You are cordially invited to the next meeting of The CENES Salon, an informal gathering of UBC staff, faculty, students, and community members that centres on intellectual exchange and fostering community.
Hear from two CENES colleagues from the Slavic and Eastern European Studies program who will discuss topics concerning academic learning and teaching experiences.
Program
“Anxiety, Belonging, and Boundaries: Rethinking Stress in the Classroom and Beyond” with Dr. Veta Chitnev
12:00 pm – 12:30 pm
Drawing on post-pandemic classroom experience, Dr. Chitnev identifies rising anxiety, loneliness, financial strain, and GPA-driven competition as key pressures shaping today’s students—particularly in language programs where performance can feel intensely personal. In response, she has redesigned her courses to reduce high-stakes assessment, distribute evaluation across smaller unit tests, implement automatic grade flexibility, and provide universal extended time to reduce stigma.
Through structured peer interaction and cultural events, she fosters a sense of belonging beyond grades. Addressing faculty stress as well, she emphasizes adaptability and boundary-setting, arguing that while stress cannot be eliminated, intentional structural design and community-building can make CENES classrooms more resilient and sustainable.
“The Power of Questions in the Era of AI-Generated Answers” with Dr. Olena Morozova
12:30 pm – 1:00 pm
Dr. Morozova will present her integration of the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) into CENES content courses on Eastern European literature and film.
In fields shaped by war, memory, displacement, trauma, and contested identities, students must do more than interpret complex material—they must learn to ask incisive, generative questions that drive their own evidence-based analysis. In an era when AI can provide instant answers, the ability to formulate meaningful questions becomes a critical intellectual skill.
Embedding structured question design into teaching fosters analytical rigor, intellectual agency, and civic confidence, equipping CENES students not only to navigate complexity but to engage it actively and independently.
How to Attend
Join us on March 25 from 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm in our department lounge in Buchanan Tower, Room 910.