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Center for Teaching & Mentoring

Faculty Learning Communities

A Faculty Learning Community (or FLC) is a group of interdisciplinary faculty who engage in an active, collaborative, year-long program. FLC’s are open to all full-time faculty via an application process. Up to eight (8) participants are accepted for each FLC and receive a stipend of $500 for their participation in the year-long cohort. Each FLC focuses on researching a scholarly and pedagogical topic that is important to the larger academic community. Each FLC also generates a deliverable by the end of the academic year that is aligned to the FLC’s goals. Deliverables could include a variety of outputs demonstrating the community’s work and impact, such as presentations, resource pages, blog posts, a white paper, changes to/implications for teaching practices, etc.

The Center for Teaching & Mentoring offers support for FLCs each academic year. The program includes a curriculum geared to enhancing educational development with regularly-scheduled meetings and activities that provide participants with opportunities pertaining to the FLC’s thematic focus and stated goals. Once the FLC begins, participants attend monthly meetings that include teaching and learning activities, development and training opportunities, and community building. 

2025-2026 FLCs

Click on the APPLY button in the description below to apply for that FLC.

This FLC will support MTSU faculty in thoughtfully integrating generative AI into their teaching practices while upholding academic integrity and enhancing student learning. As AI tools continue to evolve and become more widely used by students, it is essential that educators adapt their courses to meet the realities of this new landscape. Ignoring AI is no longer an option; instead, this FLC provides space for faculty to proactively explore how AI can enhance instruction in meaningful and responsible ways.

Throughout the academic year, participants will collaboratively explore the benefits and challenges of using AI in the classroom. In Fall 2025, members will review relevant research, examine case studies, and participate in workshops focused on course design strategies, such as flipped classrooms, AI-enhanced group projects, and innovative assessment approaches. In Spring 2026, participants will pilot these strategies in their own courses and regularly reflect on their experiences to refine best practices.

This FLC is ideal for faculty who want to: 

  • Collaborate with an interdisciplinary group of faculty to explore the impact of generative AI on teaching and learning. 
  • Develop and implement responsible, course-specific strategies for integrating AI tools while maintaining academic integrity.
  • Contribute to campus-wide efforts by piloting AI-enhanced practices, creating shared resources, and presenting outcomes to the broader MTSU community.

This FLC supports MTSU faculty in preparing students for career success in a changing, post-pandemic workforce. Aligned with the university’s 2025 Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP): Career Edge, this community will explore how to holistically integrate career readiness into students’ academic experiences, beginning the moment they arrive on campus. MTSU is uniquely positioned to be a leader among peer institutions by providing campus-wide career readiness efforts that permeate every aspect of students’ lived experience at the university.  

Participants of this FLC will collaborate across disciplines to design and implement strategies that build students’ professional identities and align with key NACE competencies, specifically career and self-developmentandprofessionalism (NACE, 2025). Whether teaching a general education course or a major-specific seminar, faculty will gain practical, time-sensitive tools to enhance career readiness through their instruction. Participants will also engage with campus partners and peers to ensure career readiness is not limited to isolated courses but becomes a consistent element of the MTSU student journey. 

This FLC is ideal for faculty at any curricular level who want to: 

  • Join a campus-wide effort to embed career development into courses. 
  • Develop adaptable, course-specific, and discipline-specific career readiness strategies. 
  • Contribute to a shared bank of ready-to-use classroom activities supporting career readiness growth for students. 

This FLC invites faculty to engage with the national and international conversation around trauma in university settings, with a focus on teaching traumatic content and supporting students affected by trauma. With rising rates of sexual assault, suicide, and socioeconomic stress among college students, faculty must consider how trauma shapes the learning environment and how their teaching practices can support student well-being. 

Throughout the academic year, participants will study trauma-informed pedagogy across disciplines, examine how different departments approach traumatic content, and discuss appropriate classroom responses to student trauma, whether personal or campus-wide. The group will explore strategies for teaching difficult material with care and sensitivity, while also supporting student engagement and academic success. 

This FLC is ideal for faculty who want to: 

  • Collaborate on creating shared resources and presenting collective insights through an international symposium at the end of the academic year. 
  • Explore trauma-informed pedagogy and how to responsibly teach challenging or traumatic content across disciplines.
  • Develop practical strategies for supporting students who experience trauma or respond emotionally to course material or campus incidents. 

Previous FLCs

Assessment
Lisa Bass and Christina Cobb, Facilitators

Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement
Lara Daniel and Mary Evins, Facilitators

Trauma Informed Pedagogy Across the Disciplines
Olaf Berwald, Zabby Myers, and Ashley Valanzola, Facilitators

Best Practices for Planning and Developing a Signature Study Abroad Across Disciplines
Diane Edmondson and Lucy Matthews, Facilitators

Assessment
Layne Bryant and Robyn Ridgley, Facilitators

Intercultural Engagement in Short-Term Faculty-Led Study Abroad Programs Across Disciplines
Priya Ananth and Seok Jeng Jane Lim, Facilitators

Growing Undergraduate Academic Programs
Phillip Seagraves, Facilitator

Affordable Access for Student Success: An OER Learning Community
Ginelle Baskin, Facilitator

Study Abroad for the True Blue Core
Derek Frisby, Aliou Ly, and Suzanne Sutherland, Facilitators

Creating Relationship-Rich Environments: A Student-Centered Approach to Connection, Belonging, and Success Faculty Learning Community
Keri Carter, Facilitator

Raising the Bar: Elevating Teaching and Learning Research at MTSU
Jennifer Caputo and Samantha Johnson, Facilitators

Preservice Training: A Humanizing Pedagogy Approach
Kim Evert and Natalie Griffin, Facilitators

Foundational Themes in Liberal Arts: An Interdisciplinary Perspective
Janet McCormick, Facilitator

Faculty Learning Community on Assessment
Layne Bryant and Jeff Gibson, Facilitators

Connecting Online Graduate Students to the University Community
Chris Dye and Bethany Wrye, Facilitators

And Then There Was COVID: Exploring Inequity and Barriers to Higher Education Identified Through a Virtual Classroom Environment 
Claire Cook and Ida Fadzillah, Facilitators

Connecting Online Graduate Students to the University Community
Chris Dye and Bethany Wrye, Facilitators

Daring Pedagogy Faculty Learning Community
Shane McCoy, Facilitator

Incorporating Experiential OER Badges and Certifications to Enhance Student Learning and Workforce Preparedness
Diane Edmonson and Lucy Matthews, Facilitators

Integrating Practical Data Skills into the Classroom
Ken Blake and Sally Ann Cruikshank

Motivational Interviewing as Pedagogy
Deborah Lee and Liz Smith, Facilitators

Successfully Engaging Students in the Virtual Learning Environment
Sandy Benson, Facilitator

Using Integrative and Reflective Thinking to Promote an Inclusive Campus Culture
Christina Cobb and Chandra Story, Facilitators

Wikipedia for Scholars and Students
Joan McRae, Facilitator

Failing to Learn, Learning to Fail
Lando Carter, Facilitator

Gaming in the Classroom: A Look at Gamification
Christina M. Cobb and Meredith Anne S. Higgs, Facilitators

Inclusive Teaching
Carmelita L. Dotson and V. Nikki Jones, Facilitators

Navigating the Digital Humanities
Poushali Bhadury and Dr. Eric Detweiler, Facilitators

Offering a Blended Classroom at MTSU
Vishwas N. Bedekar, Facilitator

Spatial Computing in Education and Learning
Andrienne Friedli and John Wallin, Facilitators

The Works-in-Progress Writer’s Collaborative
Kate Pantelides, Facilitator

Best Practices for Career Preparation Courses
Tom Brinthaupt, Facilitator

Incorporating Global Perspectives
Laura White, Facilitator

MTSU General Education Redesign
Susan Myers-Shirk, Facilitator

Seeking Community, Support, and Growth for Black Faculty Members
Michelle Stevens, Facilitator

Signature Thinking: A Framework for Enhancing Creativity
Lando Carter and Kevin Krahenbuhl, Facilitators

Students as Knowledge Creators
Ryan Korstange and Jason Vance, Facilitators

Using a Showcase ePortfolio
Dianna Rust and Carol Swayze, Facilitators

Academic Rigor and Grade Inflation
William Levine, Facilitator

Open Data in Academic Teaching, Learning, and Research
Mary Ellen Sloane, Facilitator

Problem-Based Learning
Terry Goodin, Facilitator

Teaching Students in a STEM Major
Brian Slaboch, Facilitator

Teaching Trios: Sharing Our Classrooms to Promote Faculty Reflection on Teaching and Learning
Sarah Bleiler-Baxter, Facilitator

Graduate Education
Tom Brinthaupt, Facilitator

Interdisciplinary Learning Community
Meg Brooker and Kate Pantelides, Facilitators

MT Engage
Dianna Rust, Facilitator

Principles of the Mind and Student Success
Kevin Krahenbuhl, Facilitator

Sustainable Study Abroad
Ric Morris, Facilitator

Teaching and Mentoring International Students
Yang Soo Kim, Facilitator

Contact Us

Center for Teaching and Mentoring
LIB 348
615-904-8499

ctm@mtsu.edu