Teaching and Learning Conference

Wednesday, January 21, 2026
9:00 am – 4:15 pm
Science Innovation Center

RSVP

Conference Schedule:

9:00am - 9:30am Registration and Refreshments

Lobby, Science Innovation Center

9:30am – 9:45am Welcome and Opening Remarks with Provost Charlie Riordan

Science Innovation Center Rooms 123-125

Session 1: 10:00 – 10:45am

Room 126 – Make Your Syllabus Simple!
David Dinowitz offers a hands-on session introducing Simple Syllabus, a new Canvas-integrated tool. Participants will learn to create, edit, and publish syllabi efficiently while aligning with university policies. The workshop demonstrates how the tool simplifies updates and improves consistency across courses. Faculty will leave equipped to streamline course setup and communication.
David Dinowitz (Ed Tech)

Room 201 – Interdisciplinary Teaching & Learning: Lessons and Advice from Co-Teaching Experiences
 Led by Rebecca Natow and colleagues, this panel explores the benefits and challenges of teaching interdisciplinary courses at Hofstra. Faculty share lessons from co-teaching experiences that bridged multiple disciplines, enhanced collaboration, and broadened student perspectives. The discussion includes practical advice for integrating diverse fields, assessing learning, and handling logistical hurdles. Attendees will gain insight into building effective interdisciplinary partnerships.
Rebecca Natow (Specialized Programs in Education)

Room 206 – From Fighting AI to Designing With It: A Faculty Confession
Stacie Dee shares her journey from resisting AI in the classroom to using it as a teaching partner. Initially focused on catching “cheating,” she came to realize that if AI could replace thinking in her assignments, the problem lay in the design. Now she integrates AI thoughtfully for lesson planning, grading, and student use, modeling transparency and adaptability. Her talk encourages faculty to rethink integrity and innovation in the AI era.
Stacie Dee (Graduate Nursing) 

Room 206 – From Classroom to Publication: A Mini Research Journey through a Biology CURE
This lightning talk shares firsthand experience implementing a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) in an upper-level biology lab. The course immerses students in the full research pipeline, from literature review and experimental design to data collection, analysis, writing, peer review, and publication. Demonstrated by successful student publications, the presentation discusses how a well-designed CURE can transform classroom learning into authentic scholarly contributions.
Dafang Wang (Biology)

Room 206 – Making It Personal: Using Digital Storytelling to Teach Health Equity
In my Health Equity course, I ask graduate students to create short digital stories that make learning personal, using their own voices, images, and music to explore issues like neighborhood health disparities, maternal mortality, and algorithmic bias. The process—drafting scripts, recording audio, editing videos, and revising—helps them move from passive learners to engaged storytellers who grapple directly with structural racism, housing inequity, and other social determinants of health. By the time we reach the final screening, empathy grows, abstract concepts become human, and students gain both a deeper sense of belonging and practical skills for leading community conversations around health equity.
Martine Hackett (Population Health)

Room 206 – What Michelle Miller Taught Me About Learning Students’ Names
Knowing students’ names fosters an inclusive classroom.  This lightning talk will draw upon A Teacher’s Guide to Learning Student Names to summarize cognitive psychologist Michelle D. Miller’s ASAR (Attend, Say, Associate, Retrieve) method for learning names and review resources for getting pronunciations right. 
Craig Rustici (English)

Room 230 – Using the Question Formulation Technique to Stimulate Student-Centered Learning
Lauren Hindman demonstrates how the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) transforms passive learners into active inquirers. Through structured questioning exercises, students generate and explore their own inquiries, strengthening critical thinking and motivation. The session shows how QFT promotes curiosity while aligning with AI-era learning needs. Participants will experience the method firsthand and design their own course prompts.
Lauren Hindman (Management and Entrepreneurship)

Room 231 – Leveraging Learning Sciences and the Master Adaptive Learner Model to Cultivate Adaptive Expertise
This interactive session explores how the Master Adaptive Learner model supports resilience and lifelong learning among health professions students. Dr. Torres-Panchamé introduces theory-based strategies to foster metacognition, motivation, and self-regulation. Participants will examine case examples and apply adaptive principles to their own teaching. The session highlights ways to coach students toward sustained growth and reflection.
Rosa Elena Torres-Panchamé (Physical Therapy)

Room 232 – Why the Library Is More Important Than Ever
In this session, you'll discover how the library continues to anchor teaching, learning, and community connection in a rapidly changing academic landscape. Participants will explore practical ways the library supports student success, faculty needs, and access to trustworthy resources. The workshop will reaffirm the library’s enduring role while offering a fresh look at how it’s evolving to meet today’s challenges.
Bill Caniano (Library Operations)

Room 310 – Storying AI: Mutual Mentoring Project
This round table shares findings from a mutual mentoring project documenting faculty experiences with generative AI. The presenters discuss interviews, book clubs, and surveys exploring how AI reshapes teaching, writing, and collaboration. Participants are invited to share their own “AI stories” and reflect on evolving academic practices. The discussion highlights how storytelling and mentoring can help faculty navigate—and humanize—the AI transition.
Tejan Green Waszak (Writing Studies & Composition), Ethna Lay (Writing Studies & Composition), Diasy Miller (Writing Studies & Composition)

---

Session 2: 11:00 – 11:45am

Room 126 – Grading with Gradescope, Part I: Where Have You Been All My Life?
Maureen Krause introduces faculty to Gradescope, a Canvas-integrated tool that streamlines grading and feedback. In this hands-on tutorial, participants learn how to grade quizzes, essays, and multiple-choice assessments efficiently. Krause highlights how Gradescope promotes fairness and saves time while allowing personalized feedback. Attendees are encouraged to bring laptops and follow along.
Maureen Krause (Biology)

Room 201 – Interrogating Disciplinary Knowledge Through Writing: Teaching in the Age of AI
This panel examines how writing reflects and reinforces disciplinary thinking across fields. Faculty and writing center leaders discuss how AI challenges educators to teach the underlying logic and habits of mind that machines can’t replicate. The conversation focuses on helping students recognize authentic intellectual work and resist surface-level automation. Attendees will gain strategies for designing assignments that cultivate deeper reasoning and creativity.
Jesse Priest (Writing Center), Jen Marx (Writing Center), Django Buenz (Writing Center)

Room 206 – Build-a-Kid, Build-an-Organization, Build-a-New Assignment for Your Class
Amy Masnick and Nick Salter showcase creative psychology assignments where students use dice to generate unique case studies — a “build-your-own” child or workplace. Students apply theory to these individualized scenarios throughout the semester, deepening engagement and critical thinking. The presenters demonstrate how such interactive assignments personalize learning and strengthen applied understanding. Attendees will brainstorm ways to adapt this concept across disciplines.
Amy Masnick (Psychology), Nick Salter (Psychology)

Room 230 – Building a Custom GPT
Rebecca Ferrato offers an accessible guide to creating and using Custom GPTs in teaching and learning. The session includes a live demonstration and examples of GPTs designed for course support, creative assignments, and research assistance. Participants will see how to tailor models to specific educational goals and enhance student engagement. The workshop demystifies AI customization and provides tools to start building immediately.
Rebecca Ferrato (Ed Tech)

Room 231 – Who are our First-Generation Students and How Can They Best Be Supported?
First-Generation College Students, defined as a student whose neither parent or guardian has earned a 4-year degree from a college in the USA, now make up more than 1/3 of Hofstra students and more than 50% of all college students nationally. Attend this session to learn more about the profile of Hofstra’s first-gen population, some characteristics, and best practices for supporting them inside the classroom and out.
Russ Smith (First-Generation Support and Engagement)

Room 232 – Building the Plane While Flying It: A Case Study in Curricular Innovation
Craig Rustici and Corinne Kyriacou describe an ambitious collaboration with the New York Office of Aging that embedded long-term care ombudsman training into a university course. Students gained advocacy and service experience while addressing real community needs. The session examines logistical challenges and lessons learned from this partnership model. Participants will help brainstorm improvements for future iterations of this experiential program.
Craig Rustici (English), Corinne Kyriacou (Dean's Office, SHS)

Room 310 – Practical Approaches for Addressing AI Use in Your Courses
This session invites participants to explore effective, straightforward ways to communicate expectations around the use—or non-use—of AI in their courses. Through a roundtable conversation, faculty will share their experiences navigating these discussions with students, offering practical examples and approaches that have supported clarity, trust, and academic integrity. Attendees will gain a range of adaptable strategies they can consider incorporating into their own teaching next semester.
Debora Riccardi (Nursing Family), Suzanne Pike (Provost’s Office), Christina Cacioppo Bertsch (Center for University Advising), Mitch Kase (Center for Excellence in Learning, Teaching and Assessment), Stacie Dee (Graduate Nursing)

---

12:00 – 12:45pm Lunch

Science Innovation Center Rooms Lobby 123-125

---

1:00 – 2:00pm Keynote Address

Science Innovation Center Rooms 123-125

CULTIVATING STUDENT AND FACULTY WELL-BEING
 A college class can be a peak human experience – a group of motivated, curious human beings working together on shared goals that enliven the mind and enrich the soul. It is also a rare example of human striving that has a clear beginning, a satisfying end, and the development of community in between. Indeed, a well-run college class represents all of the building blocks of subjective well-being: positive emotions, autonomy, competence, belongingness, and satisfaction with life. Unfortunately, this ideal is often not realized due to internal and external forces – distracting stressors weighing on instructors and students alike, poor institutional support, and a lack of inclusion. In this interactive keynote, Sarah Rose Cavanagh presents research from both the science of well-being and the study of learning to argue that teaching can (and should) be a joy, then shares practical ways that instructors and institutions can support faculty and student well-being.

---

Session 3: 2:15 – 3:00pm

Room 126 – Using Gradescope, Part II: Advanced Features and Grading Consistency across Multi-Section Courses
Building on the morning workshop, this session delves into Gradescope’s advanced tools for rubric sharing and team grading. Maureen Krause demonstrates how to maintain consistent standards across multiple instructors and course sections. Participants will practice setting up rubrics and managing assessments collaboratively. Faculty will leave ready to implement efficient, equitable grading practices department-wide.
Maureen Krause (Biology)

Room 201 – Preparing Pre-Service Teachers for Turbulent Times
Alan Singer and fellow educators discuss preparing future teachers for the moral and civic challenges of today’s classrooms. Drawing on James Baldwin’s call for courage in education, panelists share strategies to help students teach with integrity amid social unrest. The discussion covers classroom practice, community engagement, and professional ethics. Participants will leave with renewed purpose in supporting democratic education.
Alan Singer (Teaching, Learning & Technology), Andrea Libresco (Teaching, Learning & Technology), Roberto Joseph (Teaching, Learning & Technology), Eduardo Duarte (Teaching, Learning & Technology), Marilyn DiPietto (Teaching, Learning & Technology), Tatiana Gordon (Teaching, Learning & Technology) 

Room 206 – Creating Classroom Community: Assessing Knowledge in the Age of AI
This lightning talk series explores how classroom community itself can serve as a form of assessment in the AI era. Presenters share approaches that move beyond written work to evaluate understanding through discussion, collaboration, and shared inquiry. They emphasize designing spaces of trust where authentic engagement reveals learning better than essays AI could generate. Together, these talks invite faculty to rethink both community and assessment as integral to integrity.
Sharon Phillips (Population Health), Elyse Miller (Population Health), Hallie Decker (Population Health), Fabian Arroyo-Rojas (Specialized Programs in Education)

Room 230 – Collaborating with the University Museum: An Interdisciplinary, Student-Centered Approach
Alexandra Giordano and colleagues from the Hofstra Museum of Art highlight how museum partnerships can enrich teaching across disciplines. They share examples where exhibitions and collections became catalysts for deep learning, critical thinking, and cross-field collaboration. Attendees will experience a sample museum learning exercise and receive guidance for starting partnerships of their own. The session emphasizes art as a bridge between theory, reflection, and student engagement.
Alexandra Giordano (Hofstra University Museum of Art) and team

Room 231 – Podcasting as Pedagogy
Diane Hodson introduces podcasting as a creative way for students to express mastery through story. By translating research into narrative and sound, students learn to make academic ideas resonate with wider audiences. The workshop features listening exercises and practical steps for low-tech podcasting projects adaptable to any course. Faculty will discover how audio storytelling can transform understanding into empathy and connection.
Diane Hodson (Radio/TV/Film)

Room 232 – Advancing Cultural Competency Through Generative AI in Athletic Training Education
This presentation shares how Generative AI can sustain and deepen cultural awareness in health professions education. Using simulated patient encounters and reflective tools, the presenters demonstrate how AI supports communication, empathy, and feedback. Their approach builds on the Cultural Competency Framework to promote growth beyond checklist-based learning. Participants will engage with examples and discuss AI’s potential for inclusive and adaptive instruction.
Grace Valdez (Allied Health and Kinesiology), Jayne Ellinger (Allied Health and Kinesiology), Kristin LoNigro (Allied Health and Kinesiology)

Room 310 – Keeping Learning Human—Promoting Cognitive Growth in the Age of AI
As AI becomes more embedded in academia, this roundtable explores how educators can preserve the essential human skills at the heart of learning—critical thinking, creativity, and communication. Participants will share classroom strategies for designing assignments that prioritize deep learning and authentic student engagement. Building on the idea of Strategic AI Rejectionism in Education, the discussion examines when limiting AI use can actually strengthen students’ cognitive development. Faculty will exchange practical methods for fostering independent reasoning and meaningful learning in an AI-driven world.
Amy Baehr (Philosophy), Sally Charnow (History), Mitch Kase (Center for Excellence in Learning, Teaching and Assessment)

---

Session 4: 3:15 – 4:00pm

Room 126 – Cultivating a Culture of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) on Our Campus
The session introduces the fundamentals of designing a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning  SoTL project—from framing research questions to sharing results. Participants will consider ways to embed inquiry into their own teaching and connect with Hofstra’s developing SoTL network. The workshop promotes collaboration, curiosity, and sustained pedagogical improvement.
Mitch Kase (Center for Excellence in Learning, Teaching and Assessment)

Room 201 – AI for Everyone: Using a Neural Network to Identify Handwritten Digits
Angel Pineda leads a hands-on demonstration where participants set up and train a neural network to recognize handwritten digits. The activity showcases the accessibility of AI development and code generation tools for educators and students alike. Attendees will leave with practical insight into how simple AI models can enhance understanding of data, coding, and machine learning concepts. The session emphasizes that AI literacy is for everyone—not just computer scientists.
Angel Pineda (Mathematics)

Room 206 – Preparing Teachers to Support English Learners in a Shifting Political and Cultural Landscape
Tatiana Gordon examines the complex experiences of immigrant youth and the essential role educators play in their healing and success. She outlines trauma-informed, culturally responsive teaching strategies that honor students’ identities while meeting academic goals. The session also reviews key legal protections and historical context, situating teachers as advocates in a time of heightened political tension. Participants will leave with tools to foster empathy, inclusion, and empowerment in multilingual classrooms.
Tatiana Gordon (Teaching, Learning & Technology)

Room 230 – Enhancing Professional Development for Pre-Tenure Nursing Faculty Through Web-Based Mutual Mentorship
Drs. Smith and Grant present a hybrid mentoring initiative designed to support pre-tenure nursing faculty. The program combines peer learning, expert-led workshops, and reflective activities to foster professional identity, collaboration, and career advancement. Drawing from participant feedback, the presenters share lessons on accessibility, equity, and sustained engagement. The session provides a replicable model for building supportive academic communities through digital mentorship.
Tanyka Smith (Undergraduate Nursing), Chenelle Grant (Undergraduate Nursing)

Room 231 – Interactive Session with Keynote Speaker on Faculty and Student Wellness
In this interactive workshop, the keynote speaker leads participants in reflective activities focused on personal and professional well-being. The session emphasizes balance, resilience, and sustainable teaching practices. Attendees will explore how cultivating wellness enhances both faculty performance and student success. The experience blends discussion and guided mindfulness to promote a healthier academic culture.
Sarah Rose Cavanaugh (Keynote Speaker, Psychology)

Room 232 – All Students Belong: Recognizing and Supporting Neurodiversity in the Classroom
This session focuses on supporting neurodiverse students in STEM and beyond. The presenters share lessons from a mutual mentoring project that explored classroom strategies to ease the transition from high school to college for neurodivergent learners. They discuss best practices for inclusion, communication, and classroom design. Attendees will learn concrete ways to foster belonging and academic success for all students.
Margaret Hunter (Engineering), Lynn Albers (Engineering), Elisabeth Ploran (Dean's Office, HCLAS)

---

Closing Remarks and Wrap-up: 4:00 – 4:15pm

Science Innovation Center Rooms 123-125