Raise a Glass to the Swings We Missed: Faculty Celebration of Risk-taking in the Academy

Some swings are misses: A celebration of risk-taking in the Academy
Thursday, April 20, 3:30–5 p.m.
Student Center 130
Appetizers, beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages will be served
Register »

Spring is typically the time of year when universities around the country are looking back and toasting the successes of the past 12 months.

Less celebrated – but no less important – are all those instances of risk-taking over the past 12 months that didn’t lead to the results we had hoped for, such as:

• Articles, chapters and conference proposals that were rejected;
• Grants, fellowships and funding applications that didn’t come through;
• Applications that were turned down;
• Conference sessions that no one showed up for;
• Learning activities, assignment designs and course designs that didn’t work as intended.

Academia is full of such moments, yet we rarely acknowledge them publicly. As author Helen Sword (2017, p. 178) writes, “habitual risk takers understand that failure, too, is worth celebrating,” and with that in mind, the Center for Faculty Development, Office of Sponsored Projects and Center for Jesuit Education are co-sponsoring this celebration of risk-taking. This is a chance for us to toast our valiant efforts, recognizing that – to quote Einstein – “Failure is success in progress.”

For this informal reception and celebration to go ahead, we need confirmation of at least 30 “swings that were misses” from attending faculty. So when you register, be sure to let us know what miss(es) we can anonymously add to the list.