The sessions listed on this page are specifically for members of the 2024-25 Faculty Mentorship Academy. If you are not a member of the 2024-25 Cohort, please do not register for any events on this page.
Please click on the session title to see a description and to register for the event.
- Oct27Mon
Mentorship Series: Facilitating Group & Individual Dynamics – (October 27, 2025 03:00 PM – 04:00 PM)
Location:TLPDC Room 153
2802 18th Street
Lubbock, TX 79409Room: TLPDC 153
Available Seats: 36
Effective mentorship begins with establishing a relationship and trust between individuals and within groups. Mentors who facilitate these dynamics must be intentional, clear, and flexible while fostering open dialogue. This workshop will explore how mentors can encourage individual ownership, self-reflection, and shared discoveries with their mentees.
- Oct28Tue
The Hidden Motivators: What Drives Us (and Drains Us) – (October 28, 2025 12:30 PM – 01:50 PM)
Location:TLPDC Room 153
2802 18th Street
Lubbock, TX 79409Room: TLPDC 153
Available Seats: 21
Facilitator: Dr. Lisa Garner Santa The rhythms of academic life are relentless. Over time, we begin to move through the motions—responding to requests, meeting expectations, saying yes before we even pause to ask why. In this session, we’ll explore the six life-alienating motivators named in Nonviolent Communication: reward, punishment, guilt, shame, duty, and approval. What happens when these motivators go unchecked? And what becomes possible when we bring awareness and choice into the picture? Using Rosenberg’s framework, we’ll identify internalized pressures that may be shaping our academic decisions—and begin to shift from obligation to alignment. “The most dangerous of all behaviors may consist of doing things 'because we're supposed to.’” – Marshall Rosenberg IFE Path I and II
- Oct29Wed
Are You Interested in Integrating Community Outreach and Engagement into Your Teaching, Research, or Creative Activities? – (October 29, 2025 02:00 PM – 02:50 PM)
Location:TLPDC Room 153
2802 18th Street
Lubbock, TX 79409Room: TLPDC 153
Available Seats: 0
Join us at this session to learn more about Outreach and Engagement, the difference between these two forms of high-impact practice, and their value to scholarship, student achievement, grant success, and more. You will also discover ways of incorporating outreach and engagement into your curriculum, research/creative activities, and scholarship; as well as learn about our faculty support services and resources to assist you in this process. This workshop session is designed to be delivered in a face-to-face format; however, we understand that you might need to attend remotely for a variety of reasons. Please use this link to join the conversation remotely:
Meeting ID: 251 618 550 923 8Passcode: Uk2iY2Xs - Oct30Thu
Accessibility Without the Ask: Designing Courses That Don’t Wait for Accommodations – (October 30, 2025 01:00 PM – 02:00 PM)
Location:Virtual Session
Room: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_Y2JlZDZhZWQtZmMwOC00ZTgwLTllYmQtMWEyMzU5YjU2MDFh%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22178a51bf-8b20-49ff-b655-56245d5c173c%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22ba9b8010-8915-4519-9909-b02ad2d5002c%22%7d
Available Seats: 39
Imagine receiving an accommodation letter and being able to say, “This course already includes that—for everyone.” This session introduces practical accessibility strategies and tools that reduce instructor workload, enhance usability, and improve learning for all students. Attendees will explore concepts and practices such as:
- WYSI*N*WYG: Understand how visual formatting differs from encoded structure, and why it matters.
- Of Mice and Mobility: Learn how to make content navigable without a mouse, supporting users with mobility or dexterity challenges.
- Sound Off: Use captioning and transcripts to ensure audio content is accessible to all learners.
- Mind the Gap: Discover ways to reduce cognitive overload and distractions in course materials.
- Time & Text: Design content that supports readability, comprehension, and flexible pacing for learners with processing or attention-related needs.
- Oct31Fri
Strengths Part 1: Integrating Your CliftonStrengths to Enhance Faculty Career Planning – (October 31, 2025 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM)
Location:TLPDC Room 150
2802 18th Street
Lubbock, TX 79409Room: TLPDC 150
Available Seats: 30
Facilitator: Dr. Barbie Chambers Faculty & staff juggle many responsibilities in their professional and personal lives. Individuals who can identify and leverage their areas of natural talent are more likely to be successful in planning their careers and experiencing a fulfilling life. Join us to identify your strengths foundation and learn how you can integrate that knowledge into improving your career, research, professional practice, teaching, service, and work/life integration. Participants should take the CliftonStrengths (StrengthsQuest) assessment for this session through the University Career Center at www.strengthsquest.ttu.edu. IFE Path I, II and FMA
- Nov4Tue
Reignite the Spark: Teaching with Learning in Mind – (November 4, 2025 12:30 PM – 01:50 PM)
Location:TLPDC Room 153
2802 18th Street
Lubbock, TX 79409Room: TLPDC 153
Available Seats: 25
Facilitator: Dr. Angela Lumpkin Join us for an inspiring session designed to reignite your passion for scholarship and pedagogy. This interactive workshop provides faculty with an opportunity to reflect on what makes teaching meaningful and effective. Through guided dialogue and reflective exercises, participants will explore how to align their instructional choices and actions with how students learn best, reigniting purpose and presence in the classroom. Find new inspiration and time to reconnect with your teaching values. IFE Path II
- Nov5Wed
Know Thyself, Know Thy Colleagues: Unlocking Career Success Through Personality Intelligence – (November 5, 2025 03:00 PM – 05:00 PM)
Location:TLPDC Room 150
2802 18th Street
Lubbock, TX 79409Room: TLPDC 150
Available Seats: 32
Discover how understanding personality differences can accelerate your academic career in this interactive workshop designed for university employees. Using the Myers-Briggs® framework, you'll gain deep insights into your own personality type while learning to recognize and appreciate how colleagues operate differently. Through practical strategies and real-world academic scenarios, you'll discover how to leverage personality differences constructively—whether collaborating on research, navigating department dynamics, or leading teams. You'll leave with a powerful toolkit for building stronger professional relationships and positioning yourself for greater career success in academia. After registering, participants will receive information on completing the free MBTI assessment before the workshop.
- Nov6Thu
Bridging the Gaps for Today’s Students – (November 6, 2025 11:00 AM – 12:20 PM)
Location:TLPDC Room 153
2802 18th Street
Lubbock, TX 79409Room: TLPDC 153
Available Seats: 11
COVID and other factors have impacted the ways students learn and manage their mental wellbeing, and one of the biggest ripple effects of the pandemic was learning loss and its ongoing effects. Some studies have predicted that student learning in subject areas, including math, science, reading, and writing will be impacted for years, if not decades. This session will discuss strategies for bridging those gaps, ongoing challenges for both academic achievement and mental health and what it means to be effective university educators teaching a generation of students who entered colleges with COVID learning loss and an increased mental load. Lunch will be provided. This workshop session is designed to be delivered in a face-to-face format; however, we understand that you might need to attend remotely for a variety of reasons. Please use this link to join the conversation remotely:
Meeting ID: 223 613 900 736 8Passcode: nH7hz9aP - Nov7Fri
Mind Behind the Machine: Thinking Beyond the Prompt – (November 7, 2025 01:00 PM – 01:50 PM)
Location:TLPDC Room 153
2802 18th Street
Lubbock, TX 79409Room: TLPDC 153
Available Seats: 23
This workshop introduces faculty to a curriculum module designed to build students’ critical AI literacy through interactive, reflective learning. In this workshop, faculty will learn about and reflect on how they currently use AI tools in their own teaching, research, and daily lives. Participants will explore a series of scaffolded modules that help students:
- Understand what AI is (and isn’t) and how generative models work.
- Use AI thoughtfully by experimenting with different prompts and iterating on outputs.
- Evaluate AI-generated content critically to identify accuracy, bias, and missing context.
- Nov12Wed
Dialing It In: The Art of the Public Interview – (November 12, 2025 10:00 AM – 10:50 AM)
Location:TLPDC Room 150
2802 18th Street
Lubbock, TX 79409Room: TLPDC 150
Available Seats: 40
As scholars and teachers, faculty are often invited to comment upon areas of their expertise and its relation to matters of public policy: linking history, sociology, sciences, economics, and related scholarly disciplines to topics of the day. As academics, we are adept with our knowledge, and with calibrating our presentation of that knowledge to the audiences we are addressing. But either conducting or responding to an interview can provide its own challenges and opportunities: how to ask, and how to answer, and how to tailor our questions and responses in a fashion that maximizes clarity and minimizes potential distortions. In this 50-minute presentation, Christopher Smith, professor of musicology and founding director of the Vernacular Music Center, a veteran of three decades in public radio, co-director of Reciprocal Studios podcasting consultancy, and showrunner of three ongoing podcasts (SOUNDING HISTORY, VOICES FROM THE VERNACULAR MUSIC CENTER, and THE BASSANDA PODCAST), will provide guidelines, visualizations, participatory exercises, best practices, and technical advice that help academics “dial in” their capacity for effective, accessible, engaging, and rewarding interview experiences, on both sides of the microphone. Teams Link Meeting ID: 210 288 269 353 1 Passcode: qh73nh9E
- Nov13Thu
Auto-Grading with AI and Large Language Models – (November 13, 2025 09:30 AM – 10:20 AM)
Location:TLPDC Room 150
2802 18th Street
Lubbock, TX 79409Room: TLPDC 150
Available Seats: 35
With the rise and widespread adoption of AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) in recent years, extensive research has been conducted on their applications across various domains. One such domain is education, where a key area of interest for researchers is investigating the implementation and reliability of LLMs in grading student responses. In this talk, I will discuss how LLMs have been used in grading across six academic sub-fields: educational assessment, essay grading, natural sciences and technology, social sciences and humanities, computer science and engineering, and mathematics. I will also discuss what prompting techniques have been used employed in building those systems and the effectiveness of LLM based grading for both structured and open-ended responses. This workshop session is designed to be delivered in a face-to-face format; however, we understand that you might need to attend remotely for a variety of reasons. Please use this link to join the conversation remotely:
Meeting ID: 226 618 674 300 5Passcode: WR3nd6jd - Nov13Thu
Building Bridges, Not Walls: A Fresh Approach to Academic Integrity – (November 13, 2025 03:00 PM – 04:20 PM)
Location:TLPDC Room 153
2802 18th Street
Lubbock, TX 79409Room: TLPDC 153
Available Seats: 21
Why do some students see academic integrity as an outdated formality while faculty view it as fundamental to education? This interactive workshop facilitated by Barbie Chambers and Mitzi Ziegner from the TLPDC explores the gaps that shape how we and our students approach academic honesty. You'll discover practical strategies for moving beyond rule enforcement to meaningful conversations about character and professional preparation. Through real scenarios and discussion, we'll explore innovative ways to help students embrace integrity as a cornerstone of their Red Raider identity. Join us to transform how you think about and teach academic honor! This workshop session is designed to be delivered in a face-to-face format; however, we understand that you might need to attend remotely for a variety of reasons. Please use this link to join the conversation remotely:
Meeting ID: 218 322 364 287 6Passcode: Pz3xT3uU - Nov14Fri
Mind Your Mind – Nurturing Mental Wellness – (November 14, 2025 12:00 PM – 03:00 PM)
Location:TLPDC Room 153
2802 18th Street
Lubbock, TX 79409Room: TLPDC 153
Available Seats: 25
An introduction to evidence-based strategies for maintaining mental well-being in academia. Learn practical tools for managing stress, promoting resilience, and fostering a healthy work-life balance as you begin your faculty journey. This workshop session is designed to be delivered in a face-to-face format; however, we understand that you might need to attend remotely for a variety of reasons. Please use this link to join the conversation remotely:
Meeting ID: 242 984 966 110 8Passcode: ob2pY6rh - Nov17Mon
Mentorship Series: Maintaining Effective Communication – (November 17, 2025 03:00 PM – 04:00 PM)
Location:TLPDC Room 153
2802 18th Street
Lubbock, TX 79409Room: TLPDC 153
Available Seats: 30
Effective communication is foundational to successful mentoring relationships. While many recognize good communication when they experience it, mentors must deliberately cultivate and practice these skills. In this interactive session, participants will identify key characteristics of effective communication and engage in practical exercises to strengthen their mentoring dialogue.
- Nov18Tue
Collaborative Feedback in Academia – (November 18, 2025 12:30 PM – 01:50 PM)
Location:TLPDC Room 153
2802 18th Street
Lubbock, TX 79409Room: TLPDC 153
Available Seats: 27
Facilitator: Dr. Lisa Garner Santa What if giving feedback could be energizing, even enjoyable? In this session, we’ll explore how feedback, when grounded in connection and mutual respect, can become a two-way exchange that strengthens both mentoring relationships and institutional culture. Through the lens of Nonviolent Communication (NVC), we’ll examine how to move from “power over” or “power under” toward “power with,” where everyone’s needs matter. Participants will practice using observations, feelings, needs, and requests to engage in feedback conversations that are clear, kind, and co-created. When mentoring becomes a collaborative process, feedback becomes not only possible but meaningful and rewarding. IFE Path I and II