Tea for Teaching

While colleges and universities have made substantial progress in attracting a diverse mix of students, there are still substantial equity gaps in student outcomes. In this episode, Roberta Hurtado joins us to discuss approaches that can be used to reduce these gaps. Roberta is an associate professor in the English and Creative Writing Department here at SUNY Oswego, where she also serves as Director of Latino and Latin American Studies, and has been a fellow in the Triandiflou Institute for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Transformative Practice. She also has served as a 2023 Fellow in the SUNY Hispanic Leadership Institute.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

Academic freedom in the U.S. is increasingly under attack. In this episode, Kent Kauffman joins us to discuss the legal and contractual origins of, current threats to, and the social benefits resulting from maintaining academic freedom. Kent is an Associate Professor of Business Law and MBA Programs Faculty Liaison in the Department of Economics and Finance at Purdue University. He is also the author of Navigating Choppy Waters: Key Legal Issues College Faculty Need to Know.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

Each student brings individual strengths and challenges to our classroom communities. In this episode, Karen Costa joins us to discuss ways to help students with ADHD thrive.

Karen is a faculty development facilitator specializing in online pedagogy, trauma-aware teaching, and supporting ADHD learners. Karen holds graduate degrees and certificates in education and education leadership; trauma and resilience; trauma-informed organizations; and neuroscience, learning, and online instruction. She is the author of 99 Tips for Creating Simple and Sustainable Educational Videos, and has served as a facilitator for the Online Learning Consortium, the Online Learning Toolkit, and Lumen Learning. Her most recent book, An Educator’s Guide to ADHD, has just been released by Johns Hopkins Press. Through her business, 100 Faculty, Karen offers supportive, fun, and engaging faculty support and development to faculty from all over the world.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

Ideally, college classrooms provide students with a comfortable but challenging environment in which diverse ideas and viewpoints are openly exchanged; the reality they experience, though, is often quite different. In this episode, David Laibson joins us to discuss how Harvard University is attempting to identify and address barriers to this ideal.

David is the Robert I. Goldman Professor of Economics and a Faculty Dean of Lowell House. He has published dozens of heavily cited articles on a wide range of topics, including behavioral economics, self-regulation, behavior change, household finance, and aging. David is a Research Associate in the Aging, Asset Pricing, and Economic Fluctuations Working Group at the National Bureau of Economic Research, member of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and serves on numerous advisory boards. He has received Harvard’s Phi Beta Kappa award and a Harvard College Professorship in recognition of his high quality teaching. David is also a co-author of popular textbooks on introductory economics and  a co-editor of the Handbook of Behavioral Economics.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

New faculty often begin their teaching careers by emulating the teaching methods that they have observed, but these practices are often not consistent with evidence on how students learn. In this episode, Chris Hakala joins us to discuss the role that educational developers can play in shifting faculty focus from presenting to teaching.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

Microaggressions interfere with the learning process and damage class community. In this episode, Kaija Hoyt joins us to provide a student’s perspective on microaggressions and strategies to address them. Kaija graduated from SUNY Oswego in May 2025 with a major in Human Resource Management and a minor in Mathematics. She completed an honors thesis on “Mitigating Microaggressions in the Workplace.” and recently provided a workshop presentation on microaggressions to SUNY-Oswego faculty and staff.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

 

The Universal Design for Learning (or UDL) framework is based on research on how students learn. In this episode, Tom Tobin, Lillian Nave, and Jennifer Pusateri join us to discuss the most recent evolution of the UDL guidelines. 

Tom is a founding member of the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Mentoring at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the author of the forthcoming book, UDL at Scale: Adopting Universal Design for Learning across Higher Education, as well as Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education and several other works related to teaching and learning. Lillian is the Faculty and Educational Development Specialist for the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning for Student Success at Appalachian State University’s Hickory Campus, a senior lecturer in first-year seminar, and the host of the ThinkUDL podcast. Jennifer is the Senior Universal Design Consultant at The University of Kentucky and has served as the co-chair of the international UDL in Higher Education Network. She is a member of the CAST National Faculty and is the author of Transform Your Teaching with Universal Design for Learning: Six Steps to Jumpstart Your Practice. Tom, Lillian, and Jennifer often serve as keynote speakers on UDL and other issues.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

Faculty often struggle to reduce equity gaps and to foster a sense of belonging and inclusion in their classes. In this episode, Courtney Plotts joins us to discuss course design strategies to increase transparency and to allow students to express and share their own cultural identities as part of an inclusive class community.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

During the past decade, public confidence in education has been declining. In this episode, SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. joins us to discuss his new book that provides a compelling narrative of the value of education in transforming lives.

Chancellor King  has a long history of involvement with education. After graduating from Harvard, he acquired a Master's degree from Teacher’s College at Columbia University and taught high school social studies. He later co-founded Roxbury Preparatory Charter School and served as a co-Director for five years. Under his leadership, students in this school attained the highest scores of any urban middle school in the state and closed the racial achievement gap. After acquiring his doctoral degree from Columbia and a law degree from Yale, Dr. King served as New York State’s Education Commissioner from 2011 to 2014. He left NY for a while to work in the Obama administration as Deputy Secretary of Education from 2015 to 2016 and joined Obama’s Cabinet as Secretary of Education from 2016 to 2017. Following his work in the Obama Administration, Dr. King continued to advocate for increased educational equity and access as President and CEO of the Education Trust. He now serves as Chancellor of the State University of New York. We’re interviewing Dr. King in his role as the author of his new book and not in his role as the SUNY Chancellor.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.

Undergraduate math courses, as traditionally taught, often serve as barriers to entry into many STEM disciplines. In this episode, Aris Winger joins us to discuss strategies that can increase student success and reduce equity gaps in student outcomes in these classes.

Aris is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Georgia Gwinnett College. His current areas of interest include equity in mathematics education, culturally responsive teaching, and social justice mathematics. He is a co-author of the book series Advocating for Students of Color in Mathematics and is the Executive Director of the National Association of Mathematicians.

A transcript of this episode and show notes may be found at http://teaforteaching.com.