• Facilitated by: Carolyn Shapiro-Chapin - [email protected] - History 
• Co-Facilitated by: Grace Coolidge - [email protected] - History
• Location/Campus: Hybrid (some in-person meetings and some online/virtual) - Valley Campus 
• Type: Open
• Status: Still accepting applications.

A Woman is Responsible for Everything: Jewish Women in Early Modern Europe - ReOpening the Archives

How do new archival materials give us insights into women's role in early modern Jewish communal life?

Debra Kaplan and Elisheva Carlebach’s book, A Woman Is Responsible for Everything: Jewish Women in Early Modern Europe (Princeton, 2025), explores the role of Jewish women in early modern Europe in urban, village, and ghetto settings. Their text offers insights into their communal life, roles in the economy, institutional leadership, writings, and faith. The authors tap new archival materials to create a text that incorporates the voices of Jewish women of all social classes, conditions of work, and marital status including those who were single, married, widowed and divorced. 

Participants will read and discuss how this new scholarship can enrich GVSU courses in European history, women’s history, family history, history of science, medicine and technology, economic history, art history, and literary history. This learning community is recommended for historians and open to those in kindred disciplines who work with historical methods and/or who are interested in the subject matter. 

Learning Objective 1 
Incorporate new scholarship on women's history into GVSU course offerings 

Learning Objective 2 
Integrate new archival methods into teaching and research 

 Register for A Woman is Responsible for Everything: Jewish Women in Early Modern Europe - ReOpening the Archives LC

• Facilitated by: Glenn Valdez  - [email protected] - CLAS Psychology
• Location/Campus: In-person: Allendale Campus, Pew Downtown Campus
• Type: Closed. This mentoring community is intended for faculty with mentees in the S3/MS3 programs.
• Status: Still accepting applications.

Advancing High-Quality Practice: A Learning Community for Experienced Undergraduate Research Mentors

How can experienced mentors refine and deepen their practice to create more intentional, equitable, and transformative undergraduate research experiences?

This learning community is designed for mentors with prior experience supervising undergraduate researchers who are ready to move beyond basics to more advanced, research-informed mentoring approaches. Participants will examine their existing mentoring philosophies and practices, engage with evidence-based frameworks, and collaboratively troubleshoot complex scenarios such as fostering genuine student ownership, mentoring across difference, and supporting dissemination and next-step
opportunities. Sessions will center on dialogue, reflection on case studies and past mentoring experiences, and the use of concrete tools (e.g., mentoring compacts/ agreements, developmental rubrics, scaffolded independence plans) to enhance already strong mentoring relationships.

Learning Objective 1
Critically reflect on and refine an existing mentoring philosophy, with attention to how expectations, power dynamics, and structures shape student agency and scholarly identity.

Learning Objective 2
Strengthen mentoring practices that support advanced student development, including shared project planning, calibrated independence, and strategies for navigating common mentoring challenges.

Learning Objective 3
Enhance approaches that connect studentsÀý research experiences to dissemination, professional pathways, and long-term growth, including mentoring students in communicating their work to diverse audiences.

Register for Advancing High-Quality Practice: A Learning Community for Experienced Undergraduate Research Mentors LC

• Facilitated by: Kelly Margot  - [email protected] - CECI Teaching and Learning
• Co-Facilitated by: Melissa Wright - [email protected] - Office of Sponsored Programs
• Location/Campus: Hybrid (in-person on May 7, on Zoom other dates)

  • 11 am every other Thursday (skipping July 4 week): May 21, June 4, June 18, July 16, and July 30.

• Type: Open.
• Status: No longer accepting applications.

Begin Writing an External Grant at GVSU

How do I write an external grant that aligns with my research?

Interested in writing a grant but feel overwhelmed getting started? Join us as we walk you through the process. Come learn how a faculty member worked with the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) to begin the grant writing experience and successfully acquire over 3 million dollars in funds. We will walk you through from inception of an idea to writing your own grant.

Learning Objective 1
Learn about GVSU's resources related to external funding.

Learning Objective 2
Discover funding that aligns with your research.

Learning Objective 3
Begin writing your own grant for submission.

Register for Begin Writing an External Grant at GVSU LC

• Facilitated by: Elizabeth Davis - [email protected] - KCON
• Co-Facilitated by: Julia Snider - [email protected] - CECI Teaching and Learning 
• Location/Campus: Online/Zoom
• Type: Open
• Status: Still accepting applications 

Disability is Human: Creating Success for All 

How does understanding disability and accessibility impact student success in your classroom? 

This Learning Community (LC) centers on the Disability is Human book and workbook as a foundation for exploring disability as an essential dimension of human diversity. Utilizing collaborative dialogues and reflective workbook activities, participants will explore how disability is understood and implemented within higher education. Grounded in principles of inclusive pedagogy and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), this learning community will support faculty in moving beyond compliance-based approaches toward more intentional, human-centered practices. We will explore practical strategies for fostering accessible, inclusive space, particularly within classrooms and additional learning environments while challenging outdated assumptions and practices. This LC provides a space for faculty to reflect, share practices, and develop actionable strategies that support students with visible and invisible disabilities. 

Learning Objective 1
Examine disability as a dimension of diversity. 

Learning Objective 2
Evaluate current teaching practices and learning environments to identify barriers that may impact students with disabilities. 

Learning Objective 3
Implement at least one evidence-informed strategy that promotes equitable participation and supports diverse learners. 

Register for Disability is Human Creating Success for All LC 

• Facilitated by: Ashley Rosener - [email protected] - UL - 616-331-3500
• Location/Campus: Online/Zoom
• Type: Open.
• Status: No longer accepting applications.

Embracing Open Pedagogy: What It Is and What It Can Be 

How can we use open pedagogy to promote equity, collaboration, and innovation while we invite students to create and share knowledge in the classroom and beyond? 

We will read Pedagogy Opened: Innovative Theory and Practice to learn about open pedagogy. We will discuss what open pedagogy can look like in our classrooms and the relationship between open educational resources and open pedagogy. We will also read adrienne maree brown's Holding Change: The Way of Emergent Strategy Facilitation and Mediation. This text provides practical advice for facilitation that we can enact in our classrooms and when practicing open pedagogy. 

Learning Objective 1: Participants will be able to define open pedagogy and open educational resources. 

Learning Objective 2: Participants will learn facilitation strategies. 

Register for Embracing Open Pedagogy: What It Is and What It Can Be LC

• Facilitated by: Anna Hammersmith  - [email protected] - CLAS Sociology
• Location/Campus: TBD
• Type: Closed. This mentoring community is intended for faculty with mentees in the S3/MS3 programs.
• Status: Still accepting applications.

Foundations of High-Quality Practice: A Learning Community for New Undergraduate Research Mentors

How can new mentors design supportive and structured undergraduate research experiences that help students grow as emerging scholars?

This learning community is designed for faculty who are just beginning to mentor undergraduate researchers and want to build their practice on clear, research-informed foundations. Participants will explore core elements of effective mentoring, including setting mutual expectations, creating a welcoming and inclusive research environment, planning manageable projects, and using regular check-ins and feedback to support students' skill development and confidence. Sessions will emphasize practical tools, sample documents, and concrete strategies that new mentors can adapt immediately to their own contexts.

Learning Objective 1
Develop a basic mentoring plan that includes clear expectations, roles, and communication norms for working with undergraduate researchers. Consider how this mentoring plan could be adapted based on diverse student needs, skill levels, among other factors.

Learning Objective 2
Use simple structures such as weekly meetings, goal-setting, and progress checklists to scaffold student learning, independence, and time management over the course of the summer.

Learning Objective 3
Practice mentoring strategies that help students reflect on what they are learning, articulate their developing skills, and prepare to share their work with others.

Register for Foundations of High-Quality Practice: A Learning Community for New Undergraduate Research Mentors LC