Every Tuesday in OnCampus the Deputy Provost shares two articles with a read time of 10 minutes.

First-Year Seminar faculty are invited to our final lunch of the semester—this one will be face-to-face and with actual food—on Friday, Nov. 19, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in Howard Hall, Room 210. And, if you’re interested in teaching an FYS, but haven’t had a chance to chat about what it is like, you’re also invited! We’ll connect about how the semester has gone, what you would do differently, and how you’ll continue to build and strengthen classroom community in the final weeks of the semester.  Please email Nicki.Kimm@drake.edu to register by Nov. 12. Please let her know if you have any dietary restrictions or needs.

Also on Nov. 19 in Howard Hall, Room 210, from 1–3 p.m., the Deputy Provost’s Office is teaming up with the Office of Sponsored Program Administration and Research Compliance for an interactive two-hour session on funding your research. Please register here, so we can think ahead about the kinds of resources we provide, and can start to build opportunities for collaboration into the design of our time together.

Calling all Department Chairs—the Chronicle of Higher Education has a great handbook on the role of chairs in strategic departmental leadership. If you missed the opportunity to download it, please reach out to me (renee.cramer@drake.edu). I have a copy that I’m happy to send your way! The article on “what we can’t afford to lose” when we get back to face-to-face operations is really interesting, and reminds me to remind you: I’d love to hear from people who want to engage in a bit of conversation about how pandemic has changed our approach to teaching and learning. I’m seeking nominations for people to form a loose working group—meeting pretty regularly from December to May—to understand the impact that COVID-19 has had on the way we approach our students, our classrooms, and our profession. Please email renee.cramer@drake.edu to volunteer yourself and nominate your colleagues. We’ll meet in ways that are generative, not onerous; and we’ll develop an institutionally-useful report on what we learn about how our approaches have grown and changed. The Chronicle is hosting a free three-day ‘festival’ on higher education, with one session dedicated to thinking about the future, in light of our recent past. Here’s the link to register. If you plan to attend and want to have a zoom watch party, email me and we can be in community together as we learn this information.

Finally, you may have seen that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who authored the books that popularized the concept of “flow,” passed away earlier this month. This piece from a year ago, in the Chronicle, references him and offers a perspective on how our classrooms can be respites for our students (and, I’d argue, for ourselves). Enjoy it with a cup of tea, if you have a moment to spare.

— Renée Cramer, Deputy Provost