What is a Kummer Colloquium?

Numerous Kummer Colloquium sections will be provided to allow students into the colloquium that most piques their interest.

To bring this vision into a reality, engaged and passionate alumni, faculty, and staff are being recruited to serve as area guides. Area guides are asked to create and facilitate a Kummer Colloquium section to occur over the course of a semester. In each Kummer Colloquium section, the area guide creates action and discussion-based settings with students to share passion and insights within one of the five Kummer Vanguard Scholars Program core content areas.

Kummer Colloquium sections attendance size is variable, with at least 10 students as a minimum and the attendance cap set by the area guide. The area guide is responsible for establishing a regular meeting time, developing a collaborative discussion and activity-based format for 5 to 10 contact hours with the students over the course of the fall semester. Meetings can be virtual or in person.

Area guides will:

• Develop a creative, hands-on, discussion-driven program for the semester
  • Sessions can be virtual or in-person
  • A lecture-based format is not suitable for Kummer Colloquiums
• Establish a meeting time with the students
• Meet with students between 5–10 hours a semester
• Work with students to design a poster and/or elevator pitch for panel discussions of the colloquium for Kummer Days in October 2023
• Review and support students’ progress
• Report at the end of the semester pass/fail involvement for each student

Examples of Kummer Colloquiums

• Bookclub: have a common read book that you find inspiring or insightful and work with the students of the section to discuss topics of the reading.
• Case studies: share articles, technical reports, or other documents of events/situations which have occurred in relation to an industry or core content area. Challenge students to critically review the content and explore ways that research, entrepreneurship, leadership, design and build, or social responsibility themes could have altered the outcomes.
• Activity Challenge: create a hands-on activity that requires students to actively engage in problem-solving, innovation, and curiosity processes to work towards identifying solutions. A focus on the process more than the outcome is ideal for supporting innovative approaches.
• Collaborative training: utilize a training program that is framed in discussion, practice, or scenario-based activities. This could be a leadership training that requires students to formulate their own perspectives or dig into their own strengths to apply new skill sets.
• Ted Talk, pod cast or video review discussions: Area Guides will curate a list of videos or podcasts for students to watch and then meet to discuss