On February 25, members of the San Diego Chapter of CATESOL, a professional organization serving Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, met virtually to discuss the latest developments in AI technology and the impact of these systems in ESL reading and writing pedagogy. The meeting was broken into four informative sessions with time…Read More
Society for Neuroscience 2022
Expect the Unexpected It’s back. After one year of being canceled and another year of being online, Society for Neuroscience (SfN) is back in-person. This year, I took two of my Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) students, Wyland Nicholson and Kaylee Alford, to the 51st SfN Conference in beautiful San Diego. My students got to…Read More
Evangelical Theological Society 2022
“Breaking Free of the Secular Frame” I had the privilege of representing Vanguard University at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society held this year in chilly Denver, Colorado, November 14-17. The first night I was there some snow flurries occurred, making possible the closest thing to a white Christmas I’ll likely ever experience!…Read More
Evangelical Theological Society and Society of Biblical Literature 2022
In November, I had the opportunity to attend and present papers at two back-to-back conferences in Denver, Colorado: The Evangelical Theological Society (ETS), and the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). Fellow Vanguard colleagues Gary Tyra, Marc Groenbech-Dam, and Rodolfo Estrada also presented papers. At ETS, I presented a paper called “Ezekiel’s Two Sticks and Eschatological…Read More
Association for Constructivist Teaching 2022
Constructivist teaching is rooted in Piaget’s theory of cognitive and social development which focuses on the structure of human knowledge and the process by which it is constructed. Founding members of the Association for Constructivist Teaching (ACT), Drs. Rheta DeVries and Constance Kamii were both students of Piaget and are often referred to as the…Read More
Fast Company Innovation Festival…
…and Why so Many People are Unhappy at Work A few weeks ago, I received an invitation to be on a Fast Company podcast, “The New Way We Work.” Sure, happy to do that! Well, it turned out that our episode – “Beyond burnout: Why so many employees are unhappy at work,” was a live…Read More
Costume College
Costume College is a 3-day conference chock full of lectures and hands-on workshops. This year I attended 4 lectures, 2 hands-on workshops, and taught 2 hands-on workshops. It was a busy 3 days! The lectures I attended were on the basics of dyeing, the various types of feathers used in millinery, the history of the…Read More
Crisis Publishing Initiative
Every day our media sources report the latest crisis. Lately, the stories have focused on the violence of war, hate crimes, and people escaping violence, refugees. As Christians telling the story, we have an ethical mandate to be honest and impartial. In June, 50 journalists from ten countries gathered in Chicago for the second Crisis…Read More
International Society of Sports Nutrition Conference
Wow, what a spectacular finish to another “buffet of the mind,” within the realm of sports nutrition! This Florida trip to the beautifully mesmerizing Fort Lauderdale for the 19th Annual International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), was truly a breathtaking experience. The days flew by in a rapid blur, which included the considerable amount of…Read More
Creation Care At The Christian Scholars Conference
Approximately 500 Christian professors and others from around the world recently converged on Nashville, Tennessee, for the 41st annual Christian Scholars Conference. This year’s theme was dedicated to “A Livable World: Partnership in Creation, Justice, Wellness, and Economy.” As an interdisciplinary conference, it was a wonderful opportunity to learn about creation care from colleagues in…Read More
Samson’s Scientists: A STEM Afterschool Program for Local 5th Graders
In academia, we generally have a common understanding about what is the primary goal of faculty development which is typically defined as the process of providing opportunities to improve specific skills from the areas of teaching to development of grant writing and research skills. But oftentimes the term “opportunities” is often narrowly defined as workshops,…Read More
Western Political Science Association Conference Reflections
The Western Political Science Association celebrated its 75th Anniversary this year. Comprised of more than 1,250 political scientists and based in Portland State University, the WPSA promotes research and teaching of government, politics, policy, and public affairs. This is a welcoming space where political scientists can join together as a community and share cutting-edge research…Read More
Society for Pentecostal Studies 2022
After being canceled in 2020, and being held online in 2021, the Society for Pentecostal Studies annual conference was finally able to meet in person once again in March of 2022. It was held at Vanguard during the week of spring break with about four hundred people attending from all over the world. This year’s…Read More
Visions for the Future
2022 Annual Conference of California Association for the Education of Young Children The theme of the conference was Visions for the Future. Considering many changes and much public interest in early childhood education, this conference hoped to identify and shape the visions of the field of early childhood education in California. It was the first…Read More
2022 National Association of Schools of Theatre Conference
I recently attended the annual 2-day conference of the National Association of Schools of Theatre in Baltimore. This conference consists of presentations and roundtables. The keynote address spoke to resiliency and relevance. Dr. Phylica Rashad was the speaker. Among the points she made were: Theatre is a place of diversity and inclusion, not only in…Read More