ELEVATE

Spring 2026 ELEVATE Conference

The Office for Faculty Development and Recognition hosts an annual, system-wide to support WSU faculty, staff, and graduate students in fulfilling our land-grant mission to provide a world-class education for all our students.

Wednesday, May 13, 9:00 – 3:30 p.m.

• 9:00 – 10:15 a.m. Welcome and Open Plenary (Spark Innovation Building, Room G10)
  • Opening Remarks: Provost Riley-Tillman
  • Plenary Session: Keeping up with AI Ethics, Presenter: Brandi Hart, Interdisciplinary Librarian, University of Colorado – Boulder
• 10:15 – 10:30 a.m. Break
• 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Workshop (Spark Innovation Building, Room G10)
  • 10+ Strategies to Support Students’ Executive Functions, Dr. Jennifer Pusateri, Educational Consulting
    • In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, professors at colleges and universities all over the U.S. have noticed that students are showing greater difficulty with executive functions (EFs) than ever before. Challenges related to behaviors and skills like planning, organization, focus, and time-management are making it more and more difficult for our students, and possibly even ourselves, to keep up. In this workshop, Dr. Jennifer Pusateri will demystify the concept of executive functioning and provide practical strategies that can be used to begin supporting our student, and possibly even ourselves, right away.
• 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. Concurrent Workshops
  • “Increasing student engagement with Universal-Design for Learning“, Presenters: Amy Heile and Julie Larsen, WSU Teaching Academy (Spark Innovation Building, Room G10)
  • “The Challenges of Struggling Writers: Strategies that can Help“, Presenter: Dr. Michael Dunn, Special Education and Literacy (Spark Innovation Building, Atrium)
• 2:10 – 3:30 Faculty Showcase (Spark Innovation Building, Room G10)
  • 2:10 p.m. “Learning Through Experience, Community, and Opportunity“, Presenter: Dr. Gunjan Gakhar, School of Biological Sciences, WSU Vancouver
  • 2:30 p.m. “Wow, I Didn’t Know Others Liked My Song“, Presenter: Dr. Hillary Mellinger, Criminal Justice and Criminology, WSU Pullman
    • Dr. Mellinger will share teaching techniques focused on “social belonging and connection” such as creating class-curated Spotify playlists, using Slido (which offers free in-class polls), leveraging “Padlet” boards to create a class “Pet Photo Board,” handing out stickers to help students “make information stick”. She describes how these approaches support students by providing real-time input on their learning experiences and preferences, while also connecting with their classmates.
  • 2:50 p.m. “Choose Your Own Adventure Assessment: Giving Students Multiple Ways to Demonstrate Learning“, Presenter: Dr. Aaron Wacker, School of Music, WSU Pullman
    • Traditional assessments often privilege a narrow set of skills, leaving some students struggling to demonstrate what they actually know. Dr. Wacker will share a “Choose Your Own Adventure” assessment structure that allows students multiple pathways to explore and explain course content while still meeting the same learning objectives. Using a simple choice-board framework, students select from several formats to demonstrate their understanding, such as presentations, creative projects, or teaching demonstrations. This approach draws on UDL principles by providing multiple means of engagement and expression while maintaining clear expectations and rigor. Participants will see examples of the assignment structure and discuss how choice-based assessment can improve access, motivation, and student ownership of learning across disciplines.
  • 3:10 p.m. “Teaching with AI”, Presenter: Dr. Gunjan Gakhar, School of Biological Sciences, WSU Vancouver
    • Dr. Gakhar will describe how she has integrated AI into a Biol 107 introductory biology class writing assignment in which generative AI is used as a feedback tool rather than as a substitute for student work. She will provide clear guidance on how students should use AI in assignments to support learning.

Past ELEVATE Conferences