I am excited to announce Natalie Szymanski, Assistant Professor in the English Department and the Director of the Writing Program as a speaker for Buffalo State College’s Elevating Student Success in Our Current Environment Conversation Series. The title of her presentation is “Supporting Students Through Agentic Classroom Practices” and will be held via zoom on Thursday, November 12th from 12:15 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. This series is co-sponsored by the Title III Taskforce and the Professional Development Center. Please register through LibCal here.

Program Description:

What does student success mean at Buffalo State College, what are the individual ways that we cultivate student success at the college, and how can we as individuals apply these practices to our own work to support the students we serve? Join us as we learn from our colleagues their definition of student success and the specific practices you as a staff or faculty can apply to better support the intellectual, personal, and professional growth of our students. Each conversation will involve a 10 – 15 minute presentation from a staff or faculty member focused on their definition of student success and effective practices that others can apply to their work with students. These conversations will then be followed by a 45 – 50 minute facilitated conversation by a member of the Title III Taskforce about how we can apply these practices to our individual work with students, colleagues sharing similar practices found to be effective, and building off of the ideas presented to elevate these practices across campus.

Speaker Bio:

Natalie Szymanski is an Assistant Professor in the English Department and the Director of the College Writing Program. She earned her MA and PhD in Rhetoric and Composition from Florida State University and previously worked as the Writing Program Administrator at a small indigenous serving institution on the west end of Oahu, Hawaii. Her research and scholarship focus on the intersection between composition pedagogy and writing program administration, the invisibility of administrative labor in traditional tenure and review processes, and the incorporation of sustainable, inclusive, and antiracist pedagogies in writing programs.

She originally hails from Wisconsin and therefore adores the Packers, brats, and all variations of cheese curds. Yes, she misses Hawaii, but she does not miss the “price of paradise” cost of living that results in creative ramen dinners. She has two magical (and exhausting) toddlers, Henry and Arlo, so she spends a great deal of time talking about superheroes, building forts, and curtailing fart jokes. If she had freetime she would enjoy thrifting and going for a run without a stroller.

She is dedicated to and passionate about improving the first-year experience for BSC students.

Presenter: Natalie Szymanski