Calendar + News  —  Lectures & Conferences  —  Faculty of the Future

2026 Faculty of the Future Virtual Conference

Join us Friday, May 29, for the 2026 Faculty of the Future (FOTF) Conference. This year’s event will be held virtually via Zoom from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The conference agenda will be available in mid-April.
Registration is open through Wednesday, May 27. Access to Zoom will be emailed to registered participants about 48 hours before the conference starts.

Register for the FOTF Conference

FOTF Conference Agenda

Keynote by Doug Lemov, 9-10 a.m.

Belonging, Meaning, and Purpose

Doug Lemov, Chief Knowledge Officer & Founder, Teach Like a Champion

In an age when young people experience increasing social isolation, classrooms offer an opportunity to build for them places of both meaning and belonging. However, given that the purpose of classrooms is learning, teachers must find a way to create classroom cultures that leverage the benefits of belonging without sacrificing, and ideally in synergy with, student learning and achievement. In this session, Doug Lemov will help you build a mental model of such classrooms based on research in the cognitive and social sciences as well as video from real classrooms.

About Doug Lemov

Keynote speaker Doug Lemov is the author of the international bestseller Teach Like a Champion (TLAC), now in its 3.0 edition, and The Coach's Guide to Teaching. He is the co-author, with TLAC colleagues, of Practice Perfect, Reading Reconsidered, Teaching in the Online Classroom, and Reconnect.

Teach Like a Champion is about the belief that the solutions to education challenges exist in the classrooms of real-life teachers, that exceptional practitioners of the art of teaching are the true experts. Our job is to find them, study them, and share what they do, so others can copy, practice and adapt it to their own teaching.

Session 1: 10:10-11 a.m.

Warm Demandingness: Teaching for Persistence, Belonging, and Growth

Amber Anderson, Bucks County Community College

This session explores the warm demandingness philosophy, a pedagogical approach rooted in the 1975 research of Judith Kleinfeld, which highlights that effective teaching requires a combination of high personal warmth and high academic demandingness. This approach moves beyond the dichotomy of strictness versus leniency, focusing instead on "rigorous caring" and "caring rigor" to foster student success, persistence, and academic achievement. Participants will be able to create one or more applications of warm demandingness to their current roles in teaching or student success.

Improving Student Retention in Asynchronous Mathematics Courses Through a Growth, Purpose, and Belonging Framework

Tanvir Prince, Hostos Community College CUNY

To improve engagement and reduce attrition, the GPB study suggests transforming the asynchronous experience from a purely informational model to an interaction-driven one. This presentation outlines a practical framework for improving student retention in asynchronous, high-level mathematics courses, specifically Calculus III, Linear Algebra, and Differential Equations, by focusing on three core pillars: Growth, Purpose, and Sense of Belonging. They will also understand how small changes in language, course design, and feedback can lead to higher retention rates.

Awakening Curiosity in the Age of AI

Sarah Dutton, Carroll Community College

Curiosity is the spark that drives authentic learning yet in an age where GenAI can answer almost any question, how do we keep that spark alive? This engaging seminar will equip educators with practical strategies to cultivate both Interest and Deprivation curiosity through meaningful activities. We’ll explore the three dimensions of curiosity:– diversive, epistemic and empathic and discover how each can transform student engagement in the classroom. Along the way, we’ll also examine ways to ethically harness AI tools so that technology deepens inquiry rather than replaces it, empowering students to ask better questions, make authentic connections, and pursue knowledge with purpose. Get inspired, equipped, and ready to create a classroom where curiosity is not only awakened but sustained.

Feedback Frenzy: Different Assignments, Same Challenges

Randy Boone, Northampton Community College
Jessica Bacho, Northampton Community College
Deanna Hammarsten, Northampton Community College

This session focuses on the underlying philosophies regarding the timing, content, and delivery of formative and summative student feedback. The presenters will share their approach to, methods for, and underlying philosophies about, the timing, content, and delivery of student feedback. We would like to ask all workshop participants to bring their own feedback philosophies and favorite and most effective ways to provide feedback to share with others. Participants will discover new and different approaches to, and methods for, providing feedback to student assignments and evaluate their own feedback practices in light of various philosophies and approaches toward formative and summative feedback. The presenters hope that participants leave this session will have least one concrete change they want to make in how they give student feedback.

Session 2: 11:10 a.m. to Noon

The Persistence Project--5 Year Update

Erin Cole, Bucks County Community College

In 2021, a group of instructors participated in the Persistence Project through a Faculty Learning Community. A key part of the project involves holding individual 10–15 minute meetings with each student enrolled in a course. This presentation provides a five-year update on how these conferences have been implemented and examines their impact on both teaching practices and faculty-student relationships. Attendees will learn practical strategies for incorporating brief individual meetings into their own courses and how these conferences have influenced teaching practices, faculty-student relationships, and classroom culture.

The Science of Student Belonging: Wellness Strategies for Engagement and Retention

Stefani Abreu and Terri Stiles, Penn State Abington

Student retention is not solely an academic outcome, it is deeply influenced by health, physiology, and the environments in which students live and learn. Grounded in health and wellness science, this session explores how movement, stress physiology, recovery, and social connection, and flexible teaching methods shape students’ capacity to engage, persist, and perform. By the end of this session, attendees will be able to: Identify health-promoting practices that strengthen student engagement. Develop actionable steps to enhance student adaptative capacity and retention. Apply wellness-based strategies to the classroom.

AI as a Teaching Partner for Active Learning

Amanda Wilson, Aiken Technical College

Artificial intelligence is often discussed in higher education as either a challenge to academic integrity or a complex technological tool. However, AI can also serve as a practical collaborative partner for faculty, helping instructors design engaging learning activities more efficiently. This session demonstrates how instructors can use AI tools to quickly generate classroom materials that support active learning and concept clarification. Participants will describe how AI tools can function as collaborative partners in designing learning activities. Use simple AI prompts to generate scenario-based learning materials for their courses. Design a short concept-based activity that encourages students to reason through disciplinary vocabulary.

Blending Digital and Multimedia Assignments into Theory-Based Communication Courses to Engage Generation Z Learners

Sreashi Das, Immaculata University

This session will explore strategies for engaging Generation Z students in theory-based communication courses through digital and multimedia assignments. The session will provide concrete examples from a communication theory course, demonstrating how to connect abstract concepts to hands-on, creative activities that foster digital literacy and real-world application. Participants will gain practical strategies for engaging Generation Z students in theory-based courses using digital and multimedia assignments. They will learn how to integrate tools such as meme creation, infographic design, mini podcast episodes, and interactive learning games to enhance student engagement, critical thinking, and applied understanding.

Session 3: 12:10-1 p.m.

Instructor Voice and Online Developmental Mathematics: A Qualitative Case Study

Shawntaye D. Adams, Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC)

As institutions continue expanding online offerings, developmental mathematics remains an area of concern due to persistently low success rates. This session shares the design and significance of a qualitative case study that examined mathematics instructors’ perceptions of student success in online developmental math courses at a community college in the eastern United States. Grounded in the Community of Inquiry framework and principles of andragogy, this research explored how instructors interpret the challenges within online developmental mathematics, how they perceive their role in supporting adult learners, and what institutional factors may influence outcomes. Rather than centering on findings alone, this presentation will focus on the research process, theoretical grounding, methodological decisions, and the importance of elevating instructor voice in conversations about online mathematics reform.

Teaching and Learning that Connect: Student Engagement Strategies for Adjunct

Shauntisha Pilgrim and Robin Spaid, Morgan State University

Adjunct faculty play a critical role in community colleges, yet they often teach across multiple campuses with minimal integration into campus culture. Because adjunct instructors frequently serve as the primary point of contact for many community college students, their own engagement within the institution has important implications for student persistence and retention. During this workshop the presenters and participants will:

  1. Identify common barriers to student engagement and how they affect learning across different teaching modalities.
  2. Examine and experience a variety of interactive strategies that promote student participation, connection, and motivation.
  3. Adapt at least one engagement technique to fit their own teaching context, course type, or discipline.
  4. Collaborate with peers to exchange ideas, troubleshoot challenges, and discuss what effective engagement looks like for today’s learners.
  5. Synthesize the above information for classroom.

Build Better Courses powered by AI

Tim Faith, Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC)

Join this session to explore how to interface generative AI with your teaching practice and reflect on the implications of, and the need for, higher ed institutions to manage change in response to AI's rapid development and advancement. Participants will learn how to automate alignment of course assessments, activities and learning objectives with AI; gamify your courses to increase engagement and content retention by students; win at teaching by the sensitive and intelligent integration of AI into your teaching practice.

Contact Us

Questions can be directed to conference coordinators Alison Angelaccio and Diane Darling at fotf@bucks.edu.