Empowering Student Success Through Creative Collaboration: A Conversation with Dr. Eric Guinivan

Welcome back to the CFI Faculty Lounge Podcast, where we explore the ideas, experiences, and challenges shaping academic life. In this episode, Grammy-nominated composer and associate professor Dr. Eric Guinivan joins us to talk about teaching, creativity, and the ongoing effort to support students while sustaining a meaningful work-life balance.

Dr. Guinivan shares:

• Early teaching experiences, from high school marching bands to graduate teaching at Indiana University
• His innovative work at a public charter school with mixed-age classrooms and peer mentorship
• How enthusiasm, analytical thinking, and creativity shape his teaching philosophy
• Strategies for setting boundaries and maintaining well-being as a faculty member
• Reflections on a workload equity project and what it revealed about faculty expectations
• Thoughts on collaboration, composition, and stepping outside his creative comfort zone

Tune in for an inspiring conversation about empowering students, embracing experimentation, and building a collaborative learning environment rooted in care.

CFI Faculty Lounge Podcast would love hearing from you! Do you have a question for our guests, a teaching tip to share, or a story about faculty life? Send us a message by clicking on this text. Your message might make it into a future episode.