Summer Teaching Institute emphasizes the power of collaboration

Penn College’s recent Summer Teaching Institute focused on the importance and impact of collaboration in education.

The two-day event welcomed faculty from Penn College and Lycoming College and featured a keynote address by Alan Hack and Bernadette Boerckel, both of the Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit. Their session, titled “Stronger Together: building collaborative systems that advance learner success,” highlighted how collaboration among colleagues, departments and diverse sectors – including K-12 private and public education, higher education, workforce development, nonprofits, government, and community agencies can create cohesive, learner-centered systems of support that meet students’ academic, social and workforce needs. Hack is the assistant executive director and chief academic officer of the Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit, and Boerckel is the chief outreach officer.

Other sessions, presented by Penn College employees, were:

• Breaking Silos Through Strategic Collaboration: Building an engagement pipeline for shared goals and sustained impact, presented by Elizabeth A. Biddle, senior director of grant management
• Real-World Collaboration: Industry, institutional and organization lessons, presented by Katie Bell, vice president for strategic marketing and communications
• The Power of Connection: The importance of collaboration in higher education, presented by Elizabeth S. Gizenski, director of surgical technology
• Snapshots: Collaboration across academic disciplines, presented by Alex E. Marconnet, assistant professor of engineering design technology
• Collaboration in Action: Collaboration Clinic project presentations by clinic participants Chet Beaver, assistant director of student advocacy for veteran and military resources; Katie C. Burke, coordinator of student advocacy, veteran support and prevention education; Melissa M. Stocum, coordinator of peer mentoring; Sophia G. Wiest, residence life coordinator; Rick Crossen, assistant professor of information technology; Elizabeth P. Waugh, librarian: virtual and distance learning initiatives; and Heather S. Dorman, instructor of physician assistant

The institute closed with an interactive workshop to help participants work together across roles, departments and institutions to begin developing collaborative initiatives. The workshop was facilitated by Andrea M. Campbell, assistant dean of curriculum and instruction.