For Faculty and Graduate Teaching Fellows:

This highly interactive workshop will introduce approaches adapted from improvisational theater to increase student engagement and participation in the classroom.  In a positive, supportive environment, learn strategies that can enhance the classroom experience for both students and faculty.  Come prepared to be active, participate, and get out of your comfort zone.  As a bonus, laughter and some fun are guaranteed.

Workshop leaders Heather Barnes and Ellen Eischen have collaborated since 2018 on using improv to increase engagement in the classroom and beyond.  Barnes is the founder and CEO of Improv@Work, and she has vast experience applying principles of improvisation to enhance STEM pedagogy and communication.   Eischen is a professor of mathematics at the University of Oregon, and she has completed extensive training in improvisation.

This workshop is the first in a series Barnes and Eischen are developing as part of a project funded by NSF grant DMS-2302011.  The idea to develop a series was sparked in part by the positive response to a related workshop they led at the University of Oregon in 2022, which was funded through the Williams Fund and NSF CAREER grant DMS-1751281.

Limited registration: 30