Dates and times for all scheduled events are available on the calendar.

The Sheridan Teaching Seminar Lectures

The Sheridan Teaching Seminar consists of a series of five lectures throughout the academic year pertaining to teaching in all disciplines, each followed by relevant interactive workshop sessions. The goal is to explore broad pedagogical issues and specific methods for implementing them. These interdisciplinary lectures are organized around the general theme of those elements which may comprise an individual or departmental Teaching Portfolio. Topics to be covered include: Pedagogical Goals and Objectives, Cognitive Diversity and Teaching, Persuasive Communication, and Syllabus Construction. The seminar will culminate in the development of an individual Teaching Philosophy, which may be the basis for Teaching Portfolios, job applications, grant proposals or tenure and promotion. Participation in the Sheridan Teaching Seminar (including the creation of an individual Teaching Philosophy statement) is one of the three requirements for the Sheridan Teaching Seminar - Certificate I Program.

The Faculty Mentoring Program for Junior Faculty (for Teaching)

Four senior faculty members, one from each of the academic divisions, serve as the Center's Faculty Fellows. They are responsible for mentoring and consulting with new and junior faculty on their teaching concerns. Throughout the year, the Center provides a variety of opportunities, including the Junior Faculty Roundtable described immediately below, for new and junior faculty to meet informally with their faculty mentors. Interested faculty should contact the Center.

In addition, the Office of the Dean of the Faculty will pair new faculty with "seasoned" faculty from different departments. The principal goal of the mentoring relationship is to facilitate in a friendly and relaxed way the new faculty member's introduction into the Brown community - socially and professionally. New faculty members who wish to participate should contact Associate Dean of the Faculty Carolyn Dean.

The Junior Faculty Roundtable

Sponsored by the Dean of the Faculty, the Junior Faculty Roundtable is a series of gatherings designed to bring new and junior faculty together with campus leaders and senior colleagues to explore a variety of faculty issues. These include Documenting the Scholarship of Your Teaching, Grading Problems and Challenges, Mid-Semester Feedback, Teaching Graduate Students, and Balancing Teaching and Research.The Center's four Faculty Fellows regularly participate in the Junior Faculty Roundtable.

Faculty Seminars

In response to suggestions from Brown faculty, the Sheridan Center organizes several seminars during the course of each academic year. Topics from previous years include: Teaching Large Classes, Writing Assignments - Creating Meaningful Prompts and Giving Meaningful Feedback, Crafting Educational Components of Research Grants, Mid-Semester Feedback, Grade Inflation and the Brown Grading System, the Writing Requirement, Languages Across the Curriculum, Universal Instructional Design, Course Assessment and Student Evaluation, and Departmental Teaching Evaluations.

Graduate Student Seminars

The Center organizes seminars for graduate students during the course of each academic year. Topics of past seminars, offered in conjunction with the Office of Summer Studies, include both Syllabus Construction and Teaching Preparation for Summer Studies Courses. The Center welcomes proposals for new seminars.

The Brown/Wheaton Faculty Fellows Program

The Brown/Wheaton Faculty Fellows Program is a partnership that brings selected Brown University graduate students to Wheaton College to teach courses in their academic fields and to gain valuable experience in the responsibilities and challenges of professional membership in a college community. For more information, visit the websites of Brown's Graduate School and Wheaton's Office of the Provost. To support the Faculty Fellows Program, each year the Sheridan Center offers a graduate student seminar on topics such as Faculty Life at a Liberal Arts College and a course proposal workshop. As the program continues, future seminars will be developed to support it.

Departmental Seminars and Colloquia

The Center is available to assist departmental faculty and graduate teaching assistants in organizing specific seminars and colloquia designed to provide effective pedagogical exchange on selected topics, such as instructional assessment, teaching portfolios, etc. These seminars and colloquia may be arranged for a variety of audience in an array of formats, depending upon the needs of the individual department. The Center will supply relevant materials and organizational assistance upon request.

Brown Teaching Collaborative

This informal group of faculty and staff at Brown meets monthly throughout the academic year for a series of brown-bag lunch sessions to share news, ideas and concerns about issues of teaching and learning at Brown and elsewhere. It is open to all faculty staff involved with teaching at Brown. Visit the events calendar for the next meeting.

The Sheridan Teaching Forums

The Sheridan Center Teaching Forums, frequently sponsored in concert with the CCC and CIS, are lectures or panels concerning educational issues of interest to the entire University teaching community. Past speakers have included Dr. Howard Gardner (Harvard University) on academic disciplines, Prof. Kenneth Miller (Brown University) on strategies for pedagogical collaboration between faculty and graduate teachings assistants, and Dr. Peter Seldin (Pace University) on Teaching Portfolios.