More than 60 faculty members from University of Pacific’s three campuses gathered Jan. 8 for Faculty Innovation Day at the Vereschagin Alumni House, where they were told if they want to enrich student learning, they might want to look for inspiration from Aerosmith and Run DMC.

Justin Low, associate professor and department chair for counseling and school psychology, said their collaborative hit song, “Walk This Way,” is just one example of the benefits that can come from an unexpected combination.

“We see a lot of collaborations happening in the music industry, sometimes amongst very unlikely people. You had a rock band. You had a rap group. They came together and made the song. It was a huge hit,” Low said. “As we go about the day today, I want you to think about that as inspiration. It’s not just about finding common areas of interest; it's about finding complementary areas of interest in ways that can enhance student learning.”

Not unlike the musical pairing, Faculty Innovation Day encouraged faculty to work together to understand how their areas of expertise might align in new and creative ways.

Lydia Fox, professor of geological and environmental sciences, and Mike Wurtz, university archivist and associate professor, helped kick off the event by speaking about how they came together despite being in different disciplines to offer an immersive learning field trip to Yosemite National Park.  Jessica Bilecki, sustainability director, and Joshua Salyers, assistant professor of Media Arts and Production also led the trip, which included 20 students.

“When you develop a class together, or you decide you're going to teach together, you learn so much from that other person,” Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Gretchen Edwalds-Gilbert told the group. “Getting fresh ideas and having to articulate why you do things the way you do, and why you're open to doing it a different way, shows students you are a lifelong learner, and they can be, too.”

Faculty Innovation Day, which is the second iteration of last year’s inaugural Curriculum Innovation Day, fostered conversations and ideas that have the potential to get implemented in the near future.

“Our first event was unbelievably successful, producing several multidisciplinary degrees including sustainability and our product design and entrepreneurship degrees,” said President Christopher Callahan. “Today’s discussions on team teaching and interdisciplinary work speak highly of our faculty, who are always working together to come up with innovative ideas for our students. This sort of creative thinking is going to be the future of not just Pacific, but of all higher education.”

During the brainstorming session, faculty came up with ideas for potential collaborations between mental health and medicine, athletics and gaming, computer science and psychology and chemistry and nutrition.

“This was my first faculty event since joining Pacific, and it was very welcoming and enlightening to be able to hear different perspectives,” said Visiting Assistant Professor of Health and Medical Sciences Camille Johnson. “It was great to be able to talk to other interdisciplinary faculty and hear their thoughts on how we could possibly collaborate with the health and medical sciences department.”

Low said he’s happy with the turnout, as well as the collaborative communication and brainstorming he saw between attendees.

“Faculty had the opportunity to make connections with each other and find areas of common interest to develop innovative teaching collaborations,” Low said. “We also had the opportunity to hear from faculty who have been successful in finding ways to collaborate in unique ways. We discussed some specific collaborations and what it would take to get them to happen. Throughout the afternoon there was lively discussion, and a lot of ideas shared.”