Faculty Lunches

The Bok Center hosts an annual series of faculty lunch conversations on aspects of teaching and learning. Each lunch is moderated by one or more faculty colleagues, who share their experiences in the classroom and lead a broad discussion of the lessons learned and opportunities for adaptation. The Bok Center follows up with attendees to forward resources that may be of interest in light of the presentation.

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Upcoming Conversations

No upcoming faculty lunches

Past Faculty Lunches on Learning

Faculty Lunch: Holding Seated Final Exams
April 17, 2026
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12:00PM - 1:15PM EDT
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Kresge Foundation Room, Barker Center 114
In Person
Are you switching to a seated final exam this spring or thinking about doing so in the fall? Are you unsure about the pedagogical value of seated final exams, but concerned about potential use of AI for take-home assessments? Join Professor Andrew Gordon...

Faculty Lunch: Training TFs for Successful Sections

February 27, 2026
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12:00PM - 1:15PM EST
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Plimpton Room, Barker Center 133
In Person
Join Fiery Cushman (Psychology) and faculty colleagues over lunch to discuss how the section experience can be an invaluable pedagogical commodity. Done right, section forces students to use what they’ve learned, build skills of expression and listening...

Competing Viewpoints, Contested Facts - Civil Discourse and Teaching Faculty Lunch
November 20, 2025
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12:00PM - 1:00PM EST
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Plimpton Room, Barker Center 133
In Person
Come join Dan Carpenter (Government), Ned Hall (Philosophy), and faculty colleagues over lunch to discuss a teaching challenge that strikes at the core of the academic enterprise: how do we teach when our students suspect our views on course material...

POSTPONED | David Unger, "Organizing a Project-Based Class"
April 19, 2022
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1:00PM - 2:00PM EDT
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TBA
In Person
EVENT POSTPONED; PLEASE CHECK BACK FOR A FUTURE DATE IN THE 2022–2023 ACADEMIC YEAR Project-based classes can deeply engage students in authentic learning, but they can also be complicated to organize and manage. Open-ended student-led projects allow...

Louis Menand, "Oh, the Humanities!"
February 1, 2022
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1:00PM - 2:00PM EST
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Online; please register for Zoom link
Virtual
If there is one thing about which virtually all humanities professors, university administrators, and state legislators seem to agree these days, it's that the humanities are in a state of crisis, their enrollments in precipitous decline and their...

Faculty Lunch: Doing Right by our Students in the Era of Accountability
March 3, 2020
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12:00PM - 1:00PM EST
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50 Church St. 3rd Floor
In Person
Christina Ciocca Eller, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Social Studies With the rise of accountability in higher education, colleges and universities are sharing more data than ever before concerning their "performance"—especially in regards to their...

Faculty Lunch: Supporting Student-Directed Learning
October 22, 2019
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12:00PM - 1:00PM EDT
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50 Church St. 3rd Floor
In Person
Karen Brennan, Associate Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education Creating opportunities for students to have choice in and control over their learning is an essential component of designing powerful and meaningful learning experiences...

Faculty Lunch: The Writing Instructor's Dilemma
September 24, 2019
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12:00PM - 1:00PM EDT
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50 Church St. 3rd Floor
In Person
Michael Pollan, Lewis K. Chan Arts Lecturer and Professor of the Practice of Non-Fiction Teaching students to write well is one of the most fundamental goals of a university education—and yet it has proven to be one of the most challenging and, for many...

Faculty Lunch: Curating in the Context of Art Museums
April 15, 2019
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12:00PM - 1:00PM EDT
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50 Church St. Room 308
In Person
Soyoung Lee, Landon and Lavinia Clay Chief Curator, Harvard Art Museums The terms "curation" and "curating" have become ubiquitous expressions nearly divorced from the art world. It seems one can "curate" one's dinner table, one's daily outfit, one's...

Faculty Lunch: Criticism and Theory for the Faint of Heart
November 20, 2018
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12:00PM - 1:00PM EST
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50 Church St. Room 308
In Person
Robert Reid-Pharr, Professor of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Robert Reid-Pharr will lead a discussion of how to get past the phobias that many students and instructors have about the acquisition of complex theoretical and critical ideas...

Faculty Lunch: How to Overhaul your Curriculum and Live to Tell the Tale
October 1, 2018
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12:00PM - 1:00PM EDT
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50 Church St. Room 308
In Person
Suzannah Clark, Morton B. Knafel Professor of Music and Chair, Department of Music As a veteran of successful curricular reforms at both Oxford and Harvard, Suzannah Clark has developed a keen sense for how to build consensus and align an undergraduate...

Faculty Lunch: Minding Making
April 23, 2018
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12:00PM - 1:00PM EDT
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50 Church St, Room 308
In Person
Jennifer Roberts, Elizabeth Cary Agassiz Professor of the Humanities in the Department of History of Art and Architecture If the artisanal and technical skills behind artmaking are forms of knowledge, how can (or should) that knowledge be integrated into...

Faculty Lunch: On Power and Ambiguity in the Student-Adviser Relation
March 20, 2018
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12:00PM - 1:00PM EDT
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50 Church St, Room 308
In Person
Mario Small, Grafstein Family Professor of Sociology Professor Mario Small will share insights from his recent book, Someone To Talk To, which examines—based in large part on the experiences of graduate students in their first, often difficult year in...

Faculty Lunch: The Research Paper and its Discontents
November 15, 2017
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12:00PM - 1:00PM EST
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Science Center 318
In Person
Jane Kamensky, Professor of History and Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director of the Schlesinger Library Is it time to retire the research paper? Professor Jane Kamensky will lead a discussion of the strengths and shortcomings of the undergraduate...

Faculty Lunch: Recreating the Culture of Science in the Classroom
October 11, 2017
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12:00PM - 1:00PM EDT
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Science Center, Room 418D
In Person
John Johnson, Professor of Astronomy and Director of Graduate Studies How can you design a science course in which all students feel like they belong and that they have the capacity to succeed? How can you integrate a strong sense of ethics and...

Faculty Lunch on Learning: Margo Seltzer
Apr 28, 2017
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12:00PM EDT
In Person
Flipping at Scale Margo Seltzer, Herchel Smith Professor of Computer Science, John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applies Sciences How can you design a science course in which all students feel like they belong and that they have the capacity to...

Faculty Lunch on Learning: Ruth Lingford
March 23, 2017
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12:00PM - 1:00PM EDT
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Science Center, Room 318
In Person
Ruth Lingford, Senior Lecturer on Visual and Environmental Studies Professor Lingford will discuss her experiences using hands-on animation techniques to help students think about science.