Learning Resources

Abstract: With climate change bringing dramatic demographic, economic, and weather changes, universities and colleges must be prepared for risks to the campus's buildings, landscapes, and infrastructure that could disrupt operations. This session explores the intertwined concepts of risk management and resilience planning. You will learn about best practices in campus resilience planning, and try a simple resilience assessment tool for identifying, prioritizing, and planning for potential risks. You can take this useful Excel-based tool back to your institution to identify the top risks that should be prioritized in campus planning efforts.

Abstract: FLEXSpace—The Flexible Learning Environments eXchange—and the Learning Space Rating System (LSRS) are tools that can help you plan, design, assess, and improve learning spaces on your campus. In this session, you will learn about the newly released FLEXspace 2.0 along with the LSRS. We'll cover the features and benefits of both tools and how they can be incorporated into the planning process. Come learn how to use these tools to inform designs and support end users from planning through post occupancy.

Abstract: We are all invited to take the stage in some form in our lives, whether that be in an interview for work, a speech at a wedding, or simply asking a question in a business meeting or classroom setting. We all have ideas, questions or explorations which we hold back from sharing because our brains are hardwired to prioritize acceptance by our peers and avoid rejection and ridicule. Sometimes, this keeps us safe—but more often than not—it keeps us from truly stepping into a life of opportunity.

The first major theme of the presentation is the psychology of fear. What makes so many of our hands shake, our body’s fidget and our minds forget our words once so perfectly rehearsed? It is an evolutionary response, developed eons ago, designed to protect us. Public speaking asks us to do the one thing we are hard-wired not to do – step outside of the tribe and ask to be invited back in. As relatively weak and slow planetary beings, we survived only in community. Public speaking is the most vulnerable and scary thing that we can do. We will explore the role of this response and how it “shows up” for us in our modern-day world and body and four scientifically-proven ways to shift out of fear and into action using both science and story to address the “hack”.

The second major presentation theme is the role of nonverbal communication. Research shows that over 93% of communication is nonverbal, demonstrating that our brains are wired to prioritize nonverbal over verbal communication. But as presenters, we focus on what we say – rather than how we say it. We engage in fun-partner work to learn how our brains are specifically attuned to body language – and the signals that we are unintentionally demonstrating while speaking from a place of fear or anxiety.

The presentation is concluded with a challenge: to invite each audience member to make one commitment to themselves to lean in towards one area of fear in their life, whether that’s practicing a strategy at home or stepping onto the stage to share their message with the world.

Abstract: Both the City of Bridgeport and the University of Bridgeport were experiencing a renaissance before Superstorm Sandy struck in 2012. Now, they are working together to catalyze greater growth through a commitment to environmental resilience. The city and the university have partnered on a new project that achieves different, but compatible goals. This approach has created access to additional (and unusual) project funding and financing. In this session we will outline strategies for identifying multi-benefit projects, including finding potential partners and alternative avenues for project implementation.

Abstract: In 1998, a Carnegie Foundation Commission Report criticized America’s 123 research universities for failing our educational system by ignoring undergraduate education. Notably absent from the Commission's list of recommendations was mentoring research university faculty as a strategy to improve their teaching. This article discusses strategic collaboration, a mentoring model that can contribute significantly to achieving this objective. Such a network can also create an environment conducive to interdisciplinary research that, because of its increased value and rewards at such universities, can provide an added incentive for faculty participation.