As the world follows the latest developments regarding the Coronavirus, check out the University of Pittsburgh's Massive Open Online Course, Epidemics, Pandemics and Outbreaks. This MOOC is offered on Coursera and explores what we can do to prevent outbreaks of infectious diseases from becoming epidemics or a pandemic. This course focuses on public health laws, and you'll hear from experts that provide a framework for effective prevention, like quarantine laws, drug development policies, and bioterrorism and biodefense.

Join our staff for a Researchers’ Writing Group every Friday in Alumni Hall. This voluntary writing program aims to provide support and accountability to faculty working on research. The program is open to all faculty and provides a space for individuals to meet and write together for a weekly three-hour block of time. The hope is that the writing groups will carve out time in researchers’ busy schedules for writing. For more information, contact Dr. Josie Rush at jlr190@pitt.edu or by phone at 412-624-7213.

On March 2, our staff will host a Community Engagement in the Curriculum workshop in the William Pitt Union. This serves as a pre-conference event to the Community Engaged Scholarship Forum on March 3. Come learn about opportunities and challenges in doing community engagement work with students and others, and obtain resources that can strengthen networking with community partners. Please register online to attend. Lunch will be provided.

The University of Pittsburgh welcomed Dr. David Laude to campus for the 2020 Assessment and Teaching Conference, where he delivered the keynote address on creating a student-centered classroom. Hear from Dr. Laude and other faculty in attendance in our newest edition of Headlines. You can also watch Dr. Laude's full keynote on MyPitt Video.

Join us on Feb. 4 for a workshop focusing on understanding the needs of Latinx/Hispanic students in dealing with academic and career experiences at Pitt. Panelists will share their experiences in graduate school and discuss how faculty can better accommodate teaching and mentoring styles to meet diverse students' expectations and needs. Please register online to attend.

We are excited to launch a brand new set of web pages dedicated to assessment of teaching. This content is designed to support instructors in an exploration of various methods of assessment to improve their teaching. The content also offers support to academic units to establish and sustain a culture of teaching excellence. We invite you to browse this new information, and learn about the resources and different levels of support offered at the Teaching Center.