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AI Research Assistance Tools in Library Databases
Date: Wednesday, September 16, 2026 (12:15-1:15 p.m.)
Location: Lathrop Hall, 107 Conference Room
Facilitator(s): Joe Donnelly, Lynne Kvinnesland, Rebecca Leonhard, and Peter Tagtmeyer

AI research assistant tools are increasingly being integrated into library databases. How might the use of these tools support the undergraduate research process? How might they hinder student learning? Please join library faculty Joe Donnelly, Lynne Kvinnesland, Rebecca Leonhard, and Peter Tagtmeyer for a demonstration of some of these tools and a conversation around their potential impact on student learning. Lunch will be available for this session, and we kindly request that you so we can plan for an appropriate amount of food.

Thinking on Blank Paper: Handwritten Notes and the Liberal Arts
Date: Friday, September 25, 2026 (12:15-1:15 p.m.)
Location: Lathrop Hall, 107 Conference Room
Facilitator: Ferdinand von Muench

In an age of increasingly sophisticated digital technology, analog tools and techniques still have educational potential for all of us: students, faculty, and staff. Based on Roland Allen’s book (2024) and—more importantly—on the personal experiences of the participants, this teaching table will explore some materials, practices, and benefits of handwritten notes and sketches in blank paper notebooks of various sizes. Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks are world-famous for their stupendous, wide-ranging intellectual curiosity and creativity; however, one doesn’t have to be a genius or “Renaissance man” to enjoy using an old-fashioned notebook as a “second brain” in learning, teaching, research, and everyday life. Lunch will be available for this session, and we kindly request that you so we can plan for an appropriate amount of food.
 

Overview: The AI, Teaching, and Scholarship series creates a forum for sharing ideas and exploring questions about the ways faculty are engaging with AI in their courses, scholarship, and creative work. The sessions are intended to highlight a range of experiences and perspectives, while generating dialogue that broadens awareness and understanding. The series aims to create opportunities for faculty to learn from one another as they navigate a rapidly changing educational and scholarly landscape. (Co-sponsored by the CLTR and the Division of Natural Science and Mathematics).

AI Tutors and Student Learning
Date: Tuesday, September 8, 2026 (11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.)
Location: Case-Geyer, 560 Batza Room
Facilitator: Will Cipolli

The use of AI to support student learning presents both opportunities and concerns. In this session, Will Cipolli, associate professor of mathematics, will share his experiences using AI as a tutoring and learning support tool. Drawing on his work with - a platform that allows instructors to create and share custom AI assistants tailored to specific courses - Cipolli will discuss how AI can be used to provide students with additional guidance and support, while also reflecting on the pedagogical questions and challenges that accompany these emerging practices. Lunch will be available for this session, and we kindly request that you so we can plan for an appropriate amount of food.

New Directions in Scholarship
Date: Thursday, October 1, 2026 (11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.)
Location: Bernstein Hall, 215/217 Computer Lab and Lounge
Facilitator(s): Noah Apthorpe, Rebecca Metzler, and Rebecca Shiner

As AI tools become more visible within research and creative practice, faculty are beginning to explore new possibilities while also grappling with important questions about authorship, expertise, judgment, and scholarly integrity. This session provides an opportunity to hear how colleagues are engaging with AI in their own work and to consider together how these technologies may be influencing scholarly and creative practice across disciplines. Lunch will be available for this session, and we kindly request that you so we can plan for an appropriate amount of food.

Teaching With and About AI
Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2026 (11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.)
Location: Case-Geyer, 560 Batza Room
Facilitator(s): Nick Diana, Yang Song, and Aaron Wolf

What does it mean to teach with AI? What does it mean to teach about AI? As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly relevant across disciplines, faculty are exploring a range of responses—from incorporating AI tools into coursework to examining their broader implications for knowledge, creativity, work, and society. This panel brings together faculty whose courses engage AI in different ways and invites conversation about the opportunities, tensions, and educational questions emerging from these efforts. Lunch will be available for this session, and we kindly request that you so we can plan for an appropriate amount of food.

Exploring Gemini Notebook and Claude Projects 
Date: Thursday, October 29, 2026 (11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.)
Location: Bernstein Hall, 215/217 Computer Lab and Lounge
Facilitator(s): Doug Johnson and Joel Sommers

�ҴǴDz�����’s Gemini Notebook and Anthropic’s Claude Projects use the technique of Retrieval-Augmented Generation to help ground LLM responses in user-uploaded content such as research articles, course materials, and other resources. In this session, Douglas Johnson, Dean of Academic and Curricular Affairs and William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences, and Joel Sommers, Director of the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and Professor of Computer Science will discuss their experiences using these tools to support student learning in coursework and in research. Lunch will be available for this session, and we kindly request that you so we can plan for an appropriate amount of food.

On Building a Gaza Social Media Archive
Date: Wednesday, November 4, 2026 (12:15-1:15 p.m.)
Location: Case-Geyer, 560 Batza Room
Facilitator(s): Dan Monk and Andrew Smith

The rapid disappearance of social media documenting the Gaza conflict presented an urgent challenge for preserving a record of an historically significant event. This session examines how one �Ա���Ƶ social scientist, working collaboratively with ITS and Library colleagues, is creating the Gaza Visual Social Media Archive (G-VSMA) through an iterative process of research, design, and software development. Together, the project brought AI into the development of the archive’s software, editorial workflow, and multilingual content analysis. The discussion will reflect on what this work suggests about the evolving role of AI in scholarly inquiry, research design, collaboration, and knowledge creation. Lunch will be available for this session, and we kindly request that you so we can plan for an appropriate amount of food.

This faculty learning community (FLC) will take place during the fall 2026 semester. We invite you to review the description linked below to learn more about the program and the application process. If you have any questions or would like to discuss the FLC further, please feel free to contact the CLTR at cltr@colgate.edu.

This faculty learning community (FLC) took place during the fall 2025 and spring 2026 semesters. The documents linked below provide a description of the FLC, and a summary of the work of the community. Please feel free to reach out to the CLTR (cltr@colgate.edu) with any questions you might have.

This faculty learning community (FLC) took place during the fall 2025 and spring 2026 semesters. The documents linked below provide a description of the FLC, a summary of the work of the community, and a podcast episode interviewing members of the FLC. Please feel free to reach out to the CLTR (cltr@colgate.edu) with any questions you might have.

The document linked below provides additional information about the work of this faculty learning community (FLC), which will be meeting regularly throughout the 2024-2025 academic year. A brief summary is also available that outlines some of the ideas and lessons learned from the fall 2024 semester.

(overview)

Please review the document linked below to learn more about the Faculty Teaching Fellows program and apply to be a participant.

Megan Brankley Abbas, Associate Professor of Religion; Chair, Department of Religion, will serve as the CLTR Faculty Teaching Fellow for 2026 - 2027. In fall 2026, professor Brankley Abbas will help launch a new pedagogical pilot project at �Ա���Ƶ: The Tech-Free Work Space. The Tech-Free Work Space seeks to provide a welcoming and low-distraction environment where students can practice close reading, critical thinking, original writing, and other important habits of mind in the company of their classmates and faculty hosts. It will also provide an opportunity to gather and analyze student perspectives on low-tech, human-centered approaches to learning in our new age of AI. The pilot includes a cohort of 13 faculty members from a diverse range of departments and disciplines. The Tech-Free Work Space is open only to pilot faculty and is intended primarily for students enrolled in their courses. Please feel free to reach out to Megan with questions you may have about the pilot (mabbas@colgate.edu).

Mark Stern, professor of educational studies, is recipient of the 2026 Jerome Balmuth Award for Teaching. In this capacity, Mark will offer programming through the CLTR to explore ideas about teaching and learning…and connections to cooking and sharing food.

Pedagogical Potluck
Date: Monday, September 28, 2026 (5:30-7:30 p.m.)
Location: 9 East Kendrick Avenue
Facilitator: Mark Stern
We digest or metabolize new ideas. We feed our brains. There is food for thought. Ideas can be half-baked or simmering. Souls are nourished. Linguistically, food metaphors abound in talking about education and pedagogy. This potluck gathering will offer a space for faculty and staff to consider these rhetorical relationships and how thinking deliciously can be a generative force in the classroom. All participants will be asked to bring a dish to share that relates, in some way, to their work in the classroom, on the page, or in the institution more generally (eggheads and bean counters alike!). We will break bread, likely compare apples to oranges, and, with hope, bite off more than we can chew as conversation ferments ideas about food and its relationship to our work in and out of the classroom. Please RSVP by clicking .

Constance Harsh, Professor of English and Rebecca S. Chopp Chair in the Humanities, will serve as the inaugural CLTR Teaching Fellow. In this role, Connie is leading a collaborative project focused on exploring strategies to strengthen students’ capacities for deep reading and comprehensive reflection. The hope is that faculty can think about how to support students as they seek to extend their attention span in a world full of distractions. In the spring 2025 semester, we’ll host several conversations to pursue this project. 

The first conversation will take place on January 31 at 12:15 in 101A McGregory Hall. This will provide an opportunity for faculty to learn more about the project, and consider a plan for the semester that will have two chief aims: understanding the obstacles to reading deeply and paying sustained attention; developing methods for chipping away at those obstacles.

Each conversation this term will be individually announced to the community. To be added to the mailing list, contact Connie or the Center for Learning, Teaching, and Research (cltr@colgate.edu). A few faculty teaching FSEMs in fall 2025 will collaborate on implementing some of the strategies we identify. Reach out if you would like to join this cohort.

During the fall 2026 semester, a new cohort of student partners will be participating in an orientation course to assist in preparing them for partnership roles with faculty members in the spring 2027 semester. We will also be engaged in outreach to share information about partnership work, and invite interested faculty to contact the CLTR (cltr@colgate.edu) with questions or to express interest in participating in this program. Below are links to documents providing more information about the program.