In anticipation of a campus visit by Ruth Haley Barton in February (yes, that Ruth Haley Barton!), the Adams Center will host a book and Sabbath practice group on Barton's book Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest: From Sabbath to Sabbatical and Back Again. The journey to a meaningful Sabbath practice is slow and gradual, and it is a journey we need to take in community. Sharing her own story of practicing Sabbath for the past twenty years, Barton offers hard-won wisdom regarding the rhythms of Sabbath, exploring both weekly Sabbath-keeping as well as extended periods of sabbatical time.

Led by Steve Hare
Reading Scripture in a group setting is a simple but moving practice. Join us as we read selected Pauline epistles. These sessions will offer space to slow down and relish that shared experience. Together we will read, listen, consider and regard the power, depth and beauty of Scripture. 
Spiritual Formation Session

Pope Leo XIV’s first major writing, Magnifica Humanitatis, offers Christian wisdom for living in a world of artificial intelligence. In these sessions, we will read slowly through this work, asking what it means to live as people of faith amidst the various social, political, and moral challenges that artificial intelligence represents. 

Online Version: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html

Audio Version: 
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-06/audiobook-of-pope-leo-xiv-s-encyclical-now-available.html

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szx4ako8uys

Presenter: Ryan Richardson
Colleges and universities like ACU are navigating growing polarization, public skepticism, and increased scrutiny, all while students themselves often report more openness, belonging, and dialogue on campus than public narratives suggest. This session explores how we as higher education professionals can respond to that tension with clarity, resilience, and purpose. Drawing on leadership theory and real-world campus scenarios, participants will consider practical approaches for engaging disagreement, sustaining institutional values, building trust across differences, and turning moments of civic tension into opportunities for stronger communities and meaningful institutional change.
Teaching and Learning Session

Presenter: Tim Sensing

This year many of our lunches will focus on discussing the concepts, uses, and strategies of different qualitative methodologies. These will be opportunities to learn about different methodologies and hear from researchers about how they have used these methods in their work. To kick us off this year, Dr. Tim Sensing will lead a discussion about Participatory Action Research. Participatory Action Research is a collaborative qualitative methodology in which researchers and participants jointly investigate a problem, generate knowledge, and take action toward meaningful change. Dr. Sensing will discuss how he has used Participatory Action Research in his own work.

Research and Scholarship

Do your annual teaching goals include revising courses, creating new materials, or restructuring assignments? Join us for this session where we will look at your student learning outcomes and consider what choices you make in the course to meet those outcomes

In these sessions we explore themes of spiritual listening and will listen to each share about our experiences with God and/or with spiritual practices. These structured discussions will occur in 3-4 person groups. The purpose is to create space for connecting with each other and God. Over the course of five sessions, we will consider the spiritual listening themes of attention, silence, and reflection.

Led by Steve Hare
Reading Scripture in a group setting is a simple but moving practice. Join us as we read selected Pauline epistles. These sessions will offer space to slow down and relish that shared experience. Together we will read, listen, consider and regard the power, depth and beauty of Scripture. 
Spiritual Formation Session

Presenter: Dr. Austin Bayse, Principal Engineer for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence @ Hudl

Few industries have been disrupted as significantly, as quickly, and as completely, by Generative Artificial Intelligence Systems, as Software Development - with the possible exception of Higher Education. In this session, we will take a look inside a modern tech organization’s experience of, and response to, this disruption; we will review some tenuous lessons learned; and we will make time to discuss how these observations translate - both well, and poorly - to similar disruptions encountered in the Academy at large.

Faculty regularly express concern about the struggles many students encounter when reading and engaging with course reading materials. This weakness, combined with an unwillingness to read class materials, makes it even more difficult for students to engage with your course materials.

This session will introduce reading research from Dr. Jenae Cohn, Dr. Naomi S. Baron, and Dr. Maryanne Wolf, sharing best practices for college reading and strategies to enhance academic reading.

In anticipation of a campus visit by Ruth Haley Barton in February (yes, that Ruth Haley Barton!), the Adams Center will host a book and Sabbath practice group on Barton's book Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest: From Sabbath to Sabbatical and Back Again. The journey to a meaningful Sabbath practice is slow and gradual, and it is a journey we need to take in community. Sharing her own story of practicing Sabbath for the past twenty years, Barton offers hard-won wisdom regarding the rhythms of Sabbath, exploring both weekly Sabbath-keeping as well as extended periods of sabbatical time.

How are faculty utilizing the library's resources in the archives and special collections department? Librarian Erica Pye will facilitate this panel session, featuring Drs. Amanda Biles, Eric Bontempo, Neal Coates, and Randall Fowler, as they describe and share how they and their students have used archival materials. Join us to imagine how you might use the archives in your teaching.

Kim Hardin
In the past few years, faculty have expressed concerns about students' gaps in knowledge and ability as they enter college. How can these gaps be addressed without lowering expectations or resorting to inflating grades? Join us for a conversation about who is walking into our classrooms and what strategies we can use to try to close the gaps as quickly as possible.
Teaching and Learning Session