About the Teaching & Learning Symposium
The Teaching & Learning Symposium is a virtual one-day conference that takes place every January; offering a platform for campus colleagues to engage in meaningful discussions about teaching and learning strategies, course design, technological tools, and initiatives that support student success. The event features a keynote address and a series of 1-hour sessions where educators can share best practices, celebrate achievements, and explore new theories and methods. Each year, the symposium focuses on a specific theme related to a different aspect of Teaching & Learning.
Theme of 2025: “Year of High Impact Practices (HIPs)”
The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) invites UWM faculty, academic staff, and graduate teaching assistants to attend the 10th Annual UWM Teaching and Learning Symposium to be held on Thursday, January 9, 2025. The keynote speaker of the year will be Dr. Ashley Finley.
Symposium Overview
Questions?
Please direct any questions about the 2025 T&L Symposium to cetl@uwm.edu.
2025 Keynote Address:
Future-Proofing Teaching and Learning Through High-impact Practices: Questions to Drive Meaning and Innovation
At a time of enormous change in higher education and the world, high-impact practices hold more promise than ever in preparing students to navigate a future steeped in uncertainty and complexity. But simply labeling an experience as “high-impact” ensures neither efficacy nor innovation. As higher education seeks to prepare students to flourish in their lives, careers, and communities, it is time to reexamine what we know about high-impact practices that makes our continued investment in them relevant for faculty, staff, and students. This keynote session will center inquiry as the foundation of meaning and innovation to ask critical questions about purpose, quality, and equity as the means for unlocking the full potential of high-impact practices, now and into the future.
Dr. Ashley Finley is the Vice President of Research and Senior Advisor to the President for the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). She oversees AAC&U’s Office of Research and Public Purpose which develops integrative approaches to linking students’ career preparation, civic engagement, and well-being. Through research, campus-based projects, and partnerships, this work advances higher education’s commitments to supporting economic, community, and individual thriving. Her publications include: The Career-Ready Graduate: What Employers Say About the Difference College Makes; A Comprehensive Approach to Assessment of High-Impact Practices; and The Effects of Community-Based and Civic Engagement in Higher Education. She also currently serves as a commissioner for the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC).
Dr. Finley was previously the senior director of assessment and research at AAC&U and also national evaluator for Bringing Theory to Practice. She also served as the Associate Vice President for Academic affairs and Dean of the Dominican Experience at Dominican University of California, where she implemented a comprehensive framework for student learning and success centered around high-impact practices. Dr. Finley began her career as a faculty member at Dickinson College. She received a BA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and an MA and PhD, both in sociology, from the University of Iowa.
Areas of Expertise
- Advocacy for liberal education
- Strategic planning for implementation of high-impact practices and outcomes assessment
- Community engagement
- Student well-being and intrapersonal development
2024 Keynote Address: “The Futures of Higher Education”
Our keynote speaker, Dr. Bryan Alexander, spoke on “The Futures of Higher Education” and offered tangible steps we can take to enhance teaching, learning, and student support.
Bryan is an award–winning, internationally known futurist, researcher, writer, speaker, consultant, and teacher, working in the field of higher education’s future. He completed his English language and literature PhD at the University of Michigan in 1997, with a dissertation on doppelgangers in Romantic-era fiction and poetry.
Over the past two decades, the academic landscape has been forced to adapt to rapid technological developments, shifting market forces, a worldwide pandemic, and declining enrollment. Dr. Alexander’s keynote will delineate important educational trends to watch, tangible responses to challenges we can apply, and opportunities afforded by the evolving technological landscape.
Bryan speaks widely and publishes frequently, with articles appearing in venues including The Atlantic Monthly, and Inside Higher Ed. His book Academia Next: The Futures of Higher Education (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020), won an Association of Professional Futurists award. His latest book, Universities on Fire: Higher Education in the Age of Climate Crisis, appeared from Johns Hopkins in 2023. His other books include Gearing Up For Learning Beyond K-12 and The New Digital Storytelling (second edition).