Events

Faculty presenters will share practical strategies for embedding first-year supports directly into TSEM courses to strengthen student learning and well-being. Through concrete examples and course design choices, this workshop will highlight how TSEM can foster belonging, academic confidence, and resilience in our first-year students. Participants will leave with adaptable ideas to support first-year success in their own teaching contexts. 

For many research programs at TU, students are the research engine - putting in long hours, coming up with great ideas, and generating robust data. One challenge lies in converting that hard work to publications in the primary literature. Join us for a panel discussion to explore different strategies faculty employ to get manuscripts with student authors across the finish line. Please join us and share your thoughts and experiences. Lunch will be provided to faculty. 

Panelists: Dr. Keith Reber (Professor, Organic Chemistry); Dr. Kimberly Corum (Associate Professor, Math Education); Dr. John LaPolla (Professor, Biology; Systematics)

Microsoft Copilot continues to evolve, and this session highlights what’s new and relevant for faculty. We’ll take a quick look at recent Copilot updates, including the Teach app for instructional support, the Create app for generating editable infographics and visual content, and enhancements to Copilot Chat. Faculty will leave with a clearer understanding of how these tools can support teaching workflows and improve day-to-day productivity. 

From chat-based conversations to virtual avatars, AI is expanding how students rehearse real-world interactions. In this workshop, faculty will explore how TU-supported tools, such as Copilot, ChatGPT, Blackboard AI Conversations, and VR, can be used to design role-play activities for their courses. In person event only, with an opportunity to try VR conversations with an AI avatar.🍴Lunch will be provided. You’re welcome to arrive at 11:45 a.m. to gather food and beverages before the session. 

In this interactive session, faculty will explore how AI can support an accessibility-first mindset in course design and content creation. After a brief demo of select tools, participants will share successes, challenges, and open questions around using AI to remediate materials and reduce barriers for learners and build more inclusive learning experiences. Register to join the conversation and share your AI remediation workflow! 

Join fellow TSEM instructors as they share how the pedagogical choices we make in our seminars like active learning, iterative feedback, and sustained faculty-student interaction align with what educational researchers call "high-impact practices" (HIPs). These evidence-based approaches have been shown to boost student engagement and success. This session offers a chance to approach TSEM teaching through a new lens and discover how intentional instructional design choices can amplify the impact of the first-year seminar experience as a HIP. 

Join the High Impact Practice Community of Practice for lunch and a focused workshop marking the midpoint of Towson University’s 2020–2030 strategic vision. This session will provide a concise update on the current High-Impact Practices (HIPs) landscape at TU, highlighting strengths, gaps, and participation trends that impact student learning and degree completion. The workshop will also launch Degree Boost, a new platform to encourage student engagement in HIPs-based programming in both curricular and co-curricular areas, highlighting career readiness competencies. Through guided discussion, participants will explore opportunities within their own units and identify next steps for advancing high-impact learning at TU.