MANSFIELD, PA— Mansfield University faculty Brad Lint, assistant 
professor of English, and Nicolle Mayo, assistant professor of Psychology, attended and presented at the Innovations in Faculty Development Symposium at Shippensburg University on June 2.
Lint and Mayo led a roundtable discussion, “An Informal Visit to a Learning Café: Rubrics” based on how Mansfield University’s learning café’s are structured. This discussion offered a glimpse into one of the means with which the newly re-established Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL) steering committee developed over the past year to foster faculty professional development.
“The success of this roundtable discussion was twofold,” Mayo said. “Regarding the actual presentation, we tackled the ‘how to’ process of implementing a café style approach to foster professional development, while actively engaging their audience in a discussion regarding its strengths and weaknesses. This dialogue resulted in a general consensus that informal meetings, topics relevant to all disciplines, and application activities cultivated positive networking and more interest in executing teaching tools.”
Additionally, this cross-disciplinary collaboration highlights the importance of integrating areas of interest across disciplines to promote effective teaching and scholarly activity, which were both successfully achieved at this conference. This process also invites collective thinking that forwards shared conceptual frameworks among diverse faculty and fields. This collaboration improves productivity, morale, and achievements among faculty. Furthermore, the CATL steering committee hopes to continue incorporating learning cafés and expanding cross-disciplinary collaboration during the academic year, among other developments related to experienced and new faculty professional growth.
The Faculty Development Symposium is designed to showcase innovative models and practices in faculty development. It included presentations, roundtable discussions and networking opportunities designed to foster a sharing of ideas, approaches and resources across institutions.