It’s been a busy summer for me. On top of teaching my summer classes and completing work for my grant, I’m preparing to send my oldest off to college for her first year. It’s still a little slower than the academic year, though, so I’m enjoying having the time to pursue some projects.

The first one was this website. I’d set up a page under UNLV’s old system, but it was a pretty dry bio-and-publications type of thing, and I’m much happier with this new platform. This will be the first time I’ve blogged in a long time, and I’ve got big plans.

Over the summer I also like to work on my teaching. Once the semester starts, it can be hard to adopt new teaching techniques, so most summers I spend some time reading, researching, and listening to podcasts about teaching. My all-time favorite podcast is Teaching In Higher Ed with Bonni Stachowiak. If you teach college students and have never listened to her podcast, I’m really excited to be able to introduce you! If you’ve been a student in one of my classes, then I can almost guarantee that you have been the lucky participant in an activity, grading approach, or new assignment type that she has recommended. Do you have a favorite teaching podcast? Please add it in the comments below – I listen to podcasts all the time while I’m driving, cleaning, working out, etc. and I’d love to add some new ones to my list.

Another podcast I’ve been enjoying is The Science of Happiness from the Greater Good Science Science Center at UC Berkley. It turns out that there are a LOT of evidence-based tools that we can use to help maintain our mental health, contentment with life, and happiness. These are all really important to me, so I’ve gone back to the beginning to catch up on all their fantastic material.

Speaking of those summer classes, I’m going to wrap up now to get some grading done. Thanks for reading, and I’m looking forward to seeing what you recommend!