The Teaching Center has purchased an institutional license to attend the ninth annual virtual conference, Transforming the Teaching & Learning Environment, hosted by the University of Idaho. For 10 weekdays starting Monday, Feb. 12, there will be 60 one-hour live and interactive sessions on topics like gamification, mobile learning, flipped classrooms and emerging technologies. This is a great way to engage with education professionals from all over the world.

The Provost's Diversity Institute begins with two events at the Community Engagement Center in Homewood on April 29. Inside-Out: Experiences from the Pitt Prison Education Project (10 a.m.) kicks things off, and facilitates dialogue and education across social differences by co-enrolling students from university and incarcerated settings. Teaching Side by Side (1 p.m.) follows in the afternoon, offering a community-based learning format that brings together college students and community residents or organizations in classes taught by university faculty. Information on these sessions, registration, and more can be found on the Provost's Diversity Institute for Faculty Development web page. Eligible faculty will receive a stipend for attending these sessions.

As we begin a new school year, we are pleased to announce several new resources and services available to the University community. The Mentoring Academy was launched in April to offer faculty the opportunity to participate in a program based on the National Research Mentoring Network curriculum. Trained faculty facilitators will lead the program, which will offer workshops on eight mentoring competencies over four sessions, resulting in a credential for participants. Read about the more new resources in this week's newsletter.