to have a coffee break and a snack with colleagues?

Check out the CREATE website or contact research.instruction@allegheny.edu

Reminder: Library Research Instruction for Fall 2026 Courses:  It’s never too late to schedule a research librarian visit for your course! Research librarians are available to work with faculty to design classroom sessions to help students develop the information literacy and/or research skills they need for their courses. Using the Request a Library Session button on the library’s Research Instruction Classes page, please request two possible dates and times for a librarian visit to your class. Librarians can visit your classroom, or you can bring your students to the Pelletier CREATE lab or classroom, depending on availability.

A list of suggested possible topics can be found on the same page. Please let us know which would be particularly important for your students to learn, or we encourage you as well to suggest additional topics. A librarian will reach out to you to establish dates and discuss topics to be covered. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Research Instruction Services at research.instruction@allegheny.edu.

From Student Success

Improving student success with aPlus+ Attendance (a preview of the ERI!): To give faculty more options in Canvas to deal with attendance and to help identify at-risk students earlier, we would like to remind you about the new Canvas tool: aPlus+ Attendance. Class attendance is fundamental to student success in Allegheny courses, and we know from academic alerts over the past few years that students not attending class is a problem. This is a national issue, not just Allegheny-specific, but we aim to provide tools to faculty to help us help students be accountable.

Why switch? The native Canvas tool is binary (Present/Absent). The new aPlus+ tool offers:

• Nuance: Mark students as Late, Sick, or Excused.
• Efficiency: Let students check themselves in via a code.
• Integration: Automatically syncs class sessions to the Canvas Calendar.

Vetting via governance: the Academic Support Committee, alongside Academic Success, and the Library’s Canvas Team, reviewed and vetted this tool.

Is this required? NO. While the tool will appear in your course menu, you are free to ignore it or continue using your current methods.

Is this replacing the current Attendance tool? NO. Both tools will appear in your course menu.

How to try it: Simply click the aPlus+ Attendance link in your course menu and select “Authorize.” Note: Class sessions will automatically populate in your Canvas Calendar. You can manage this via the “Calendars” menu.

Support:

• Guides: Vendor’s instructor guide . The Allegheny Canvas team is working with APlus+ to develop guides and videos tailored for Allegheny College.
• Feedback: Report issues using the aPlus+ tab on the Academic Alert and aPlus Issues Tracking sheet

Help: Contact Doug Anderson or Betsy Garloch at canvasteam@allegheny.edu

From Global Education

Study abroad deadlines & student opportunities: The Global Education Office will host several events throughout the fall semester to help students explore study away opportunities. We are excited to host our annual Study Away Fair on September 16 from 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., where students can meet with program and university representatives, learn more about the study away process, and explore programs that match their academic and personal interests.

Students planning to study away should note that priority applications are due September 1, and regular applications are due September 20 for the spring 207 semester.

Readings, Slides, and Guides

AI Ethics Learning Toolkit: If you’re thinking about tackling ethics & AI in your courses, Duke’s Center for Teaching & Learning released a free toolkit this summer.

Instructor talk: “Instructor talk”, or the non-content stuff that instructors say while teaching, can influence students’ perceptions of belonging in a classroom and discipline. While this paper by Jackson et al. is focused on the biology classroom, it’s takehome message is applicable widely – the effects of instructor talk vary with student identities.  If you’d like to learn more about instructor talk, you can also listen to this podcast that features an interview with Dr. Kimberly Tanner (who has researched this extensively)

Another AI resource: Elon University, along with the AAC&U, has put together a student guide to AI that they are calling “Human Wisdom for the Age of AI: A Field Guide to Cultivating Essential Skills“. The description says that this program “helps students develop the human capabilities needed to thrive in a digital world, whether working with AI technologies or thinking independently of those tools. The guide is framed by great thinkers throughout history whose wisdom and insights endure, even as AI rapidly evolves.”

It’s ok to say “I don’t know”: This article in Faculty Focus by Cassidy Downs talks about why it’s good to admit that you don’t know the answer and ways to leverage that in the classroom. (You may need to login to access this article, but creating an account is free)

Making learning accessible to all: This one is a re-post from May, but is important as you finish course prep! This collection of articles about all aspects of accessibility has some great stuff in it! Articles cover accessibility as inclusivity and belonging, classroom technology, rethinking learning spaces beyond the classroom (e.g. lab, fieldwork), the role of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), neurodiversity-friendly teaching, ADHD, autism, dyslexia, hearing and visual challenges, and assessment.

Starting class with creativity: Jessica Manzone in The Teaching Professor describes what she calls “heART” – a first-day activity that her students love and allows them to combine some arts & crafts time with building community in the classroom.

Keeping up with higher ed news: While many of us have particular go-to sources that keep us apprised of the latest topics and news related to our specific disciplines, there are some great resources for news and information on higher ed in general, pedagogy, and scholarship. Many of these resources are either free or freely available with an Allegheny email. Here is a list of Whitenack’s go-to sources for staying updated on higher education news and for bringing things to you in this digest. If you have suggestions for some that I may have missed, please let me know!

Upcoming Opportunities

Grant opportunities from the National Endowment for the Humanities: There are two grant opportunities from the NEH, both with due dates of September 16, 2026.

• Applications must focus on the history and culture of the United States or Western civilization.
• The program supports three project categories: Planning International Collaboration, Manuscript Preparation, and Scholarly Digital Project
• Planning International Collaboration projects have a maximum award amount of $50,000.

• Aug TBD:  Looking for ways to get students engaged and ready to learn in minute one?  Join your GLCA colleagues to learn about some energizing and successful classroom warm-up ideas
• Sept 3:  Regan Gurung (Oregon State University) A Foot in the Door to Inspiring Learning: Creating Student Centered Syllabi
• Oct 22:  Lindsay Masland (Appalachian State University):  A Permission Slip to Say No: Sustainable Teaching in Unsustainable Conditions

Fulbright-IMC Krems Visiting Professor Award: This distinguished award offers scholars from the United States the opportunity to engage in both teaching and research at IMC Krems University of Applied Sciences, an internationally oriented higher education institution in Austria. The program is designed to promote academic exchange, strengthen international collaboration, and further enhance the long-standing ties between Austria and the United States. For further information regarding the award, eligibility requirements, and the application process, please refer to the Fulbright Austria website: Fulbright-IMC Krems Visiting Professor.  Applications are due on September 15, 2026.

From the Director of Faculty Development:

Welcome back to our returning faculty & staff, and welcome to Allegheny for those who are new! I hope that everyone had the best summer they could. With the start of the new academic year comes various professional development events and reminders. Here we go!

Fall 2025 Educator Resource Institute: The Fall 2025 ERI is August 18, with programming starting at 8:30 am (breakfast ready at 8 am!) and ending at 3:30 pm for the CREATE Grand Opening Celebration. If you’re planning on attending the ERI, please register here by Monday, Aug. 11, so we can get an accurate count for food. You can find the program schedule here.

Faculty Development Calendar: Did you know we have a Google Calendar just for faculty development-related events? You can add it to your Google Calendar using this link.

Fall 2025 Teaching Circle: A teaching circle is a group of up to a dozen faculty members who meet on a regular basis throughout the semester to share issues, ideas, and advice connected to their teaching in a confidential and supportive setting. If you are interested in participating in a teaching circle for the Fall 2025 semester, please fill out this form by September 3. If you have questions, please contact Adrienne Krone (akrone@allegheny.edu)

Sabbatical/Pre-Tenure Leave Reports: If you had a sabbatical or pre-tenure leave during the 2024/25 academic year, please remember to submit your leave report using the form on this page. For fall one-semester leaves, reports were due by March 31. For spring one-semester leaves and two-semester (fall/spring) leaves, reports are due by October 31. Questions can be directed to Lisa Whitenack  (lwhitena@allegheny.edu)

Faculty Development Office Hours: Lisa will be holding faculty development office hours again this fall. You can find her in her CREATE office from 1:30-2:30 pm on Wednesdays and 2-4 pm on Thursdays.

Allegheny Awesome: If you have a cool pedagogical thing that you’re doing and would like to share, please email me! If you’ve seen a colleague doing something awesome in the classroom or while advising that people should know about, please let me know! If you’ve discovered the key to staying productive in your scholarship while juggling all of the things, send me an email! From there, I will follow up with folks and work with them to write a paragraph or two for a future Faculty Development Digest.

Writing accountability groups: Do you have scholarly writing projects you need to complete, and just have a hard time finding the time? Do you like to have camaraderie while you work? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, please join us for a writing accountability group. We will have two versions of this for the upcoming academic year!

• WAGS, which is for untentured faculty, will continue to meet one Saturday per month from 9 am-4 pm in CREATE, plus 9 am-12 pm one Wednesday per month. All dates are TBD. If you are interested in attending,
• please contact Chris Normile (normile@allegheny.edu)
• We are also adding a group for tenured faculty, which will meet Fridays from 1:30-4 pm in CREATE starting on Sept. 5. There is no need to RSVP to this group, and it is meant to be “come when you can”. Please contact Lisa Whitenack (lwhitena@allegheny.edu) if you have questions for this group.

Setting Up Your Courses

Check out the Preparing for a New Semester page for reminders and tips for the new academic year. In particular:

• Take a look at the Syllabus Checklist page as a reminder of the required and recommended syllabus content. This page summarizes the information found in Section 9.1 of the Faculty Handbook.
• Don’t forget to update your syllabus statements if you’re reworking a syllabus from a previous semester.
• If you are teaching a course that has an HE or SB distribution requirements tag, please make sure you are able to identify at least one assignment that will assess that learning outcome. The rubrics that will be used to assess those learning outcomes can be found here (HE) and here (SB).

Reports of Student Experience (RSEs). The fall RSE survey will be open during the week of December 1, so please make sure that you set aside time for students to complete the survey during class that week. This survey is administered via the RSEs link that appears in the navigation menu in each of your Canvas courses. For this reason, all courses that are eligible for RSEs must have published Canvas sites, preferably by the Add/Drop deadline so that reminders don’t need to be sent out to instructors. This doesn’t mean that entire courses need to be managed through Canvas. You can find instructions on how to create a minimal Canvas course in this document.

You may also want to make time to administer a midterm course reflection, followed by a post-semester course reflection.

Honor Code Reminders. As faculty write syllabi and assignments, please remember to give students clear guidance on what is and is not acceptable in each course. This guidance should be repeated to students at appropriate intervals, especially as tests and assignments are coming due. Faculty teaching classes with first-year students should be especially mindful to teach academic integrity to students, as the standards and habits these students are used to may not be the same from high school to college.

As a reminder, the Honor Code was revised by student vote in Spring 2024, but nothing has changed in terms of the expectations or process for faculty to report suspected Honor Code violations. The Honor Code reporting form is here and the up-to-date Honor Code is here. As the changes are still new, here is a summary of the changes made Spring 2024.

Another change for Fall 2025 is that we are building mandatory Honor Code training into Week of Welcome for first-year students – this will also include a discussion of AI. This means that for the first time, there will have been Honor Code training BEFORE we ask students to swear to uphold the Code.

Staffing Updates in Academic Success

The renamed Maytum Center for Academic Success (MCAS) has welcomed three new colleagues to the team in the past month. These will be folks that faculty are likely to interact with. Please join us in welcoming them!

Chris Calliari joined us as the inaugural Student-Athlete Academic Support Coordinator. Chris will be working directly on academic success with student-athletes and coaches and will be supporting the class deans working on academic alerts for student-athletes. Chris comes to us from Mt. Aloysius College where he directed Residence Life. He has also worked at the IMG Academy in Florida and as a YMCA branch director. His academic background is appropriately in Sport Science. 

Amy Herman joined us as the inaugural Director of Orientation and Advising Programming, taking over a significant portion of the work previously done by Erin O’Day-Frye. Amy will take over new student orientation and transition programming as well as serve as the point person for academic alerts. Amy had a distinguished career in the Titusville Area School District, starting as a math teacher, and working her way up to become the Director of Student Services for the District. She served as a School Counselor and Assistant Principal along the way. 

Pam Shreve moved from the Registrar’s Office to the role of Executive Assistant to the Dean for the Student Experience and support for the Academic Success staff. Pam served as the Student Records Coordinator and spent five years putting up with Ian, so she is well prepared to do so again!

Financial Services Updates

Faculty Travel: This is a friendly reminder that if you are claiming mileage for faculty travel (whether that’s sabbatical, a conference, or anything), you must include a screenshot from Google Maps that shows the mileage traveled. This screenshot acts as a receipt for mileage, and the College cannot process your reimbursement without it.

Receipts for Purchases: If you’re submitting a reimbursement for any purchase (travel, supplies, etc.), it must show the methods of payment – for example, “VISA Ending in ******4444”, “PayPal”, “Apple Pay” – otherwise it doesn’t qualify as a receipt.

Payments for Services: Financial Services asks that you do not pay for services (e.g. editing, painting) directly. Please run those through the Accounts Payable Office, as there are IRS forms and reports that need to be completed.

Institutional Memberships and Subscriptions: Whenever possible, please run payments for these through the Accounts Payable Office, to ensure that we are not double-subscribing. For example, if your department wanted to purchase an institutional subscription to the hypothetical Alliance of Awesome Professors, you should check with Accounts Payable to make sure we don’t already have one.

Updates from the Library

CREATE Grand Opening Celebration: Please join us on August 18 from 3:30-5 pm to celebrate the grand opening of CREATE (Center for Research and Teaching Excellence)! We are excited to show you how much the space has evolved since the spring. We’ll have CREATE swag, champagne, and fancy hors d’oeuvres for your enjoyment. Please reach out to Tressa Snyder (tsnyder@allegheny.edu) with any questions you may have.

New colleagues in CREATE: Please join us in welcoming Betsy Garloch, Instructional Design and Scholarly Communications Librarian! Betsy will be working with faculty through CREATE to support instructional design, educational technology, Canvas, and scholarly publishing initiatives. Betsy’s office is 308C (in CREATE) and her ext. is 2749

Data Bites is back: The Data Bites series of professional development workshops will return this fall. We have four sessions scheduled so far: Sept. 19 (Instructional Design), Oct. 17 (TBA), Oct. 31 (Anti-deficit pedagogy workshop part 2), and Nov. 7 (TBA). All sessions will be 12:20-1:20 pm in the CREATE Lab. We will also be adding some workshops on a different day and time throughout the semester. We hope to see you there!

Library research instruction for your courses: It’s never too early to schedule a research librarian visit for your course! Research librarians are available to work with faculty to design classes to help students develop the information literacy and/or research skills they need for their courses. Using the Request a Library Session button on our Research Instruction Classes page, please request two possible dates and times for a librarian visit to your class. Note that 50-minute presentations are the default, but you have the option to request a 75-minute presentation. Librarians can visit your classroom, or you can bring your students to Pelletier for the session, depending on availability. A list of suggested possible topics can be found on the same page. Please let us know which would be particularly important for your students to learn, or we encourage you as well to suggest additional topics. A librarian will reach out to you to establish dates and discuss topics to be covered. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Research Instruction Services at research.instruction@allegheny.edu.

Streaming videos: In an effort to improve accessibility and be copyright compliant, the library is updating the process for requesting streaming videos.  Most video requests will be provided through our streaming subscriptions. Knowing faculty and departmental needs regarding streaming requests will help budget planning and collection development. Full instructions and procedures will be communicated to faculty shortly.  In the meantime, please contact Brian Kern, bkern@allegheny.edu, with questions.

Zoom to Google Meet transition: Due to the increasing cost of Zoom, the College’s institutional license will be ending in March 2026, so faculty who are currently using Zoom for teaching or other purposes will need to move to Google Meet instead. Meet has had many improvements in recent years and now offers all of the same functionality as Zoom and more, including waiting rooms, breakout rooms, polls, closed captioning, recordings, and auto-transcription. See the Google Meet help pages for more information. Library staff will be offering individual help sessions throughout summer and fall, plus group training through the fall semester.  You may make an individual appointment with a librarian for assistance here.

Timeline:

• Summer 2025:  Individual help sessions with librarians
• August – December 2025:  Group training and individual help sessions offered (details forthcoming)
• December 2025:  Zoom connection removed from Canvas
• March 2026:  Institutional license ends

Items of Clarification:

• Please note that this change affects the Allegheny institutional Zoom accounts. You are still able to join Zoom meetings not hosted by you.
• If you feel that you need to request a Zoom exemption, please contact Katrina Yeung directly at kyeung@allegheny.edu
• Google Meet Features & Instructions

From the Office of Inclusive Excellence

Sustained Dialogue: The Office of Student and Community Development is seeking anyone from the campus community interested in participating in moderator training as part of the Sustained Dialogue initiative on campus. Participants will learn to moderate conversations with others that prompt change and understanding through listening deeply to each other. Dialogue sessions occur over the space of several sessions throughout the semester.A Virtual Moderator Training Series will be offered through the Sustained Dialogue Institute beginning September 23rd through December 2nd. Sessions begin at 2 pm until 3:30 pm. More information about the Sustained Dialogue Institute can be found here. If interested, please contact Anne Butcher at abutcher@allegheny.edu by June 2nd to be registered for the free training.

Readings, Slides, and Guides 

Resources for higher education news & issues: While many of us have particular go-to sources that keep us apprised of the latest topics and news related to our specific disciplines, there are some great resources for news and information on higher ed in general, pedagogy, and scholarship. Many of these resources are either free or freely available with an Allegheny email. Here is a list of Whitenack’s go-to sources for staying updated on higher education news and for bringing things to you in this digest. If you have suggestions for some that I may have missed, please let me know!

Communication Cheatsheet: This article discusses two frameworks in communication theory to help us think about how we’re communicating with our students and includes 5 tips for communication.

Creating a More Accessible and Inclusive Classroom: This article from Faculty Focus outlines a tiered series of steps to make your classroom more inclusive. It begins with some bullet points about where to start, and then successive parts of the article outline ways to take it to the next level.

Upcoming Opportunities

Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) AI Ready Program: You should have received an email from the AI Task Force outlining this program. This year-long series introduces foundational concepts of AI through topical discussions, practical examples, and guided virtual learning tailored to different campus roles. Whether you’re in academics, administration, or student support, there’s something for everyone, and we have unlimited spaces available as a perk of our membership in the cohort. If you are interested in participating, please contact Katrina Yeung (kyeung@allegheny.edu).

The Teaching Professor Conference on Mental Health and Wellbeing: This is a one-day live virtual conference on November 6, 2025; “with two compelling plenaries and 15 targeted breakout sessions across six practical tracks, you’ll leave with research-backed, ready-to-apply strategies to prevent faculty burnout, support student mental health in your classroom, create a culture of care across your department or campus, and more.” Attendees earn a Credly digital badge to showcase their commitment to fostering mental wellness in higher education. You can read more about the conference schedule here, as well as find information about registration.