Join CEC and the Small Special Education Programs Caucus (SSEPC) in this three-part professional development series focusing on navigating through professional life in academia. Sessions will center around collaborating and networking, the world of manuscripts and grants, and using AI in your professional life and beyond. 

Session 1 - October 6 - Collaboration & Networking to Build Your Interdisciplinary Professional Community 101

Building a strong professional community is essential for establishing a research agenda, creating meaningful learning experiences for teacher candidates, and fostering a cross- disciplinary approach to research and teaching.
Three early-career scholars will share their experiences of networking and collaborating with colleagues across special education, general education, and teacher education disciplines. Through discussion and reflection participants will examine how collaboration and networking can inform their practice and leave with practical next steps to connect with scholars, community members, and educators in their own work. 

In this session, participants will be able to: 

• Examine the value in partnering with colleagues across disciplines and spaces in their research and teaching.
• Take away practical steps for intentionally collaborating and networking with colleagues across disciplines.
• Reflect on potential opportunities for collaboration and networking in their particular role.

Session 2 - November 3 - Scholarship 101: Thriving in the World of Manuscripts and Grants 

Join a special education researcher and practitioner scholar from small programs as they share actionable and proven strategies for building a productive scholarship, research, and grant-writing agenda while balancing teaching, service, mentoring, and professional responsibilities. Presenters will discuss time management, collaborative scholarship, identifying publication and funding opportunities, developing competitive grant proposals, and sustaining a meaningful scholarly trajectory with limited institutional resources. Attendees will leave with actionable tips, tools, and insights to enhance their scholarly productivity, disseminate their work, and expand their impact on research, funding, practice, and the field of special education.

In this session, participants will be able to: 

• Analyze strategies for effective collaboration in scholarly writing and grant development to enhance productivity and scholarly impact.
• Evaluate strategies for building and sustaining colleague groups that promote accountability, productivity, and a thriving scholarship and grant-writing agenda. 
• Assess the alignment of publishing outlets and grant opportunities with individual scholarly goals and research agendas.

Session 3 - December 1 - AI 101: Effective Implementation in Professional Life and Beyond 

Faculty often hear about the benefits of AI but aren’t always confident about how to use it in their own work. If that sounds familiar, this webinar offers a practical, approachable introduction to using AI to make your professional life easier. We’ll explore how AI tools can support your teaching, research, and everyday tasks while boosting efficiency and reducing overwhelm. We’ll share real examples, try out a few tools, and discover how AI can serve as a helpful assistant, not just another item on your to-do list. You’ll leave with simple, actionable ideas you can start using right away, both at work and elsewhere.

In this session, participants will be able to: 

• Identify practical applications of AI tools to enhance efficiency in teaching, research, and everyday professional tasks.
• Demonstrate basic use of selected AI tools to support productivity, organization, and content creation.
• Apply simple, actionable strategies for integrating AI into professional workflows to reduce workload and improve effectiveness.