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Union University

Center for Faculty Development

Center for Faculty Development at Union

Faculty Dialogue Groups

The purpose of Faculty Dialogue Groups is to provide faculty with opportunities to read and discuss books (often books they have always wanted to read) and ideas in an interdisciplinary, informal setting where no one is the teacher and everyone is a learner. All dialogue group books are available in the Faculty Resource section of the library.

The Process

  • At the beginning of each semester, interested faculty can suggest topics of interests.
  • The Center for Faculty Development will buy the books, schedule the meetings, and find the rooms.
  • Most groups tend to meet three times during the semester.

Spring 2025

  • Coming soon

Fall 2024

Spring 2024

Fall 2023

Spring 2023

Fall 2022

Spring 2022

Fall 2021

  • Life Together; Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1978) Led by: Sabrina Warren
  • Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World; Tara Isabella Burton (2022) Led by: Phil Davignon
  • Housekeeping; Marilynne Robinson (2020) Led by: Rebekah Whitaker and Savannah Patterson

Spring 2020

Fall 2019

Spring 2019

Fall 2018

Spring 2018

  • The Elegance of the Hedgehog; Muriel Barberry
  • A Little Manual for Knowing; Esther Lightcap Meek
  • Habits of the Mind: Intellectual Life as a Christian Calling; James W. Sire.
  • Continuing the Dialogue on: Thinking Christianly and Forming Christian Character

Fall 2017

  • Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning; James Lang
  • The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation; Rod Dreher
  • iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy-and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood--and What That Means for the Rest of Us; Jean M. Twenge

Spring 2017

  • Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning; James Lang
  • Bridges Out of Poverty: Strategies for Professional and Communities; Philip E. DeVol, Ruby K. Payne, Terie Dreussi Smith
  • Vainglory: The Forgotten Vice; Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung

Fall 2016

  • You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit; James K. A. Smith
  • Americas War for the Middle East; Andrew Baceovich
  • The Christian Scholar in the Age of the Reformation; E. Harrison
  • iMinds: How Cell Phones, Computers, Gaming, and Social Media are Changing our Brains, our Behavior, and the Evolution of our Species; Mari Swingle

Spring 2016

  • The Supper of the Lamb; Robert Capon.
  • Teaching and Christian Imagination; David I. Smith and Susan M. Felch
  • Trinity Forum Readings: Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr.; The Loss of the University, Wendell Berry; How Much Land Does a Man Need? Leo Tolstoy
  • A Simple Way to Pray, Martin Luther

Fall 2015

  • Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God; Timothy Keller
  • The World Beyond Your Head; Matthew Crawford
  • Toxic Charity; Robert Lupton

Spring 2015

  • Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview and Cultural Formation; James A.K. Smith
  • Collected Sermons of Dietrich Bonhoeffer; Isabel Best (selected sermons)
  • A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas; Warren Berger

Fall 2014

  • Painting as a Pastime; an essay; Winston Churchill
  • What the Best College Students Do; Kenneth Bain
  • United: Captured by God's Vision for Diversity; Trillia Newbell
  • The Case for the Psalms; N. T. Wright

Spring 2014

  • Why Teach? In Defense of a Real Education; Mark Edmunson
  • Teaching Naked, How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning; Jose Bowen
  • Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold; C. S. Lewis
  • A Simple Way to Pray; Martin Luther

Fall 2013

  • Teaching Naked: Taking Technology Out of the Classroom So Students Can Learn, Jose' Bowen
  • What the Best College Teachers Do, Ken Bain
  • The Ethics of Identity, Kwame Anthony Appiah
  • Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis
  • Jayber Crow, Wendell Berry

Spring 2013

  • The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell
  • Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning, Jose' Antonio Bowen

Fall 2012

  • The Narnian:The Life and Imagination of C. S. Lewis Alan Jacobs.
  • Everyday Theology Kevin J. Vanhoozer.
  • Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies Marylin Chandler Mc Entyre.
  • Creating a Sense of Presence in Online Teaching Rosemary M. Lehman.

Spring 2012

  • The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship, George Marsden, Oxford University Press, 1997.
  • Transformational Teaching in the Information Age: Making How and Why We Teach Relevant to Students, Rosebrough and Leverett, Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2011

Fall 2011

  • Crossing to Safety, Wallace Stegner (Set in the 1930s, this novel focuses on scholarly aspirations, ambitions, politics, achievements, relational dynamics, and disappointments, both in and out of the academy.)
  • Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, School, John Medina
  • Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind, Mark Noll

Spring 2011

  • The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship; George Marsden
  • Creating Significant Learning Experiences; L. Dee Fink
  • The Wonder of the World: A Journey from Science to the Mind of God; Roy Abraham Varghese
  • Celebration of Discipline; Richard Foster
  • Generation iY: Our Last Chance to Save Their Future; Tim Elmore

Fall 2010

  • Cultural Intelligence: Improving Your CQ to Engage Our Multicultural World; David Livermore
  • Creating Significant Learning Experiences; L. Dee Fink
  • The Bondage of the Will; Martin Luther
  • The World is Flat; Thomas L. Friedman