Reading Groups

Joy-Centered Pedagogy in Higher Education

This book group will meet six times this semester on Wednesdays (1/28, 2/11, 2/18, 2/25, 3/4, & 3/18) from 3:30-4:30 pm in ZSR 665 (Faculty Commons Classroom inside the Faculty Commons space in the ZSR Wilson Wing). We will provide the book for the first 15 registrants. These discussions are very popular so we ask that you register only if you are available to attend all sessions.

Joy-Centered Pedagogy in Higher Education (2025) features a collection of 15 essays about the role that joy, playfulness, curiosity, laughter, and fun play in the college classroom. Focusing on topics as diverse as joyful silence, embodied learning, unlearning failure, and student-authored stand-up comedy, the volume offers inspiration and practical guidance for reorienting teaching around joy in order to become more welcoming, inclusive, effective, and fulfilled instructors.

Let’s meet to discuss and experiment with joy as a unique lens for understanding teaching and learning.

Register for the Joy-Centered Pedagogy book discussion here

Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic – and What We Can Do About It

Meets 3 times this semester (2/3, 2/17 & 3/3) on Tuesday from 2-3pm in ZSR 665 (Faculty Commons Classroom  inside the Faculty Commons space in ZSR Wilson Wing). We will provide the book for the first 15 registrants. These discussions are very popular so we ask that you register only if you are available to attend all sessions.

Join your colleagues for a discussion of Jennifer Breheny Wallace’s Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic—and What We Can Do About It (2023). We will explore how the relentless pressure to perform impacts our students’ mental health and sense of “mattering.” During these sessions, we’ll examine Wallace’s research on the “achievement trap” and discuss practical ways we might work to shift our campus culture from high-pressure competition to healthy excellence. We’ll talk about reframing our pedagogical approaches to prioritize resilience, belonging, and the intrinsic value of learning over a narrow focus on grades and credentials.

Register for the Never Enough book discussion here