Joining the AAC&U Board as new members at its upcoming April meeting will be: John T. Casteen III, president, University of Virginia; Elaine P. Maimon, chief executive officer and provost, Arizona State University West; Thomas L. (Les) Purce, president, Evergreen State College; Jamienne S. Studley, president, Skidmore College; and Jim Pence, provost and dean of the college, St. Olaf College and chair, American Conference of Academic Deans. The AAC&U Board of Directors will meet in Washington on April 21-22, 2002 and will be discussing the first draft of a five-year strategic plan for the Association.

For a full list of AAC&U Board of Directors members and officers, see www.aacu.org/about/bddirectors.cfm.

AAC&U recently began a series of working group meetings as part of the Greater Expectations Forum on Liberal Arts Education Practice. The first of four planned working groups will focus on the area of inquiry-based learning. Bob Shoenberg, senior fellow at AAC&U, leads this group. It includes John Harris, associate provost for quality assessment, Samford University; Sharon Hamilton, chancellor's professor of English, Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis; Madelaine Marquez, director, Center for Innovative Education, Hampshire College; David Ruff, director of school reform, Southern Maine Partnership at the University of Southern Maine; Nancy Shapiro, director, K-16 Partnership for Assessment, Teaching, and Learning, University System of Maryland; and Barbara Leigh Smith, co-director, National Learning Communities Project, The Evergreen State College.

This working group will focus on writing experiences in schools and colleges and the kinds of assignments that prepare students for college-level learning; writing projects in first-year college courses intended to develop students' abilities for more advanced college-level inquiry and analysis; expectations for advanced college performance in a range of fields that place emphasis on written analysis and argument; ways of incorporating increasingly sophisticated inquiry-based projects at different levels as a basis for assessment and accountability; and uses of educational technologies to foster writing-based inquiry capacities.

The working group on inquiry-based learning will host two regional seminars in California and in Massachusetts during the month of April. These meetings will involve practitioners at both the high school and college levels sharing examples of good practice in pedagogy and programming.

The entire Forum on 21st Century Liberal Arts Education Practice is directed by Barbara Hill, senior fellow at AAC&U. The three other working groups will focus on civic and social responsibility, global preparedness, and integrative learning. The group on global preparedness, chaired by Hill, will have its first meeting in early April. The group on integrative learning, co-chaired by Debra Humphreys and Ross Miller, will also meet in early April.

For further information and updates on the Forum, see www.aacu.org/gex/index.cfm.

The next issue of AAC&U's online and print quarterly, Diversity Digest, will be a double issue featuring curriculum transformation. Building on the work of two funded initiatives, this issue of Diversity Digest will feature model institutional approaches to diversity requirements and other innovative models for diversifying the curriculum. Heather Deneen Wathington, the new editor of Diversity Digest, joined other senior staff members in visiting several institutions across the country with innovative models for diversity requirements. These model schools were chosen from among those who responded to AAC&U's national survey on diversity requirements supported by the James Irvine Foundation and conducted in 2000. This issue of Diversity Digest will also feature schools that participated in the 2000 AAC&U summer institute, "Boundaries and Borderlands: The Search for Recognition and Community in America."

To see current and back issues of Diversity Digest, visit www.diversityweb.org.

For information about AAC&U's Survey on Diversity Requirements, see www.aacu.org/divsurvey/index.cfm.

The second annual summer institute sponsored by AAC&U's NSF-supported initiative, Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER), will involve full teams from 31 colleges and universities from across the country. The SENCER Summer Institute offers an intensive, residential program for campus teams of 4-5 faculty and administrators from colleges and universities interested in improving or developing approaches to teaching basic science through complex, capacious, and unsolved public issues. In addition to working on their own campus plans, participants will explore model courses, consult with science and policy experts, and attend workshops on new teaching strategies, assessment approaches, and organizational models that support curricular reform. This year's SENCER summer institute will take place on the campus of Santa Clara University, August 2-6, 2002.

Schools participating with full teams in the 2002 Institute include: Longwood College; Carnegie Mellon University; Burlington County College; Portland State University; Northern Arizona University; University of Memphis; Simmons College; Vassar College; University of Montana; University of Maryland; Mercer University; Hamilton College; Wagner College; Franklin and Marshall College; Fairmont State College; University of Nebraska at Kearney; SUNY at Stony Brook; Meredith College; Francis Marion University; Drake University; Augsburg College; Antioch College; Bowie State University; Madonna University; Wartburg College; James Madison University; Morgan State University; Southern Oregon University; College of Charleston; Kings College; and Susquehanna University.

For information about SENCER, see www.aacu.org/sencer/index.cfm.

For information about the 2002 SENCER Summer Institute, see www.aacu.org/sencer/summerinst02.cfm.

The Frederic W. Ness Book Award Committee is currently receiving nominations for the 2003 award. The Ness Award is given each year at the annual meeting for the book whose "principle theme contributes to the analysis and/or advancement of liberal education in any setting." This year, books published in 2000 and 2001 are eligible. The deadline for nominations is May 1. For criteria for nominees, vist www.aacu.org/communications/NESS.cfm. For information on the 2002 winner, visit www.aacu.org/communications/wineburg.cfm.

College Level Learning in High School: Purposes, Policies, and Practical Implications
Examines college-level learning in high school and related issues such as high school curricula and standards, college access and equity, cost containment, and the distinctiveness of the college experience. Also covers college and university policies and practices related to the sponsorship of college-level learning in high school and the acceptance of college-level credits. By D. Bruce Johnstone and Beth Del Genio.

For ordering information, call 1/800-297-3775 or see
www.aacu.org/publications/.

Spirituality and Learning: Redefining Meaning, Value, and Inclusion in Higher Education, April 18 - 20, 2002

To register, see http://www.aacu.org/meetings/nar.cfm