RECAST | Academic Retreat Agenda
From: Caraher, John <caraherj@evergreen.edu>
Sent: Friday, September 11, 2020 1:55 PM
To: All Staff & Faculty DL <AllStaffFaculty@evergreen.edu>
Dear Faculty Colleagues,
I want to call attention to an easily-overlooked line in our original message (see below):
“We will organize and add your suggestions as we are able to the agenda by Friday, September 18.”
The Tuesday deadline is not a final deadline for having your ideas shape the Day Two and Day Three work, but exists simply to allow us to share a preliminary list of ideas on Thursday morning. If offering an idea before the Tuesday deadline would entail work in conflict with a day of furlough for you, be assured that you will have the opportunity to do offer your suggestions for full consideration on the first day of the retreat.
Dear Colleagues,
On behalf of the planning group for the Fall 2020 Academic Retreat, I’d like to share with you some information about our plans. In order to limit Zoom fatigue, this year’s retreat will be spread across three days (Please look over the attached agenda for details!).
Thursday, September 17 will be a longer day (10:00 AM – 3:30 PM) with the overall intent of sharing information and catching up with one another.
On the second day of the retreat, Monday, September 21 (1:00-5:00 PM), there will be a chance for smaller groups of people to meet on topical issues in two parallel 75-minute sessions (think of this days as a mini-conference). We have a few of these planned already and invite participants to submit their ideas for these “choice group” sessions. Please submit your “choice group” ideas to John Caraher (caraherj@evergreen.edu) by 5:00pm on Tuesday, September 16. For example, a topic might be discussion of significant learning from summer institutes. If you are proposing a session, you will need to identify a facilitator. We will contact all facilitators to coordinate setting up Zooms.
The third day, Wednesday, September 23 (1:00-5:00 PM), is for faculty to come together around program planning, finding teaching partners, and having discussions. The first session will focus on program planning. For the second session, we want to foster discussion spaces where people can meet prospective teaching partners (and at the very least, meet with people you don’t know very well). If you have ideas for areas that you might be interested in teaching, and you would like us to set up a thematic group on that topic, please submit your ideas to John Caraher. If you are fine with a random group to come up with a dream program, or just learn more about one another’s work, that’s fine too. For these suggestions as well, please submit by 5:00pm on Tuesday, September 16.
We will organize and add your suggestions as we are able to the agenda by Friday, September 18.
We look forward to seeing you (if only “virtually”) soon!
(Participants in retreat organizing work: John Caraher, Arun Chandra, Clarissa Dirks, Karen Gaul, Andrew Reece, Sarah Ryan, Julie Slone, Elizabeth Williamson with input from the other members of the Agenda Committee)
—
John Caraher
Member of the Faculty (Physics)
Faculty Chair, 2019-2021
The Evergreen State College
