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Faculty Engagement
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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. Our Faculty Engagement program is led by Karolyn Kinane.
Recent articles:
- "Care, Community, and Social Change,” with Genevieve Brackins, Maxine Platzer Women’s Center, UVA
- "Contemplative and Open Pedagogies: Trusting Ourselves and One Another,” Claire Lyu, Department of French, UVA
- "Inclusive Contemplative Pedagogy,” Shizuka Modica, Darden School of Business, UVA
- "Promoting Kindness, Community, and an Exploration of Imperfection to Enhance Learning," Ran Zhao, East Asian Languages, Literatures & Cultures, UVA
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 Karolyn Kinane kk7av@virginia.edu.
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! To join or learn more, email Karolyn Kinane kk7av@virginia.edu by September 9, 2022.
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. For more information, email Karolyn Kinane kk7av@virginia.edu.
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. For more information, email Karolyn Kinane kk7av@virginia.edu.
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. For more information, email Karolyn Kinane kk7av@virginia.edu.
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.
Learn more and register for the 2022 Institute for Teaching and Learning.
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.
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
Virtual Meditation on the Lawn
During the school year, these 15-minute meditation sessions are led by different instructors and inspiring UVA leaders every Monday at 7:45am ET. 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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