Annual Fall Conference on Teaching and Learning

31st Annual Fall Conference on Teaching and Learning (2025)

We invite your proposals!

This year's conference will feature two main session types:

45-minute morning Concurrent Sessions and
[NEW!] 15-minute Lightning Roundtable Discussions in the afternoon.

This year we are choosing to focus on empowering educational experiences that center human connection and relationships. Particularly, how relationships drive student success. The Annual Fall Conference on Teaching and Learning is a great opportunity to connect with GVSU's vibrant community of educators and learn from fellow colleagues. We invite proposals for presentations/discussions/demonstrations that align with topics for this year's conference. Faculty of all rank are encouraged to propose a session!

See our Proposal Call page for more information about each session type.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Registration will open soon!

Event Details

Date and Time

Thursday, August 14, 2025 in the L.V. Eberhard Center (EC) on the Downtown GVSU campus.

Description

Join us for the 31st Annual Fall Conference on Teaching and Learning. This year we are choosing to focus on empowering educational experiences that center human connection and relationships. Particularly, how relationships drive student success. This milestone event promises a day filled with insightful discussions, innovative teaching strategies, and networking opportunities. Don't miss this opportunity to connect with fellow educators and enhance your teaching practice!

Contact

Pew FTLC
(616) 331-3498
[email protected]

Keynote Presentation - Dr. Peter Felten

Man in blue sweater standing in front of trees smiling

Dr. Peter Felten

Connections are Everything: How Relationships Drive Student Success

Keynote Presentation: Dr. Peter Felten

The classroom – whether physical, virtual, or hybrid – can be a place where students thrive if we design for learning and connection. With the rise of generative AI, human interactions are even more important for motivation, trust, well-being, and meaning-making. In this interactive session we will explore research on how intentional academic interactions offer flexible, scalable, and humane approaches to ensuring that all students experience welcome and care, become inspired to learn, and explore big questions about meaning and purpose. We also will consider how meaningful professional relationships contribute to faculty and staff well-being.

Professor Peter Felten is a professor of History, Executive Director of the Center for Engaged Learning, and Assistant Provost for Teaching and Learning at Elon University. He has published seven books about undergraduate education, including Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020) co-authored with Leo M. Lambert, and Connections are Everything: A College Student’s Guide to Relationship-Rich Education (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023) co-authored by Isis Artze-Vega, Leo Lambert, and Oscar Miranda Tapia – with an open access online version free to all readers. His next book, The SoTL Guide: [Re]Orienting the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, is co-authored by Nancy Chick and Katarina Mårtensson, and will be published in October 2025. He is on the advisory board of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and is a fellow of the Gardner Institute.

Schedule

Time	Agenda
8 a.m.	Breakfast Available
8:30 – 9 a.m.	Welcome Remarks
9 – 10:30 a.m.	Morning Keynote Presentation by Dr. Peter Felten - "Connections are Everything: How Relationships Drive Student Success"
10:45 – 11:45 a.m.	Faculty-led Concurrent Sessions: Teaching Excellence & Experiential Sessions
12 – 1 p.m.	Lunch and Book Raffle Winner Announcement
1 – 2:30 p.m.	Faculty-led Lightning Roundtable Discussions
2:30 – 3:30p.m.	Closing Keynote Presentation - "Who They Are and the Stories They Carry: Narratives of Today's First-Year Students"