This table talk will focus on the "We're All Widener" approach to external relationships, with an emphasis on helping students explore alternative academic pathways and navigate key transitional moments. Drawing on NISS Playbook recommendations, participants will consider strategies that support students in making informed decisions when their original academic plans shift. The discussion will highlight approaches for guiding students through transitions with clarity, flexibility, and sustained support. Attendees will be encouraged to share practices that promote persistence through adaptable and student-centered pathways.

This table talk will focus on advancing Student Success initiatives, with an emphasis on helping students explore alternative academic pathways and navigate key transitional moments. Drawing on NISS Playbook recommendations, participants will consider strategies that support students in making informed decisions when their original academic plans shift. The discussion will highlight approaches for guiding students through transitions with clarity, flexibility, and sustained support. Attendees will be encouraged to share practices that promote persistence through adaptable and student-centered pathways.

Participate in this collaborative roundtable to discuss the evolving role of artificial intelligence in education. We will exchange ideas on maintaining academic integrity while exploring innovative strategies to leverage AI as a tool for classroom enhancement.

A guided discussion on balancing care, accountability, and learning when responding to student behavior across classroom and campus contexts.

Contract grading asks students to commit to a contract spelling out what they need to accomplish to attain specific grades. This session will explain what contract grading is in more detail, explain the benefits, and talk through major concerns of both instructors and students.

Confused about when to use Microsoft Teams versus Microsoft Groups? This session breaks down the strengths and ideal use cases for each platform. We'll compare features, integration options, and collaboration workflows, helping you select the right tool for your needs. The CX team will provide real-life scenarios, answer your questions, and offer recommendations for maximizing communication and teamwork across your projects.

This table discussion will focus on finding a sustainable balance between administrative efficiency and meaningful student mentorship, especially for advisors managing large advising loads. We will explore practical strategies for streamlining routine advising tasks through the use of templates, standardized communication tools, and simple tracking systems that help reduce cognitive load and save time without losing quality of support. Come ready to share your own tips and learn how to maintain boundaries without sacrificing support.

We will introduce key career support resources for students, especially a new "Practice AI" feature on the Big Interview platform that will prepare students for this increasingly used screening interview modality.

Faculty and staff work with survivors of interpersonal violence every day, whether we know it or not. Join WAVE for a workshop on supporting student survivors and implementing trauma-informed practices. Participants will gain tangible skills for effectively responding to disclosures of sexual/relationship violence in the moment and providing a warm hand-off to on- and off-campus resources.

Interdisciplinary collaboration enhances teaching, student engagement, and research opportunities. Session participants will be invited to share success stories of interdisciplinary teaching, local and global travel, service-learning collaboration, and political engagement. The session facilitators will create a shared working document of faculty interested in potential collaboration across the university.

Supporting students often requires us to draw on both skill and self-awareness. This discussion creates space to build confidence, deepen our approach to student interactions, and consider how we sustain our own well-being along the way. Together, we'll reflect on what works, what's challenging, and how we can better support both students and ourselves.

Teaching often involves moments that are unexpected, sensitive, or challenging. This peer mentoring conversation will provide faculty with an opportunity to discuss difficult classroom situations and learn from one another's experiences. Participants will share strategies, reflect on effective responses, and strengthen their confidence in addressing challenging moments in ways that support student learning and foster a respectful classroom community.

In this session, we will provide updates on library resources and the research process as they are impacted by changes in technology and the academic environment. Stop by to learn all of the ways the library serves as an ally to you and your students.

Explore some of the Microsoft applications supported by the CX team in this hands-on showcase. From OneDrive and Outlook to Planner and Forms, we'll highlight the tools at your disposal and demonstrate how they can streamline your daily tasks. Learn about new features, integration tips and more. Whether you're a seasoned user or just getting started, this informal session will help you unlock a deeper understanding of Microsoft's productivity ecosystem.

This instructional session provides a comprehensive walkthrough of the latest Canvas features, including a specific focus on navigating the transition to New Quizzes.

Can AI replace faculty? Drawing on my experience training AI to perform doctoral-level reasoning, this session examines its efficiency alongside the enduring need for human judgment and intellectual depth, proposing how faculty can leverage AI's distinct reasoning approach to advance the academe.

Rest is often framed as an individual act, but this guided discussion invites us to reimagine it as a collective and structural practice within higher education. Together, we'll reflect on productivity pressures, explore how we cultivate rest in motion, and consider how collective care can foster more humane and sustainable ways of working and being in academia.

Join this casual roundtable forum to share your experiences, ask questions, and brainstorm solutions with TLT and CX in an unstructured setting. Whether you are seeking advice on a specific challenge or simply want to engage in community dialogue, your perspective is the focus of this session.

Teaching often involves moments that are unexpected, sensitive, or challenging. This peer mentoring conversation will provide faculty with an opportunity to discuss difficult classroom situations and learn from one another's experiences. Participants will share strategies, reflect on effective responses, and strengthen their confidence in addressing challenging moments in ways that support student learning and foster a respectful classroom community.

Join this interactive session designed to boost your productivity with practical, real-world solutions. Bring your "How do I…?" questions—whether it's organizing your workflow, automating repetitive tasks, or making the most of your digital tools. The CX team can demonstrate time-saving tips, share best practices, and help you troubleshoot common productivity hurdles. This is your opportunity to get personalized guidance and discover new ways to work smarter, not harder.

We will introduce key career support resources for students, especially a new "Practice AI" feature on the Big Interview platform that will prepare students for this increasingly used screening interview modality.

Contract grading asks students to commit to a contract spelling out what they need to accomplish to attain specific grades. This session will explain what contract grading is in more detail, explain the benefits, and talk through major concerns of both instructors and students.

This instructional session provides a comprehensive walkthrough of the latest Canvas features, including a specific focus on navigating the transition to New Quizzes.

This table talk will focus on advancing Student Success initiatives, with an emphasis on helping students explore alternative academic pathways and navigate key transitional moments. Drawing on NISS Playbook recommendations, participants will consider strategies that support students in making informed decisions when their original academic plans shift. The discussion will highlight approaches for guiding students through transitions with clarity, flexibility, and sustained support. Attendees will be encouraged to share practices that promote persistence through adaptable and student-centered pathways.

Participate in this collaborative roundtable to discuss the evolving role of artificial intelligence in education. We will exchange ideas on maintaining academic integrity while exploring innovative strategies to leverage AI as a tool for classroom enhancement.

A guided discussion on balancing care, accountability, and learning when responding to student behavior across classroom and campus contexts.

Faculty and staff work with survivors of interpersonal violence every day, whether we know it or not. Join WAVE for a workshop on supporting student survivors and implementing trauma-informed practices. Participants will gain tangible skills for effectively responding to disclosures of sexual/relationship violence in the moment and providing a warm hand-off to on- and off-campus resources.

Confused about when to use Microsoft Teams versus Microsoft Groups? This session breaks down the strengths and ideal use cases for each platform. We'll compare features, integration options, and collaboration workflows, helping you select the right tool for your needs. The CX team will provide real-life scenarios, answer your questions, and offer recommendations for maximizing communication and teamwork across your projects.

Picture it: Around a small table strewn with coffee cups and notepads, you and your colleagues lean into a candid conversation about how joy has quietly slipped out of your teaching. Someone shares how they'd stopped experimenting due to workload fatigue while another feels demoralized by the institutional culture. You recall a story of a lesson that flopped…and laughter erupts with complete understanding. The conversation shifts to moments when students surprised you with creativity reminding everyone why they entered academia in the first place. Together, you name simple pathways back to joy—designing assignments around curiosity, making room for play and storytelling, and granting permission to be fully human in the classroom. The conversation ends not just with solutions, but with renewal to teach with warmth, wonder, and purpose. Sooo…wanna chat?

Instead of asking how to AI-proof your assignments, this session takes one more step back to ask: what was the essay actually doing? We'll work together to precisely name the skills students were developing and the abilities we were assessing. From there, we'll explore what other assignments and assessment modalities could foster those same skills in a world where the essay alone no longer can.

In this session, we will provide updates on library resources and the research process as they are impacted by changes in technology and the academic environment. Stop by to learn all of the ways the library serves as an ally to you and your students.

Interdisciplinary collaboration enhances teaching, student engagement, and research opportunities. Session participants will be invited to share success stories of interdisciplinary teaching, local and global travel, service-learning collaboration, and political engagement. The session facilitators will create a shared working document of faculty interested in potential collaboration across the university.

Supporting students often requires us to draw on both skill and self-awareness. This discussion creates space to build confidence, deepen our approach to student interactions, and consider how we sustain our own well-being along the way. Together, we'll reflect on what works, what's challenging, and how we can better support both students and ourselves.

Rest is often framed as an individual act, but this guided discussion invites us to reimagine it as a collective and structural practice within higher education. Together, we'll reflect on productivity pressures, explore how we cultivate rest in motion, and consider how collective care can foster more humane and sustainable ways of working and being in academia.

Join this casual roundtable forum to share your experiences, ask questions, and brainstorm solutions with TLT and CX in an unstructured setting. Whether you are seeking advice on a specific challenge or simply want to engage in community dialogue, your perspective is the focus of this session.

Explore some of the Microsoft applications supported by the CX team in this hands-on showcase. From OneDrive and Outlook to Planner and Forms, we'll highlight the tools at your disposal and demonstrate how they can streamline your daily tasks. Learn about new features, integration tips and more. Whether you're a seasoned user or just getting started, this informal session will help you unlock a deeper understanding of Microsoft's productivity ecosystem.

Can AI replace faculty? Drawing on my experience training AI to perform doctoral-level reasoning, this session examines its efficiency alongside the enduring need for human judgment and intellectual depth, proposing how faculty can leverage AI's distinct reasoning approach to advance the academe.

Join this interactive session designed to boost your productivity with practical, real-world solutions. Bring your "How do I…?" questions—whether it's organizing your workflow, automating repetitive tasks, or making the most of your digital tools. The CX team can demonstrate time-saving tips, share best practices, and help you troubleshoot common productivity hurdles. This is your opportunity to get personalized guidance and discover new ways to work smarter, not harder.

Instead of asking how to AI-proof your assignments, this session takes one more step back to ask: what was the essay actually doing? We'll work together to precisely name the skills students were developing and the abilities we were assessing. From there, we'll explore what other assignments and assessment modalities could foster those same skills in a world where the essay alone no longer can.