Participants in Delta’s Instructional Materials Development course will be hosting a presentation (and pizza lunch) during which they will showcase their five unique new instructional modules for teaching evolution. These materials were developed over the course of the semester-long class by groups of graduate students and faculty members who teamed-up to address common student misconceptions, enhance learning of important evolutionary concepts, and apply education research to teaching practice. The presentation will take place Thursday, May 17, 12–1:30pm, in the Genetics-Biotechnology Center, room 1360. Come for as much of the session as your schedule allows. Details on the five projects are available on the presentation poster.

In addition to the Delta Program's course offerings, members of the Delta learning community might be interested in Professor Mitchell Nathan's Introduction to Learning Sciences course, which is being taught in the upcoming fall and spring terms. It's a two-semester graduate course sequence that establishes the foundations for research in the learning sciences. Ed Psych 795, being offered in fall 2012, establishes the theoretical, historical, and methodological contributions to the emerging multidisciplinary area of learning sciences. Students participate in regular discussions online and in class, and have opportunities to present and lead discussions. For more information on the course, e-mail Professor Nathan.

Gina Spitz, the Delta Program's project assistant, was recently inducted into the UW Teaching Academy as a Future Faculty Partner. The induction ceremony was held on April 25 and a total of 26 new members (16 Fellows and 10 Future Faculty Partners) were welcomed into the academy. The inductees came from departments across campus and were admitted based on their demonstrated excellence in teaching and on the recommendation of a fellow faculty member and/or student. Gina is a Ph.D. student in the sociology department. She earned her master's in sociology from UW–Madison and her bachelor's in development studies from UC Berkeley. Her scholarly interests include the sociology of race and ethnicity, pedagogy, community and urban development, qualitative methods, and diversity in higher education. Her dissertation work is on racial residential integration in the Riverwest neighborhood of Milwaukee. Congratulations to Gina and all the new UW Teaching Academy inductees.

Registration has opened for the Delta Program's summer Research Mentor Training Seminar. We will be offering five sections to choose from, and dates and times will be set in the coming weeks. The seminar is designed to help graduate students and postdocs become effective research mentors. If you are interested in joining a seminar, complete the Online Registration Form indicating your schedule availability in question 8. We will then place you into a convenient seminar and confirm your registration.

The Delta Program, in partnership with The Writing Center, is pleased to present a new two-part workshop series titled, "Writing Across the Curriculum: Teaching with Writing in SBE and STEM Courses." The first workshop, Part I, will focus on how to design writing assignments to help students learn. It will take place Thursday, June 14, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. The second workshop, Part II, will focus on strategies and time-saving methods for offering feedback on writing. Part II is scheduled for Wednesday, July 11, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Registration for both workshops is now open. You can register for one or both workshops. While attending Part I will be useful to participants in Part II, it is not necessary that you attend Part I to benefit from the material presented in Part II.

CBE—Life Sciences Education, an online journal that publishes articles written by and for professionals engaged in biology teaching, is accepting manuscripts for a special issue focused on the integration of physics and biology education. Topics that fit the issue include: research on how students learn physics in biology classes and biology in physics classes, evaluation of curricular or programmatic innovations that contribute to the discussion about learning at the intersection of physics and biology, examples of how physics education research is informing biology education research and vice versa, models and impacts of education programming and policy, and the study of faculty professional development that promotes the integration of physics and biology education. Authors are strongly encouraged to submit a brief abstract to the guest editors of this special issue (Eric Brewe and Todd Cooke) by June 1. Questions about submissions and/or this issue should be directed to CBE-LSE editor-in-chief, Erin Dolan.