Newsletter (February 2026)

Congratulations | Michel Wattiaux Receives USDA National Teaching Award

• Michel A. Wattiaux, Teaching Academy Fellow (2003) and Professor in the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences (CALS) has been named the recipient of the 2025 USDA Excellence in College and University Teaching in Food and Agricultural Sciences Award in the National category. This highly competitive award, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture since 1992, recognizes exceptional educators who have made sustained and significant contributions to student learning in food and agricultural sciences. | Read more

Welcome our New Members!

• These individuals have been recognized for outstanding commitment to teaching and learning. Welcome to the Teaching Academy!
• Fellows:
  • Chloe Grace Hart, Sociology
  • Dana O’Brien, School of Nursing
  • Katie Pavek, School of Nursing

Honor a colleague or nominate yourself!

• For over 30 years, the Academy’s mission has been to promote, recognize and support excellence in teaching and learning among faculty, staff and graduate students across campus and beyond. The Teaching Academy welcomes nominees who teach or support instruction for face-to-face, online, and hybrid classes, clinical practice, field instruction, and more.
• There are three types of membership: Future Faculty Partner (FFP), Fellow, and Clinical Affiliate. Learn how to become a Member.
• Questions about membership? Are you a FFP who has moved on to another position in the University?
  Contact: uwta-membership@g-groups.wisc.edu

From the Executive Committee | Revisions to the Teaching Academy’s Bylaws

• The Executive Committee has approved revisions to the Teaching Academy’s Bylaws. The most recent version is dated January 2026. Many thanks to all who provided input and suggested improvements!
• Questions about the ExComm?
  Contact: teachingacademy@wisc.edu

2026 Winter Retreat Recap (Part 1) | Building a Culture of Wellbeing through Accessibility & Accommodations

• On Friday, February 6, over 160 educators from all across campus gathered in the DeLuca Forum to learn and discuss how to build and sustain a broad culture of accessibility at UWMadison.
• The event was opened by Ruben Mota (ADA Coordinator) and Todd Schwanke (Associate Director, Accommodations & Technology, McBurney Disability Resource Center) with an update on the university’s Digital Accessibility Initiative (UDAI) titled “Shifting from Accommodations toward Seamless Access.”
• They were followed by 12 speakers who spoke about emerging technologies and practical strategies to remove barriers, enhance student engagement, and promote long-term accessibility practices and wellbeing:
  • Abby Letak, Ecologies of Wellbeing at UW-Madison
  • Carol Spoehr, What “Wellness, Accessibility, Accommodation” Means When
    Applying the Spoon Theory
  • McLean Gunderson, Designing for Access in a High-Intensity First-Year Course
  • Erica J. Hagen and Luis Loya, Engineering for Accessibility, A Tale of Two Digital Accessibility Liaisons
  • Linda Oforka, Opportunities for providing accessibility and accommodations in my teaching and daily work
  • Tom Tobin, Accessible Design for Now and the Future
  • Rachael Lewandowski Sarette, From Field to Faculty: Using Extension Strategies to Foster Accessibility and Wellbeing
  • Mitch Keller, Moving from LaTeX to PreTeXt for Digital Accessibility in STEM
    Courses
  • Shawn Robinson, From Accommodation to Infrastructure: Merriam-Webster–based Dictionary Decoding for All Learners
  • Hazel Zhu, Designing for Neurodiverse Accessibility: Towards Accessible Video
    Learning for Individuals with ADHD
  • Dan Pell, Fun with Captioning! (in the Era of Gen AI): Making videos more
    accessible, efficient, and useful for students and instructors

Missed the Retreat? Want to revisit the content?

• Watch the 2026 Winter Retreat (1h 45m)
  Corrected captions will be added by Wednesday, February 25
• View the Main Slides
• View Shifting from Accommodations toward Seamless Access | Ruben Mota &
  Todd Schwanke
• Read the Participant Guide, Accessibility Terminology, and Crowdsourced Resources
• Watch Accessible Design for Now and the Future (4m53s) | Tom Tobin
• Watch Fun with Captioning! (in the Era of Gen AI) (4m35s) | Dan Pell
• Next month! We will share a video viewing guide for the Retreat with direct links
  to each section and speaker.
• Questions about the Retreat? Want to help plan?
  Contact Dan Pell: dan.pell@wisc.edu

The Discussion Project

• The Discussion Project will be running the following courses in June and August at UW-Madison. Registration opens March 1. Please check your calendar and fill in this form if you are interested so that we may directly contact you when registration opens. | Learn more
• June 9, 10, 11, 8:30am-4:30 pm each day – open to all instructors: faculty, academic
  staff, and TA’s
• August 12, 13, 14, 8:30am-4:30 pm each day – for faculty and academic staff
• August 18, 19, 20, 8:30am-4:30 pm each day – for faculty and academic staff
• August 18, 19, 20, 8:30am-4:30 pm each day – for TA’s
• The Discussion Project is a professional learning course to support instructors in designing, implementing, and facilitating high-quality classroom discussion. The course is designed to support instructors teaching classes of up to 40 students although many instructors who teach large classes have taken the course and found it effective for considering how to run interactive lectures and how best to prepare their TAs to run effective discussion sections.
• Questions about the Discussion Project?
  Contact: discussionproject@education.wisc.edu

Writing Across Curriculum

• Teaching with Writing? Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) is here to help! WAC supports instructors who use writing in their teaching in any form: everything from longer, high-stakes papers and projects to low- or no-stakes in-class writing activities. Our online resource for UW-Madison instructors, Communicating Across the Curriculum is a Pressbook filled with chapters on topics that include, but are not limited to:
  • Teaching with writing in an age of AI
  • Designing low- and high-stakes writing assignments
  • Sequencing and scaffolding writing assignments
  • Providing feedback on student writing
• Our team also offers individual consultations (Zoom or in-person) upon request. | Ask a Question or Request a Consultation
• Questions about Writing Across the Curriculum?
  Contact: wac@writing.wisc.edu

Language Institute | Series on Research in Language Studies

• Sustaining and Strengthening Less Commonly Taught Languages in Precarious Times: Focus on Pedagogy and Placement
  Friday, February 27, 2–3:15 pm CST, Zoom
• Features presentations by Carter Griffith and Anna Hubbard, University of Minnesota; Ida Moen Johnson, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Ryan Platte, Northwestern University; and Aleksei Rumiantsev, Indiana University. | Learn more & register
• Harnessing AI for Research in Applied Linguistics: From Qualitative Coding to Quantitative Analysis
  Thursday, March 19 | 1418 Van Hise Hall
• This workshop will introduce participants to practical strategies for integrating AI into research workflows. Participants will leave with concrete examples, tool suggestions, and a chance to try out using AI responsibly and effectively in applied linguistics research. | Learn more & register
• Questions about the Language Institute?
  Contact Jana Martin: jcmartin4@wisc.edu

Have something to share?
Academy members work in diverse roles and learning environments across our university. If you have news, events, training, or opportunities you would like to share with the Academy, contact Dan Pell & Sarah Pultorak: editor-uwta-newsletter@g-groups.wisc.edu. Messages received by the second Monday of the month may be included in that month’s newsletter.

Honor Outstanding Mentors on Campus

• Nominations are due March 3 for the annual Awards for Mentoring Undergraduates in Research, Scholarly and Creative Activities, recognizing faculty members, groups of mentors, academic staff, post-doctoral fellows and graduate students for the outstanding work they do in mentoring undergraduates in their areas of professional activity. These awards provide $2,000 of university expendable funds (supplies and expenses) as well as recognition during the 2026 Undergraduate Symposium. | Learn more & nominate

Join the Reflection Space | Enhance your teaching through reflective practice

• Feeling Reflective? The Reflection Space is a unique writing community which encourages you to think deeply about your teaching and your students’ learning. Respond at your own pace. Share your reflection and reply to others’ reflections. Build connections as you learn with other instructors.
• The Reflection Space is open to instructors teaching in any discipline or modality, at all career stages and is ongoing throughout the fall & spring semesters. | Learn more & register
• Questions about the Reflection Space?
  Contact Dan Pell: dan.pell@wisc.edu

If you’re looking for a different kind of engagement or instructional support, please contact CTLM with your request – we look forward to working with you! To learn more about these programs or to register, visit the CTLM’s Professional Development Opportunities.

Save the Date: Medical Education Day

• 2026 Medical Education Day will take place May 28th, 2026 at the Health Sciences Learning Center, in Madison, Wisconsin. This free, in-person program will offer engaging learning sessions and networking opportunities for faculty and staff from around the state. | Learn more

Articles For Discussion

• Participate in discussion of articles featured in the Clinical Teacher Learning Community. Topics include learner assessment, precision education, serious games, and medical education and artificial intelligence. This online community also offers connections, news, and resources for clinical teachers. | Join the discussions

Courses | Education Essentials

• Education Essentials is a collection of 8 modules aimed at developing key skills for all interprofessional health science teachers, in various teaching settings. Registration is free and these courses can be completed at your own pace. | Register

Conference: Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education (SACME) Annual Meeting

• This conference offers research and best practices sessions and learning from CPD/CE colleagues who have developed innovative strategies, including interprofessional and team-based education, working in the evolving CPD/CE environment, using data driven CPD, and incorporating quality improvement and patient safety. | Learn more & register

Explore

• Clinical Teacher Learning Community
• SMPH Faculty Central
• University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education (UW CIPE)

Questions? Topics you would like to see? Announcements for the next issue?
Contact Marianna Shershneva: marianna.shershneva@wisc.edu