I myself attended the Michigan State University and Indiana University Weeks of SEISMIC. However, to gain some additional perspective, I spoke to Emily Bonem and Madeleine Gonin about their experiences with the events. Emily Bonem is the Assistant Director within the Center for Instructional Excellence at Purdue University, and on top of helping plan for the Purdue Week of SEISMIC, also attended the University of Michigan and Indiana University Weeks of SEISMIC. Madeleine Gonin is the Assistant Director for Inclusive Teaching at Indiana University Bloomington. Gonin attended the Purdue Week of SEISMIC and helped with the planning for the Indiana University Week of SEISMIC. Bonem and Gonin had many overlapping goals in mind for attending the Weeks of SEISMIC, such as making new connections and learning about local campus work. Bonem also recalls attending the events to work on the Bright Spots project and write an academic paper collaboratively. Similarly, Gonin remembers looking for ways to contribute to SEISMIC projects.

Gonin’s first Week of SEISMIC was Purdue University’s in April of 2022. This was Gonin’s first SEISMIC event, so she was primarily focused on understanding the collaboration as a whole and networking with members. She was wondering how she could contribute, she recalls: “I was going in with a little bit of imposter syndrome, like, do I really belong here? Do I have something to contribute?” Setting those worries aside, she enjoyed hearing instructors discuss their experiences with Purdue’s “Instruction Matters: Purdue Academic Course Transformation” (IMPACT) program. She also had the chance to meet plenty of people from the SEISMIC community. Gonin left the event feeling enthusiastically welcomed and empowered with new ideas for how she could participate in SEISMIC. What’s more, she became motivated to provide an especially welcoming community for the Indiana University Week of SEISMIC.

“We were trying to introduce SEISMIC more broadly to our campus,” Bonem recalls about the Purdue Week of SEISMIC. With 24 unique events, it was a packed week filled with opportunities to learn about the important work being done within SEISMIC and at Purdue. Bonem credits Chantal Levesque-Bristol, Executive Director of the Center for Instructional Excellence, with the event’s success: “We did a lot… [she] really planned a lot of events for that week.” To learn more about the events at the Purdue University Week of SEISMIC, you can read a blogpost by Nita Tarchinski here.

The Michigan State University Week of SEISMIC was my first in-person SEISMIC experience. While I had joined SEISMIC in the Summer of 2021 as an undergraduate researcher, the work I did for that was entirely online. Now, as a program assistant, I was meeting the collaboration I would be supporting face-to-face. The MSU Week of SEISMIC took place May 16-19, 2022, and the event kicked off with presentations on STEM education and one-minute “lightning introductions” from interested participants of themselves and the work they’re involved in. I was mesmerized by what I was learning: I had just graduated from MSU two weeks before, and seeing the world of higher education from a non-student perspective was looking at something I considered familiar to me in an entirely new light. To learn more about the specific activities that took place at Michigan State University Week of SEISMIC, you can read a blogpost by Nita Tarchinski here.

Gonin, Bonem, and I all attended the Indiana University Week of SEISMIC, which took place October 18-20, 2022. We all played slightly different roles: I was coming to help coordinate activities and meet more members, Bonem was coming to network and work on the Bright Spots project, and Gonin was helping run the show as a member of the host institution. One of the most memorable sessions of the event was the student panel, moderated by Nikeetha Farfan D’Souza, Associate Director for Student Support & Bias Response at Indiana University. “It was a bit of a lightbulb there… It’s important for instructors to hear from groups of students that are not their own students,” Gonin says. Students give feedback differently when their grade could be impacted. Additionally, hearing from many different voices is integral to transforming students’ learning experiences in STEM. “Everyone is helping to bring a different puzzle piece together to make a better final picture of what’s going on and how we can be helpful,” Gonin explains. This message was echoed throughout the event, as we also heard from instructors, graduate students, and university leadership.

As a bonus, Stefano Fiorini took attendees to visit his wife’s Pottery House Studio and practice their painting skills! Susan Snyder was a fantastic host, and I was able to decorate a beautiful bowl. Bonem claims this was one of the most memorable parts of the experience. “I think it was some good SEISMIC bonding,” she explains. To learn more about the specific activities that happened at the IU Week of SEISMIC, check out this article I wrote on the event.

As SEISMIC 1.0 nears its conclusion, both Gonin and Bonem hope there can be future versions of the Weeks of SEISMIC. “I have enjoyed all of the big SEISMIC events,” Gonin says. “And I love them because they’re all really well organized… I mean, it makes such a big difference.” Similarly, Bonem says the Weeks of SEISMIC were a great way to make connections between the local institutions. “It’s cool to see what’s happening on other campuses,” she explains. As a remote worker, this also gives Bonem time to see colleagues from Purdue in-person that she normally only sees online.

I would also like to see another iteration of the Weeks of SEISMIC in the future. These events did wonders for my imposter syndrome, and the people I met at these events are people I work with today. These events also reaffirmed my own passions for science communication and research focused on STEM higher education. Importantly, they also allowed me to learn much more about the work within and surrounding SEISMIC. I’m confident that there are many others interested in learning about opportunities for new collaborations and new directions for STEM education research.