Hunter ACERT

Feb 16 HunterWrites Begins! NCFDD Challenge, Morning Sessions, Creative Workshop, Two Celebrations; Feb 20 Reception: Books Published in 2025 12:00 - 2:00 PM Faculty Center, HE 540, Library; Feb 27 Reception: All Works Published in 2025 12:00 - 2:00 PM Faculty Center, HE 540, Library; Call for ACERT Faculty Fellows Applications Due Feb 27

Join us later this month for HunterWrites!! We're hosting morning writing sessions, two receptions to celebrate works recently published, shown, or performed in 2025, and a Creative Writing Workshop! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... Don't forget: Our call for fellows remains open until Feb 27!

Image of typewriter with a page that reads: "Hunter Writes Feb 16-27"

Join us for HunterWrites! Take the NCFDD Challenge, RSVP for Monday Writing Sessions, a Creative Workshop, and Celebrations for Works Published in 2025! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Image of people talking at a table with dumplings. Reads: "Incorporating Identity, Purpose, and Belonging in Our Teaching: ACERT & HCAP. We gathered over dumplings, and heard inspiring presentations from the HCAP fellows. Thank you, HCAP!"

We're still thinking about last week's inspiring presentations about incorporating identity, purpose, and belonging in our teaching! And still thinking about those dumplings--so yummy! 🥟 Thank you, HCAP!

Just wanna clarify that these toolkits are for instructors! If you're not an instructor, I still have chocolate and I'm always happy to say hi!

People gather around a long table to talk about teaching.

Marcia presents a summary of HCAP's pedagogical model and the fellowships.

Presentation of HCAP and reflections following the fellowships.

We had a blast with HCAP last week! Fellows presented their pedagogies that prioritize inclusion and belonging. Thank you to all who joined us! We're excited to do a teaching scholarship circle w/the HCAP workbook! Coming soon--stay tuned! @huntercollege.bsky.social

People convening over food.

We loved seeing our doctoral lecturers and clinical professors in the faculty center yesterday!! @huntercollege.bsky.social

Now accepting ACERT Fellows Applications for 2026-2027. This call is open to all Hunter faculty. Those in departments that have not yet been represented among ACERT fellows are strongly encouraged to apply.

Applications now OPEN for the 2026-2027 cohort of ACERT Faculty Fellows! acert.hunter.cuny.edu/blog/call-fo...

Incorporating Identity, Purpose, & Belonging in our Teaching: Creative Strategies for our CUNY Classrooms Are you curious about how to bring Identity, Purpose, and Belonging into your classroom? How do we design teaching tools that promote inclusivity and student engagement? Join us as HCAP/ABI Faculty Seminar Series (FSS) alums from a variety of disciplines share teaching tools and interpersonal enhancements designed to build community and deepen students’ sense of purpose. Come as we also celebrate the end of the FSS program, and hear about our newly launched FSS Teaching Workbook! Tomorrow (Wed) at 12 - 1:15pm HE 530 (In the Library) Lunch to be served!

Tomorrow! Wednesday at 12-1:15pm ACERT is cosponsoring, with HCAP: "Incorporating Identity, Purpose, & Belonging in our Teaching: Creative Strategies for our CUNY Classrooms"

HE 530 (In the Library)
Lunch to be served!
@hcapinc.bsky.social

ACERT x School of Ed Red Helicopter Join us for an engaging conversation featuring James Rhee and Red Helicopter Participant Benefits (Limit 50): - Free Copy of the Red Helicopter Book - Invitation to the ACERT/SOE Red Helicopter Teaching Scholarship Circle in the Spring semester Tue, January 27 (5-7PM) Hemmerdinger Screening Room

We are so excited about Tuesday's Red Helicopter event with author James Rhee at Hunter College, 5-7pm ET in Hemmerdinger, co-sponsored with the School of Education. Join us! @huntercollege.bsky.social

where do you notice schoolishness? “the structure of a semester is bizarre” “the idea of preparedness alienates” “this is just for the test; students aren’t taught how to connect learning to tomorrow”

“the race to the finish line (to fit in as much as possible)” “Having a text book is the most schoolish thing i can think of”

“i struggled a lot in college, so when i started teaching, I identified with my students a lot. it feels alienating for education to be so disembodied.” “issues about grades get so technical that the human relationship in learning gets lost.”

“expecting them all to leave with the same set of skills is strange when they come to college with such different skills.” “Students are so overloaded they have less capacity for play and just want to get the points, nothing exploratory or for fun”

Today we met for Austin Bailey's Teaching Scholarship Circle centered on Susan D. Blum's book on Schoolishness. We talked abt where we notice schoolishness & alienation in education. Looking forward to reading more next week & to our guest of honor, @susandblum.bsky.social who joins our 3rd session!

RSVP for ACERT's 10-Day Syllabus Challenge (Jan 2026) Sign up to take the Hunter ACERT 10-Day Syllabus Challenge this January! When you sign up, ACERT will send you one email each weekday morning of the challenge (January 12-23) with a small task for t...

CUNY Colleagues! Take the 10-Day Syllabus Challenge this January!! We'll send you an email every morning for 10 weekdays with a prompt for a short task, breaking up syllabus (re)design into smaller, more manageable parts to slowly transform it: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Two people sit at a table talking next to a sign that read: "Ask me for help with grading in Brightspace"

Our Get the Grading Done series continues! Today in the Faculty Center (5th Floor of the Cooperman Library, 68th St) with coffee, tea, and snacks, and again on Friday, 12-4pm!

Jonathan stands holding a microphone in front of a screen, holding a copy of his book, Ways to Move.

Jonathan sits, holding a microphone in front of a screen, holding a copy of his book, Ways to Move.

Book cover: "Ways to Move: Black Insurgent Grammars" by Jonathan Gonzalez

We had the best time yesterday with Jonathan González and the Hunter College Department of Dance at "Book Launch and Presentation Ways to Move" in the Peggy Theatre!

His new book, "Ways to Move: Black Insurgent Grammars," traces the embodied frequencies and assembled states of Black life.

Header text reads: "ACERT Special Event: LUCE Innovation Cohort 'Wheeler Marsh Backscatter Standard UAVSAR vs. NISAR-Simulated UAVSAR DataGuided Inquiry' Panelist: Angela Padilla (Skirball)" Two images of the marshlands in Milford, CT appear below, then the significant finding which is a comparison of standard UAVSAR and NISAR-Simulated UAVSAR data.

Header text reads: "ACERT Special Event: LUCE Innovation Cohort “The Carbon Cycle and Climate Change on Decadal, Millennial and Glacial Timescales” Randye L. Rutberg (Geography and Environmental Studies) Some key questions: What is the impact of orbital forcing on glacial-interglacial changes in ocean and atmospheric CO2? (100,000 years) What forcings influence the carbon cycle on millennial timescales? (~1000 years)" and then an image of the distribution of ice during the last ice age, approximately 20,000 years ago.

Last week, we had the privilege of hosting a special event featuring four members of Hunter's LUCE Innovation Cohort! Their research in the sciences is so inspiring! Here are just a couple quick examples of the amazing research they are doing.

Group photo of our 2025-2026 ACERT Faculty Fellows: Brooke Xavier, Sasha Maceira, and Austin Bailey, smiling together in front of a Hunter College logo backdrop.

We're so excited! Our amazing @huntercollege.bsky.social photographers took headshots at our Open House on 10/8, and they came out GREAT. Check out this group photo of our 2025-2026 ACERT Faculty Fellows! Left to Right: Brooke Xavier, Sasha Maceira, and Austin Bailey.

Woman stands at the front of the room delivering a presentation to a group of faculty and staff.

We really enjoyed last week's lightning talks! Thanks again to our presenters and attendees, representing over 15 unique disciplines at Hunter College!

Title page for the book: "The Ungraded Classroom: Feedback, Reflection, and Authentic Learning," edited by Carlo Ricci, PhD, and Gina Riley, PhD

Check out this new beautiful addition to our lending library! "The Ungraded Classroom: Feedback, Reflection, and Authentic Learning," edited by Carlo Ricci and our very own Gina Riley!

Notes from Lightning Talks

A presenter in front of a room full of attendees

A presenter facing a room full of attendees

A presenter giving a talk to a room of attendees

Just a few snapshots of this afternoon's lightning talks!

Hunter ACERT Lighting Talks; Sign up to Attend, Sign up to Present, Thu 10/23 @ 12-2 PM

Opening Remarks PART I Speaking Multilingual, Thinking Multimedia: Digital Projects in the Italian Class Stefania Porcelli, Justin Tricarico and Logan Spevak Questionnaire development: Capturing university English language learners’ perceptions about task repetition John Bandman Language as Belonging: Writing in Your Own English Lena Ayala Use of Voice Thread for Consecutive Interpretation practices Silvina de la Iglesia Train your AI chatbot to convert files Yuning Gao Making AI Part of the Conversation in the Writing Classroom Basia Winograd Visualizing the “All-American Man” assignment with gen-AI image tools Chris Mitchell CDI: Introducing Hunter's Constructive Dialogue Initiative Gina Riley BREAK

PART II Choose Your Adventure: Increasing practical engagement in class & course activities Alexis Diaz Giving Students Choices, Arriving at Consensus Christina Katopodis Taking attendance with collaborative doodles Ingrid Lundeen The Power Of Padlet! Orientation Scavenger Hunts Angela Padilla LockDown Browser for In-Person Large Lectures Kirsten Grant Jumping scales: From global to neighborhood-focused geographies Marianna Pavlovskaya Teaching with the CUNY Digital History Archive Dorian Onifer Hunter Casting Portal / Bright Space Organization Anna Sang Park Async Modules Structured with Optional Activities Larry Kowerski Learning from Encyclopedias Stephanie Margolin CLOSING Remarks & Reminders

Big thank you to everyone who joined us today for our Teaching Innovations Lightning Talks!! @huntercollege.bsky.social

People on Zoom, smiling and waving

Big thank you to Sarah Suatoni, author of Conscious Communication, for speaking at our ACERT Lunchtime Seminar today and to Jeneca Parker-Tongue for facilitating and sharing resources about C-SELL here at Hunter!

Four people smiling at a conference table with the words "TSC Reunion" above and pictures of a variety of cookies below.

Last week, former ACERT Faculty Fellow Katie Winkelstein-Duveneck (English) led a Teaching Scholarship Circle (TSC) reunion to continue reflecting on how we teach writing.

Congratulations, Xuemeng Li!!

Open House is tomorrow!!

Join us on Wed, Oct 8 in the Faculty Center for our ACERT Open House at 12-2pm!

Our ACERT Lending Library is now up and running in the Faculty Center! Borrow a book, bring it back. We have many wonderful titles for teaching & learning, now stamped with our Lending Library stamp!

Hunter ACERT Open House WED OCT 8, 12-2PM Faculty Center (5th floor of the Library) Check out the Faculty Center, Enjoy light refreshments, Meet the ACERT team, Mingle with colleagues + Get your professional headshot taken!

Join us for our Open House in the Faculty Center on Wed, Oct 8 @ 12-2PM. Enjoy light refreshments, get your professional headshot taken, and meet colleagues!

Our Fall 2025 Writing Groups begin meeting Sept 8! Join us in person or join us online. All groups are led by @huntercollege.bsky.social faculty: Raj Korpan, Jillian Baez, Austin Bailey, and ACERT Faculty Director Gina Riley. Sign up and get the writing done in community! forms.gle/sJLYDW5HZTJk...

Austin Bailey stands, smiling, holding up an ACERT logo.

Sasha Maceira stands smiling in front of a newspaper art installation holding an ACERT mug with the words, "Faculty Fellow" written in chalk on the mug.

Brooke Xavier stands in front of an art installation holding up a sign with the ACERT logo on it.

Happy first day of classes and welcome to our new 2025-2026 ACERT Faculty Fellows: Austin Bailey (English), Sasha Maceira (English), and Brooke Xavier (Economics and Accounting). We are so excited to collaborate with you in the year ahead! @huntercollege.bsky.social @brookexavier.bsky.social

"I teach 8:30AM classes, so sometimes my classroom door isn’t open yet. Put the number for IT and AV in your phone. They are really quick, and they’re really helpful." - Meagan Washington (English) advice for new Hunter instructors

"I also teach in a computer lab. If you ever work in a computer lab, you want to call PCS-IT, and they are a different office. They help in the labs if you ever need a door opened, or if you need any of your tech fixed." - Meagan Washington (English) advice for new Hunter instructors

Meagan Washington (English) shared her go-to phone numbers in our "What I Wish I Had Known Before I Started Teaching at Hunter": the IT Help Desk, PCS-IT, Security, and more. It's especially helpful to have those numbers on hand if you teach early in the morning!

Private padlet

Academics! Tell me! What are your favorite AI guidelines, approaches, policies? We're crowd-sourcing favs! padlet.com/huntercolleg...