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Faculty Engagement

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Faculty Engagement

The Contemplative Sciences Center offers retreats, workshops, learning communities, and consultations for faculty interested in learning more about contemplative teaching and learning at UVA and beyond.


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To stay up-to-date on Faculty Engagement programs and services, subscribe to CSC's e-newsletter here.

Got News?
Let us know about your publications and presentations that relate to contemplative aspects of teaching and learning. Email CSC csc@virginia.edu.
 


FACULTY LEARNING COMMUNITIES


Contemplative Practice Faculty Group
CSC invites all UVA faculty to join our Contemplative Practice Faculty Group, which meets weekly for contemplative practice including mindfulness; gentle movement; and relational and observational practices. This group is open to any UVA instructor whether new to contemplation, a seasoned practitioner, or anywhere in between. For the 2022–2023 academic year, the group meets via Zoom every Wednesday 12:00-12:15pm starting September 3 - December 7, 2022. Past members are welcome!  

Teaching & Learning Faculty Community 

Meets once a month to discuss the theories and practices of contemplative teaching and learning, share ideas, hear from seasoned practitioners, and help one another explore questions and concerns that arise on this journey. Focus is on contemplative teaching and learning in service of student flourishing.

Research & Scholarship Faculty Community
Meets once a month to set our individual or collective research project goals, read and discuss core studies in the field, and read/comment upon each other’s drafts for conference presentation and/or publication.


CONSULTATIONS


All UVA faculty and instructors invited to meet one-on-one with one of our seasoned staff to consider ways to bring contemplative approaches into your teaching, scholarship, or personal life. Format varies depending on faculty need.


CONTEMPLATIVE INSTITUTE FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING


Building capacities for awareness, connection, and values-aligned education 

This annual Institute on UVA Grounds is open to faculty from all UVA schools, career stages, and backgrounds. It's designed to connect and support faculty who want to embrace a more holistic approach to teaching and learning that fosters student flourishing, personal renewal, and systems change. 

The Institute’s curriculum is grounded in inquiry, awareness of self, and connection to others. Through practices, discussion, and interactive exercises, participants will explore and reconnect with the values and passions that brought them to their disciplines and to teaching. Participants will develop and share concrete strategies for integrating contemplative inquiry into the design or re-design of a course or assignment to support critical thinking, foster creative expression, and deepen students’ connections with the material and one another. The Institute may also help prepare instructors to facilitate profoundly active, contemplative, and experiential learning in the class lab spaces of the Contemplative Commons, which is slated to open in 2023.

Prior experience with contemplative practice and/or pedagogy is not required but welcomed. Following the Institute participants will have the option to participate in a year-long Community of Practice during the academic year.


CONTEMPLATIVE COURSE DESIGN VIDEO SERIES


This series of eight short videos produced by CSC's Associate Director of Pedagogy and Faculty Engagement, Karolyn Kinane, introduces contemplative pedagogy and offers college instructors the basic vocabulary and skills to begin to engage in teaching as a contemplative practice. With special attention to the approach's role in backward design, the instruction offers specific examples from online learning environments in higher education. 

The videos also address the relationship between course design best practices and contemplative values including  presence, awareness, and reflection. The series offers exercises which identify the beliefs, habits, and intentions that undergird instructors’ teaching philosophies and practices. Videos offer guidance on developing strategies to design learning experiences in line with one’s most pressing goals for student-learning.


View eight short videos on contemplative course design


SPRING 2022 WORKSHOPS


Values & Your PhD/Postdoctoral Journey
Jan. 24, 2022, 3:30-5:00pm
For PhD students and postdocs

Contemplative Inquiry, Pedagogy and Practice
Jan. 31, 2022, 3:30-5:00pm
For PhD students and postdocs


UVA EMPLOYEE RESOURCES


The Contemplative Sciences Center offers a number of classes and resources that support the flourishing and well-being of both UVA staff and faculty:
 
Contemplative Classes: Yoga, Mindfulness, and More
CSC offers an extensive schedule of free classes throughout the week on a variety of yoga styles, mindfulness meditation, T’ai Chi, and more. Learn more and register.
 

Insight Timer
UVA faculty have free premium access to thousands of guided meditations, courses, and other digital content from renowned contemplative experts. Follow CSC in the app to find our curated playlists. Download the app and learn more.

Tips for Beginner Meditators
These are general tips for practicing meditation. Additions or adjustments to these guidelines may apply to specific meditation practices and may be provided by individual contemplative instructors leading a particular practice. Learn more.

Related Media
Exploring the Creative Process through Contemplation: A New Lab for Students

Students at the University of Virginia Explore how Meditation Influences their Creative Process

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