New Faculty Programs

The Center for Teaching Excellence places a particular emphasis on supporting faculty in their first years at Boston College. In addition to hosting programs created specifically for new faculty, the CTE welcomes new instructors in all of its faculty-specific and campus-wide programs.

New Faculty Teaching Orientation

In partnership with the Provost’s Office, the CTE hosts an afternoon of teaching-focused conversations as part of New Faculty Orientation each August. This year’s Teaching Orientation will be held on Wednesday, August 14 from 12:00 - 4:00 in 245 Beacon Street. Box lunches will be available starting at 11:30.

Schedule Overview

11:30 - 12:00: (Optional) Box lunches available 

12:00 - 12:15: Teaching Support at BC: An Overview 

12:15 - 1:15: Opening Discussion: Cultivating Inclusive Classrooms 

1:30 - 2:30: Student Panel

2:45 - 4:00: Faculty Panel

Accommodations Requests

The Center for Teaching Excellence is committed to providing equal access to its events and programs. Individuals with disabilities who anticipate needing accommodations or who have questions about physical access may contact centerforteaching@bc.edu


New Faculty Seminars

New Faculty Seminars on Teaching are gatherings where faculty in their early years at BC can get to know each other across disciplines and discuss the fundamentals of teaching with colleagues. We gather at noon for lunch and informal conversation, followed by a seminar on a topic based on input from this year’s new faculty. These seminars are hybrid; please indicate when you register if you would like to participate in person or on Zoom.

Fall 2024

New Faculty Seminar: Student Motivation and Engagement

Thursday, September 12, 12:00 - 1:30

How best to tap into student motivation is a perennial puzzle for faculty — one that’s been even trickier to resolve in the years since Covid upended so many norms around teaching and learning. In this seminar, we’ll review what the learning sciences have identified as key to student motivation and discuss how those findings can help us set the stage for more meaningful student engagement in our courses.

New Faculty Seminar: Enlivening Lectures

Wednesday, October 16, 12:00 - 1:30

Whether our classes involve significant amounts of lecturing or not, being able to present clear and engaging content is a core skill in university teaching. This session will explore ways to design and present effective, learner-centered lectures and enliven them by interweaving them with other types of instructional activities. We’ll draw on research into areas such as attention and memory, share ideas and questions, and learn from each other’s experiences of lecturing and presenting.

New Faculty Seminar: Jesuit Basics

Tuesday, November 19, 12:00 - 1:30

BC’s Jesuit heritage is central to its identity, and the institution draws strength from the various ways that faculty and students find to connect their own values to that heritage. For our November seminar, Tomeu Esterlich, Director of the Center for Ignatian Spirituality, will lead us in exploring the history, traditions, culture and mission of the Jesuits and how they inform our context today. Whether you are well acquainted with the Jesuit tradition or new to it, join us for lunch and a presentation followed by Q&A and discussion.  

Spring 2025

New Faculty Seminar: Strength in Structure: Active Learning

Tuesday, January 28, 12:00 - 1:30

Research into active learning has shown that involving students in the construction of knowledge leads to better learning outcomes than classroom practices centered solely on content delivery. In particular, increasing the structure of the learning environment — through scaffolding or other strategies meant to support students as they learn — ups the odds that all students in your courses will succeed. This session considers ways to operationalize active learning in a variety of settings, identifying what we want students to gain and developing activities that will incentivize their participation and support their success. We’ll explore the vital role of a clear structure in making visible the purpose and expectations of the learning process. Join us to review concepts and strategies from educational research, and share ideas with colleagues about what works well and works-in-progress.  

New Faculty Seminar: Fair and Transparent Grading

Wednesday, April 16, 12:00 - 1:30

Grades and grading can have an outsize impact on our students’ – and our own – experiences in the classroom. Anxiety around grades can dampen student motivation and disincentivize intellectual risk-taking. And faculty can find that the time and effort they devote to grading leaves little energy for pedagogical creativity. This session seeks to address these challenges by exploring how a focus on fairness and transparency in grading can create more supportive learning environments for students and help faculty better manage their grading loads. Join us to wade into the conversation about grading and for a chance to share ideas, successes, and pain points with colleagues.


Past Conversations