Join CNDLS Executive Director Edward Maloney for an official welcome to TLISI 2025, followed by a conversation with Dr. Ashley Finley, Vice President for Research and Senior Advisor to the President, AAC&U, on the recently released report "Academic Freedom and Civil Discourse in Higher Education: A National Study of Faculty Attitudes and Perceptions.” Conducted by AAC&U in conjunction with the Association of University Professors (AAUP), the report highlights recommendations for strengthening academic freedom, promoting institutional engagement, facilitating meaningful dialogue, and aligning these efforts with the broader goal of ensuring that colleges and universities serve the common good.
Vice President for Research and Senior Advisor to the President, American Association of Colleges and Universities
To schedule time to chat, please go here: https://cozycal.com/coaches/ashley-finleyAshley Finley is the vice president for research and senior advisor to the president at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). She was previously associate vice president for academic affairs and founding dean of the Dominican Experience at Dominican University... Read More →
In this session, members of the Engelhard Student Advisory Board will highlight student experiences with Engelhard courses. The session will feature insightful interviews with students from across the university and a panel discussion with the Engelhard Student Advisory Board, showcasing how Engelhard courses have shaped their academic and personal growth. We invite everyone to join us, from Engelhard Project long-time champions to the Engelhard-curious. Faculty will gain valuable insights into how these courses enhance student well-being, foster meaningful relationships in the classroom, and strengthen connections between students and professors. We hope participants leave with a renewed perspective on the value of whole-person learning and the lasting mutual benefits of integrating an Engelhard component into their teaching.
What happens when a robot dog becomes your study partner? In this session, Albina Yildiz will share her experience using Loona, a conversational AI robot, to support her coursework over the semester. The presentation explores how Loona influenced both the cognitive and affective dimensions of learning, offering insight into emerging AI tools as companions in academic life. The session will include a short interactive activity adapted from Harvard’s AI Pedagogy Project.
This session invites faculty and staff to explore how they can foster a more inclusive learning environment for international students. Panelists will share insights into the common challenges international students face and offer practical strategies for supporting their academic success and sense of belonging. The session will also encourage participants to share their own questions and experiences, as well as collaborate on approaches for strengthening communication between faculty, staff, and students, and between colleagues coordinating across campus in support of inclusive practices.
In this panel, faculty share innovative approaches to integrating experiential learning into online environments. Drawing from their teaching practice, panelists will offer insights into what works, what challenges they’ve faced, and how online experiential learning can foster learning.
Join us for an engaging conversation between Dr. Julia Watts Belser, professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and core faculty in the Disability Studies Program, and Dr. Amy Kenny, inaugural director of the Disability Cultural Center. This conversation will reimagine what creating a culture of access can be for our spaces (material and spiritual), classrooms, and communities. We will share our understanding of a more capacious and community-based model of access, and invite colleagues to consider how this embodies our shared work of making our worlds more generative and imaginative.
Together, we will share our insights as scholar-practitioners and discuss ways that access can become an art form. Bring your curiosities, questions, and wonder at how we can move our collective praxis of access beyond checklists and chaos, and into a more holistic way to create co-flourishing.
In this panel, students share their experiences in a program that fosters engagement with difference through scholarship and intercultural dialogue—on campus, in D.C., and globally.
