Swarthmore College
This is a dinner party, Swarthmore-style…

The Aydelotte Foundation continues its support of an initiative that helps faculty get to know their colleagues’ scholarly work more deeply. Faculty and Staff Dinner Discussions occur several times a semester. At these dinners, a small group of faculty gathers to discuss a topic or short piece of published work by a colleague. Dinner conversation includes a brief presentation followed by questions posed by the group.

Dinners were suspended 2020-2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic but resumed in the fall of 2023 in collaboration with the Teaching & Learning Commons.

2023-2024 Curriculum & Pedagogy Series

“Moving Forward” Dinner Conversations, Thursday, March 7 at 6pm & Wednesday, April 10 at 7pm
The Teaching and Learning Commons (TLC) and the Aydelotte Foundation invite members of the faculty and staff to come together for dinner to discuss possibilities for our work together around Swarthmore Forward. What might be needed to feel supported in the implementation phase of the strategic plan? What kinds of programs or initiatives from Aydelotte and the TLC would be most welcome as we move into examining the core requirements of a Swarthmore education? Open to all faculty and staff, these dinner conversations are imagined as a way to develop strategies and gather examples to make implementation work possible and even rewarding. We expect that these gatherings will generate imaginative, creative, and experimental ideas informed by practical institutional knowledge and experience.

We will hold two dinners over the next two months to jumpstart this conversation. The first is on Thursday, March 7 at 6pm, when we’ll take over Village Vine in Swarthmore, and the second is on Wednesday, April 10 at 7pm at a restaurant in Philadelphia. Please indicate your interest in attending one of the dinners by March 4 at 5pm by responding to the survey linked here. We will respond to all interested faculty and staff by the end of the day on March 5.

We look forward to seeing many of you soon! Please direct any questions to tlc@swarthmore.edu

Recent Past Dinners

“Speaking of Grades…” Dinner Conversation, Wednesday, November 8, 2023, 5:30pm at Village Vine.
The Teaching & Learning Commons (TLC) and Aydelotte Foundation hosted the first of the Curriculum & Pedagogy dinner series of the academic year. Faculty and instructional staff joined together for dinner and lively discussion of course grading and alternative grading practices.

Past Series

The schedule from fall 2019, convened by Professor Grace Ledbetter (Classics and Philosophy)provides a sample of the type of work that was presented and discussed in the past:

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