2026 FOTL Program
8:30 AM: Registration and Breakfast - Regents Hall
Breakfast and registration will start at 8:30 AM in Regents Hall, on the 16th floor of Lewis Towers.
9:00 AM: Opening Session - Regents Hall
Regents Hall
Ignatian Presupposition: Living from Historical Roots in Our Contemporary Classrooms || Interactive Presentation
Presented by Lauren Schwer and Patrick Gilger (Loyola University Chicago)
Description: By exploring the historical trajectory and usage of the presupposition, participants will identify current expressions of how this element of Ignatian spirituality can be an asset in creating classrooms of belonging, respect, and regard. Through historical accounts, personal anecdotes, and invitation for reflection on one’s own experiences in the classroom at a time mired in complex tension and polarization, the presupposition invites a depth to Ignatian pedagogy necessary for Jesuit education in the 21st century.
10:00 AM: Breakout Sessions 1 - Regents Hall and Corboy
Regents Hall
Sustainability in Teaching for Justice and Efficacy || Workshop
Presented by Aaron Durnbaugh, Lara Smetana, tavis d. jules, Aana Marie Vigen, Karen Schauwecker, Brook Abegaz, Laura Brentner (Loyola University Chicago)
Description: This interdisciplinary workshop will feature eight faculty and academic staff sharing their lessons on incorporating integral ecology concepts (Laudato si') into the classroom. Participants should come to the session with a course or class session in mind.
Corboy 202
Lightning Talks
- Prompting Inclusion: Creating Space for AI-Mediated UDL Practice - Trischa Duke (University of Illinois Chicago)
- Critical Conversations, Meaningful Connection: AI Communication Role Play in Education - Emily Chin, Lise Hauser (Loyola University Chicago)
- Intellectual Substitution and Student Agency - Theodore Barnes (Loyola University Chicago)
- Where Does Core Learning Go? Connecting Math to Disciplines - Gauree Kiran (Loyola university Chicago)
Corboy 203
It Ain’t Just An Add-On: Arts, Wellness, and Action || Interactive Presentation
Presented by Lauren DeJulio Bell (University of Illinois Chicago)
Description: This session centers on engaging lessons that foster creative expression and interactive teaching approaches. We'll immerse ourselves in poetry and theatre to develop our understanding of mental health/wellness in an arts-driven classroom. We'll be up on our feet with theatre games, along with writing opportunities, to dig into self, community, and language with an emphasis on culturally responsive creative literacy and action.
Corboy 205
Creating Space: A Design Thinking Approach to Co-Creating Classrooms || Workshop
Presented by Stacy Neier Beran and Susan Ries, PhD (Loyola university Chicago)
Description: Classroom space is rarely neutral. Its layout, lighting, furniture, and technology shape what teaching and learning can actually look like in practice. This workshop invites participants into a structured listening experience modeled on Project Cannonball, a student-generated design thinking project exploring what Loyola's campus community needs from its learning spaces. Working on Miro, participants move through three phases: reflecting on their own classroom experience, mapping empathy for a student whose needs are not fully met, and testing an aspirational prototype. Participants leave with a reusable digital template and the knowledge that what they produce here contributes to a real and ongoing campus conversation.
Corboy 525
Using Qualtrics and AI for Formative Adaptive Assessments || Workshop
Presented by Kevin Mazor (Loyola University Chicago)
Description: Low-stakes formative assessments combined with effective feedback have been shown to enhance student learning and understanding, especially when students take the assessment multiple times. During this workshop, participants will learn how to: (1) use Qualtrics to create adaptive assessments that provide students with feedback based on their performance, (2) store students’ results in a database so that future attempts can adjust based on previous performance, and (3) incorporate generative artificial intelligence (AI) into assessments to provide study strategies based on student performance and class content. Participants will need a computer connected to the internet to fully participate.
Corboy 526
Making Space for Information Literacy in Course and Curricular Design || Interactive Presentation
Presented by Sally Thorngate and Monique Clark (Loyola University Chicago)
Description: The information environment we and our students inhabit is ever-changing, shaped by algorithms, polarization, personalization, AI, misinformation, and a crisis of trust in expertise. In this session, we’ll explore what information literacy means in this moment, reflect on what researchers (and our students) are telling us, and think together about how to respond with a distinctly Jesuit approach. We'll share ideas about ways of making space for information literacy in course and assignment design, the CORE curriculum, and departmental curricula, with the aim of preparing graduates to be people for and with others in an increasingly complex information world.
11:00 AM: Breakout Sessions 2 - Corboy
Corboy 202
Lightning Talks
- Camp Wolfie: Collaborative Learning about Autism Spectrum Disorder - Joanne Dunderdale, Nancy Raschke Deichstetter, Carol Kostovich, Elizabeth Szwajnos
- Listening, Reflection, and Formation Through Community of Practice - Kevin Pietro (kpietro)
Corboy 203
This is Where We Meet || Workshop
Presented by Natalia Valencia (Loyola University Chicago)
Description: Building a sense of community is a common goal in teaching, yet it rarely happens by chance. It takes time, effort, and intentionality. To address the question, How does community show up in the classroom?, we must consider how teaching practices and learning environments shape group dynamics. This workshop explores how to cultivate connection and engagement by shifting the assumption that all learning must happen within the classroom. Drawing on study abroad and co-curricular initiatives, we will examine how interaction, aligned goals, and productive discomfort in non-traditional settings positively impact academics by deepening ties between students, instructors, and learning.
Corboy 205
Composition of Place: Ignatian Imagination in Healthcare Ethics Cases || Interactive Presentation
Presented by John Stys (Loyola University Chicago)
Description: Healthcare ethics cases are typically presented in the classroom as stripped-down vignettes optimized for principlist analysis. Students reason about the case rather than from within it, producing discussion that is technically sound but lacking moral depth. This session introduces a pedagogical adaptation of Ignatius's "composition of place" from the Spiritual Exercises. Applied across courses that rely on case study analysis, this approach invites students to engage cases through the senses before moving into analysis.
Corboy 525
Co-Creating Collaborative Learning Spaces || Interactive Presentation
Presented by Veronica Womack (Northwestern University)
Description: This interactive session invites participants to engage in a co-curricular approach to cultivating inclusive, collaborative learning spaces among student peer leaders. This session will be grounded in mindfulness, critical consciousness, and intercultural pedagogy. Drawing on research on high-impact practices and peer mentoring, participants will explore how collaborative approaches—such as group work and dialogue across difference—enhance learning and belonging. Through reflection, multimedia engagement, and discussion, attendees will examine how social identities and marginalization shape learning environments and identify strategies to foster equity, reduce isolation, and strengthen community. Participants will leave with practical tools for cultivating supportive, responsive, and transformative peer learning experiences.
Corby 526
Who's in the room via the ADDRESSING Model || Workshop
Presented by Devona Alleyne (Loyola University Chicago)
Description: Students often start courses carrying multiple characteristics that shape how on they engage in coursework and with one another. Yet, learning spaces often emphasize mastery of material without first inviting opportunities for students to examine the lens through which the lessons come. This workshop presents the use of Pamela Hayes' ADDRESSING model as an introductory classroom activity designed to encourage and foster belonging, critical reflection, and meaningful engagement from the first day of class. The activity reveals the layers of identity for all people in the room rather than the flattening that often occurs from unnamed but perceived differences based of phenotype. Grounded in a teaching philosophy that views education as multidirectional, transformative, and relational, this presentation demonstrates how structured identity reflection can deepen classroom dialogue in which learners feel seen and valued.
2:00 PM: Breakout Sessions 3 - Corboy
Corboy 202
Lightning Talks
- Making Space for Cura Personalis Through Brief Classroom Activities - Julie Darnell (Loyola University Chicago)
- Be Kind! Some Pedagogy of Relation & Care - Daniel Burke (Loyola University Chicago)
- Cura Personalis Advising: Reimagining Longitudinal Medical Student Advising - Cynthia Chaidez (Loyola University Chicago)
- Learn it, Teach it, Live it: A Tiered Approach to Student Thriving - Stephanie Wilson and Stephanie Vazquez (Loyola University Chicago)
Corboy 203
Creating Space For Incarcerated Students || Interdisciplinary Roundtable
Presented by Elizabeth Webster and Richard Kim (Loyola University Chicago)
Description: This discussion will center on how to create space for non-traditional students, specifically incarcerated students. We will consider how to bridge the gap between carceral spaces and Loyola classrooms through a University-wide, jail education program.
Corboy 205
Making Every Voice Visible: Collaborative Digital Spaces for Belonging || Workshop
Presented by Nur Karatas (Loyola University Chicago)
Description: How can collaborative digital spaces help create classrooms where more students feel comfortable contributing? This interactive workshop explores how digital tools can foster belonging, encourage participation, and support cura personalis through reflection, connection, and student voice. Drawing on examples from my first-year writing and core literature courses, participants will experience and discuss activities that build community, invite reflection, and create space for student check-ins and mindful engagement. We will also consider how these practices can be adapted across disciplines. Through examples using Padlet, Microsoft Whiteboard, and Mentimeter, the workshop highlights practical ways to encourage participation and create more connected learning environments.
Corboy 525
Leading a Culture of Assessment: Giving and Receiving Feedback || Workshop
Presented by Rachel Shefner, Eilene Edejer, and Laura Gawlinski (Loyola University Chicago)
Description: There is evidence of a growing culture of assessment at Loyola. Faculty are becoming more familiar with developing learning outcomes and curriculum maps and have even reported evidence that engaging in assessment processes has led to adjustments in the way they offer academic programs to students. Cultivating this emerging culture requires developing a common understanding of our goals. Peer feedback provided to academic units on their annual academic assessment reports can facilitate common understanding. Providing actionable peer feedback deepens the understanding of both the feedback provider and the receiver. Join us as we practice delivering and receiving feedback!
Corboy 526
Crossing Borders, Building Bridges || Interdisciplinary Roundtable
Presented by Katherine Walts, Ruth Kafensztok, Maria Vidal De Haymes, Amy Nelson Christensen, Amy Blair (Loyola University Chicago)
Description: Rooted in the Ignatian tradition of cura personalis and a commitment to justice, this roundtable convenes faculty from the newly launched Holistic Immigration Hub pilot to examine how interdisciplinary collaboration advances systemic change for one of the most pressing social challenges of our time - immigrant justice. Panelists from law, public health, social work, and education will identify current issues within their respective fields, and discuss how cross-disciplinary engagement can produce impact that no single field could achieve alone. Grounded in the Jesuit commitment to educating the whole person and serving the common good, this conversation explores how interdisciplinary partnership can strengthen teaching, scholarship and social impact.
8:30 AM: Registration and Breakfast - Regents Hall
Join us back in Regents Hall (Lewis Towers 16th floor) for our closing session!