About CFI's May Symposium. The JMU Center for Faculty Innovation offers May Symposium annually to support the ongoing development of faculty as teachers, scholars and leaders. May Symposium compiles a variety of roundtables, speakers and workshops on various topics such as course design, teaching approaches, scholarship networks, faculty peer mentoring, faculty and student well-being and belonging, and more.
This exciting collaborative effort provides full-time faculty, part-time faculty, academic unit leaders, and CFI partners of all sorts with opportunities to focus on teaching, scholarship, career planning, service and leadership.
Schedule Overview: Wednesday, May 20, 2026 (The Union)
Breakfast: 8:15 - 8:50 a.m. (Union - Warren Ballroom)
Participants must first check in at Warren Ballroom, located on the 5th floor.
- 8:10 a.m. - Doors open (Union - Warren Ballroom)
- 8:15 - 11 a.m. - Check-in (Union - Warren Ballroom)
- Pre-registration is recommended by Monday, May 1, at 12:00 p.m. Walk-ins are welcome.
- 8:15 - 8:50 a.m. - Breakfast
Interactive Sessions 1: 9:00 - 10:15 a.m. (Union - Taylor)
Interactive Sessions 2: 10:30 - 11:45 a.m. (Union - Taylor)
Lunch and Keynote: 12:00 - 1:30 p.m. (Union - Warren Ballroom)
Keynote Speaker: Jessamyn Neuhaus
Jessamyn Neuhaus, Ph.D., is the Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE) and Professor in the School of Education at Syracuse University. A scholar of teaching and learning, Jessamyn is the author of Geeky Pedagogy: A Guide for Intellectuals, Introverts, and Nerds Who Want to be Effective Teachers and editor of Picture a Professor: Interrupting Biases about Faculty and Increasing Student Learning, both published in the West Virginia University Press series, Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. A recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, Jessamyn has over twenty years of classroom experience, teaching courses on U.S. history, gender studies, and popular culture and is also the editor of Teaching History: A Journal of Methods.
Keynote Address: SNAFU EDU: Normalizing Educators’ Setbacks, Struggles, and Professorial Faceplants
In this presentation, Jessamyn Neuhaus examines the myths and misconceptions that contribute to the popular and the scholarly discourse depicting teaching as a perfectible activity. She shows why we urgently need to normalize the ongoing challenges of effective teaching, including the ways that things can routinely go wrong in the college classroom. While evidence-based course design and teaching practices can reduce the odds of snafus, in the context of inequities, disconnection, distrust, failure, and fear in higher education, struggles and setbacks are "situation normal" for teaching and learning. Neuhaus argues that one specific, proven way we can normalize mistakes as both individuals as well as institutions is by talking more about teaching. Building and strengthening our pedagogical communities of practice, including improving and diversifying our methods for evaluating teaching efficacy, is a sure-fire way to begin normalizing educators' setbacks, struggles, and snafus.
Jessamyn's most recent book, Snafu Edu: Teaching and Learning When Things Go Wrong in the College Classroom, was published in the Oklahoma University Press series, Teaching, Engaging, and Thriving in Higher Education. Snafu Edu boldly foregrounds a reality often downplayed in college teaching advice: no matter how skilled, caring, and well-prepared instructors are, or how motivated and engaged learners are, sometimes things go wrong. The word "snafu" is a noun, a verb, and an acronym, and Neuhaus argues that in all senses it accurately describes the ways teaching and learning predictably and persistently get fouled up in higher ed. In this book, she offers evidence-based insights into why snafus happen, and practical, actionable strategies for recognizing, responding to, repairing, and reducing them.
As a follow-up to the keynote presentation, Dr. Neuhaus will facilitate a workshop on STIR (Stop, Think, Identify, and Repair) Strategies When Things Go Wrong in Teaching and Learning.
2:30 - 3:45 p.m. (Union)
Poster presentations and coffee: 1:30 - 2:15 p.m. (Union - Warren Ballroom)
Interactive Sessions 3: 2:30 - 3:45 p.m. (Union)
Signature Programs
