Faculty learning communities (FLCs) provide an opportunity for a multidisciplinary group of 6-10 faculty to work together over an extended period of time on a project of mutual interest. As with our campus learning circle model, FLCs bring together faculty from across the university, assume no prior expertise of members, and ideally, offer a supportive and collaborative environment for active learning and inquiry. Unlike learning circles, UNCA FLCs last a full academic year and culminate in a goal-oriented final report. Find more information and the most recent application here.
One working group took place in 2020-2021, three FLCs took place in 2019-2020, four FLCs took place in 2018-2019, with links to their final reports provided below. FLCs have been on hiatus the past few years, but we look forward to bringing back the possibility soon!
2020-2021
- Black Humanity Matters (Agya Boakye-Boaten & Jeremias Zunguze, facilitators), a working group to develop critical capacities in centering Black epistemologies
2019-2020
- Analyzing and publishing scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) projects (Jen Rhode Ward & Greg Boudreaux, facilitators), a study of cross-disciplinary best practices in SoTL, culminating in submission of a SoTL abstract, presentation, or publication at a professional conference
- Centering de-colonial approaches in the liberal arts classroom (Trey Adcock, Ameena Batada, & Jeremias Zunguze, facilitators), an analysis of practices of colonialism in higher education, the development of a rationale for decolonizing teaching-learning methodology, and an exploration of relevant decolonial concepts
- Faith in arts (Eva Bares & Rick Chess, facilitators), a deep engagement with varied works of art informed by, or created for use in, religious or spiritual contexts
2018-2019
- Teaching ethics without formal ethics (Melissa Burchard & Elizabeth Harvey, facilitators), an examination of methodologies and pedagogies for teaching ethics across the disciplines, using methods that do not rely on formal ethical theories
- Support for sustainability tools and learning (Alison Ormsby & Sonia Marcus, facilitators), an exploration of environmental sustainability topics and strategies for their incorporation into new or existing coursework at UNCA
- UNC Asheville prison education program (Regine Criser & Patrick Bahls, facilitators), an investigation of best practices for providing higher education programming in prison, and initiation of the UNCA program at Avery-Mitchell Correctional
- Intersectional feminist pedagogies (Lyndi Hewitt & Lise Kloeppel, facilitators), a study of pedagogical strategies for addressing diverse identities and structural inequalities, with an emphasis on gender and sexuality