The Department Lounge is part mailroom, part bulletin board, & part where people connect and catch up. It's where ideas (and gossip) get exchanged; where chit-chat becomes collaborative problem solving. Do you need a better Department Lounge? You're welcome in mine! New knowledge drops twice a week,

Struggling w work today? Having a bad bout of impostor syndrome? How would a mediocre tenured white male handle your situation? Channel some of their confidence and just do it! Change the name on your document to James Smith if you need to - create a persona & occupy it until you get back on track!

If you could make one change to your course to improve student learning, what would it be? Need some ideas? Join me for a mini-course on research-backed tools that reduce your work while increasing student learning! wix.to/Ps4K27i

All the new PhD students are staring to arrive on campus. What's your favorite online resource to share with them?? (My favorite: Paul N Edwards' How to Read a Book: pne.people.si.umich.edu/PDF/howtorea... )

All the new PhD students are staring to arrive on campus. What's your favorite online resource to share with them?? (My favorite: Paul N Edwards' How to Read a Book: pne.people.si.umich.edu/PDF/howtorea... )

If you're not submitting an article because you're afraid of Reviewer 2, sharing your work with friendly peers can help ensure R2 has less negative stuff to comment on. Ask your friends - that's what we're here for!

If you could make one change to your course to improve student learning, what would it be? Need some ideas? Join me for a mini-course on research-backed tools that reduce your work while increasing student learning! wix.to/Ps4K27i

Psst! Did a course not work the last time you taught it? Want to explore some research-backed tweaks and strategize problem solving it? Course Reboot is your place to make small tweaks for big effects!

Course Reboot | Leanne C. Powner Coaching & Editing

August is coming, so it's time to update your syllabi for Fall! This compact 2-session course overviews best practices in course design from the perspective of a faculty member who has an existing…

wix.to

Monday Giggle for the classics friends - what would Seneca ("On Anger") say about this one?

Are you worried about getting your students to read, or keeping them from using genAI? Do you want to shake up a boring lecture class, but don't have the time to do major new prep? I can help! wix.to/Ps4K27i

Sunday Planning Time! What are your biggest priority tasks headed into this last month of the summer? Can an accountability buddy help you achieve them? Ask in your circles, or post here to find a buddy!

Self-Care Saturday! Laundry is a never-ending chore. Check your home for any forgotten loads this week. Is it time for clean sheets or towels? (Maybe do it now, and then do it again when the term starts?)

August's here! Are you rebooting your fall courses yet? I've got a two-part workshop to help you solve your course challenges with research-backed tweaks! Aug 6 = course level & Aug 7 = class level wix.to/Ps4K27i

Self-Care Saturday! Laundry is a never-ending chore. Check your home for any forgotten loads this week. Is it time for clean sheets or towels?

5 Minute Friday! What can Today You do to make Monday You's life easier? No ideas? Scan or upload something for a fall course Review your notes from your last coauthor meeting Give the office coffemaker a rinse

Thinking in terms of 'themes' encourages broad, abstract thinking about evidence. Thinking in terms of 'claims' encourages narrower, more concrete thinking about evidence. Which one do you need right now? It may differ across projects or even phases of projects.

Not every fact is equally useful in the construction of an argument. Useful facts are systematically collected and arranged with an eye towards supporting a specific claim.

Literature reviews are not blow-by-blow accounts of or critiques of every piece in the field. Look ACROSS pieces, not down into them. This helps avoid the urge to quote!

🚨 New GERDA update: - Large update of mayoral elections (6 new states) - Landrat elections - Wahlkreis (district)-level results (BW & LW) - Local council seats (Gemeinde/Stadt & Kreis) - 2026 elections: BW state, BY & HE local More info below and here: www.german-elections.com

GERDA: German Election Database

Comprehensive dataset of local, state, federal, European, mayoral, Landrat, and county election results in Germany at the municipality and constituency (Wahlkreis) level, plus subnational public opini...

german-elections.com

FIRST YEAR FACULTY SURVIVAL GUIDE: TEACHING EDITION Got a new faculty job this fall? Congrats! You've spent the last 5+ years learning to do & manage professional research projects. Are you really ready, though, to manage the teaching load of multiple new course preps?

Monday Giggle! Tag a loved geek who would appreciate this!

Monday Giggle! Tag a loved geek who would appreciate this!

Sunday Planning time! Synch your calendars & check the meal plan. Do you need to restock too-hot-to-cook meal stuff into your pantry?

Self-Care Saturday! Sleeping as a form of rest recharges your body and parts of your brain, but it doesn't necessarily help the part that drives your intellectual creativity. You need physical movement, creative tasks, and social engagement - yes, even if you're "not that type"! - to fully recharge.

Are you excited to be starting a new faculty position? I'm excited for you! Writing syllabi can be fraught. You're trying to balance content, skills, and workload for both you and students, across several new classes at once. Join me for a 90 min Top 10 Course Planning Tips for New Faculty from

5 Minute Friday! What can Today You do to make Monday You's life easier? No ideas? Fill the copier/printer with paper Skim a reading you're considering for fall Throw away 3 dead pens from your desk

Are you excited to be starting a new faculty position? I'm excited for you! Writing syllabi can be fraught. You're trying to balance content, skills, and workload for both you and students, across several new classes at once. Join me for a 90 min Top 10 Course Planning Tips for New Faculty from

Rushing to finish your dissertation submission this summer? Check out @UMichLibrary 's Word for Dissertations guide! All the formatting tricks you need, for Mac or PC, to format your dissertation to your requirements. buff.ly/j9ltBPO

Rushing to finish your dissertation submission this summer? Check out @UMichLibrary 's Word for Dissertations guide! All the formatting tricks you need, for Mac or PC, to format your dissertation to your requirements. buff.ly/j9ltBPO

When writing for a professional audience, remember that they have as much education as you do. Competence - of author AND audience - is presumed, not demonstrated. This goes for language & methods skills, background reading, all of it.