by Gina Merys, Director, Reinert Center There is something quite remarkable about the beginning of a new academic year—there is a veneer of hope over everything. Anything can be true and everything feels possible. Even the most skeptical among us can find inspiration in the wide-eyed look on the faces of new students, relief in… Continue reading Academic Year 2025-26
Category: From the Director
What Are You Going to Do Next?
by Gina Merys, Director, Reinert Center The new graduates from a large metropolitan medical school wait in line to climb the three steps to the dais to receive their diplomas before descending the three steps again to return to their seats. The dean exchanges a few words with each graduate—[…] “What are you planning to… Continue reading What Are You Going to Do Next?
The End is Another Beginning
by Gina Merys, Director, Reinert Center The occasion of end of the academic year often asks us to hold in tension multiple different emotions. We are anxious about end-of-term exams, projects, and presentations; enthused about summer jobs and first “real” jobs; nostalgic about memories from years ago and yesterday; sad to say farewell to close… Continue reading The End is Another Beginning
Welcome to the 2023-24 Academic Year!
by Gina Merys, Director, Reinert Center The Reinert Center team was busier than ever this summer hosting our annual Course Design Institute in June, our annual Culturally Responsive Teaching Institute in early August, and welcoming three new full-time staff members and one new graduate assistant in between. Of course, we also continued working individually with… Continue reading Welcome to the 2023-24 Academic Year!
Welcome Back
by Gina Merys, Director, Reinert Center Welcome to the 2022-2023 academic year! This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Reinert Center. We have many things planned for year, some of which celebrates this milestone, but most of which showcases what we have done best throughout our 25-year history—supporting instructors in the teaching tips, techniques,… Continue reading Welcome Back
Mission Matters Episode 21: The Reinert Center
Ignatian Pedagogy Is About You Too
by Gina Merys, Director, Reinert Center Thinking about Ignatian pedagogy as we begin our spring semester 2022, it is nearly impossible not to think about the current, on-going context in which we are living: the COVID pandemic, racial disparities, the climate crisis, and so many more issues and challenges that weigh heavily on us both… Continue reading Ignatian Pedagogy Is About You Too
What is Community?
by Gina Merys, Acting Director, Reinert Center “It is imperative that we maintain hope even when the harshness of reality may suggest the opposite.” Paulo Freire Each academic year, the Reinert Center chooses a theme to highlight and focus the programming we design for the year. The theme that we had chosen for the 2020-21… Continue reading What is Community?
Instructional Continuity
Given the increase in coronavirus cases in the US and abroad, we find ourselves in an unusual circumstance that asks us to act with concern and consideration toward everyone in our community and with a commitment to finding new ways to create and experience knowledge. At its most basic definition, “instructional continuity” means 1) that… Continue reading Instructional Continuity
Who We Are is How We Teach
by Gina Merys, Acting Director, Reinert Center If students and subjects accounted for all the complexities of teaching, our standard ways of coping would do—keep up with our fields as best we can, and learn enough techniques to stay ahead of the student psyche. But there is another reason for these complexities: we teach who… Continue reading Who We Are is How We Teach
The Notebook 