Archives for January 2026

Submitted by: Jennifer Brewer, jbrewer1@uca.edu on 01/05/2026

UCA faculty and staff—get ready for a session that actually gets it.

CETAL is excited to invite you to a virtual book talk with Dr. Sarah Rose Cavanagh—psychologist, educator, and author of Mind Over Monsters: Supporting Youth Mental Health with Compassionate Challenge on:

• Wednesday, January 28
• 2:00–3:00 pm
• Zoom

Dr. Cavanagh’s work explores how emotion, motivation, learning, and resilience shape student success—with an emphasis on strategies that are meaningful, evidence-based, and sustainable for faculty.

If you’ve been part of the Faculty for Successful Students initiative, think of this as a power-up hour full of the insight-filled moments that connect the dots between student challenges and real classroom support.

And if you haven’t been part of the Faculty for Successful Students series, this is still a can’t-miss hour. Why? Because supporting student mental health isn’t a niche teaching topic—it’s part of every classroom, advising conversation, email exchange, and moment when a student is trying to succeed while carrying invisible challenges. You’ll walk away with research-backed strategies that help students thrive without draining your own bandwidth, plus language for talking about motivation, emotions, and resilience in ways that feel natural—not scripted.

This session is designed to:

• Deliver practical, research-grounded ideas you can use right away
• Offer perspective from someone who understands teaching from the inside
• Give you a well-earned intellectual breather from grading, inbox triage, and the eternal “just one more thing…”

And because great conversations deserve to continue: CETAL will also host a spring semester book group centered on Mind Over Monsters for those who want to keep the momentum going with colleagues across campus.

🔗 Register for the virtual book event

🔗 Register for the spring book group

All faculty welcome! Join us on January 28. Bring your curiosity. Leave with ideas worth sharing.

See you there, UCA!

Center for Excellence in Teaching and Academic Leadership (CETAL)
University of Central Arkansas

 

Submitted by: Jennifer Brewer, jbrewer1@uca.edu on 01/05/2026

The University of Central Arkansas’ Center for Excellence in Teaching and Academic Leadership (CETAL) is thrilled to announce the promotion of Vicki Parish to Assistant Director of CETAL.

In this expanded leadership role, Vicki will continue advancing CETAL’s mission to support teaching excellence, foster innovative academic leadership, and champion faculty success across all course modalities. Her dedication to faculty development, collaborative partnerships, and student-centered learning initiatives has made a lasting impact on our campus community.

Vicki brings experience, leadership, and a passion for empowering instructors at every stage of their teaching journey. This promotion reflects not only her outstanding contributions, but also CETAL’s continued commitment to strengthening faculty support, academic innovation, and institutional belonging.

Please join up in congratulating Vicki on this well-deserved achievement. We are excited for the vision, leadership, and momentum she will bring to CETAL’s next chapter.

Center for Excellence in Teaching and Academic Leadership (CETAL)
University of Central Arkansas