AAC&U News | February 02

AAC&U officers and staff regularly travel throughout the country, and occasionally the world, to speak and consult at AAC&U member schools through seminars, institutes, and workshops as well as in more informal gatherings.AAC&U staff also regularly speak on the value of liberal education at various media and public affairs events. These meetings are an opportunity for the membership to influence the direction of AAC&U's initiatives. We look forward to seeing you the next time we are on your campus.

Staff and Participants of AAC&U's SENCER Initiative Participate in Workshop in Nairobi

In December, several AAC&U staff members and participants from the Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER) project participated in a three-day workshop that also featured teams from twelve universities and research institutes in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. The workshop emerged from a collaboration that includes: AAC&U, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and International Women in Science and Engineering (IWISE) at Iowa State University. The goals of the collaboration and the workshop include:

- mobilizing resources within African colleges and universities to focus on reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS (a disease that currently infects an estimated 25 million Africans);

- improving science education, especially within the challenge of improving general education, at the post-secondary level by using the SENCER approach; and

- supporting the growth, development, and influence of African Women in Science and Engineering (AWSE) as an organization.

AAC&U team members included: Monica Devanas, Rutgers University; Marion Field Fass, Beloit College; Karen Kashmanian Oates, George Mason University and AAC&U; and David Burns, AAC&U.

One significant outcome of the Nairobi meeting was the decision by participants to form a consortium of institutions dedicated to collective action on HIV in particular and science reform in general. In the face of the enormous crisis of HIV/AIDS in Africa, what seemed palpable to the American delegation was the hope that the workshop released among attendees. While the energy generated by joining together in a common effort of commitment was inspiring in itself, it was a breakthrough in "thinking" that inspired the most hope. The idea—placing the study and consideration of HIV near the center of an institution's curricular offerings—was new to many. The promise—that placing an academic focus on HIV would improve learning and contribute to the common good at the same time—seemed to galvanize those in attendance.

More information on the Africa initiative will be available http://www.aacu.org/sencer/index.cfm and http://www.aacu.org/phhe/index.cfm. If you have comments or questions, e-mail David Burns at burns@aacu.org.

On November 2nd, Eliza Reilly, director of programs for SENCER and the American Conference of Academic Deans (ACAD) executive director, visited Franklin and Marshall College to discuss the SENCER project with a group of administrators and faculty. On the 15th, Reilly gave a presentation to faculty members in the Morgan State University School of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences on SENCER (with Dr. William Bennett, senior fellow at AAC&U). In early December, she gave a welcome address at SUNY Stony Brook entitled "Western Traditions in Medical History" to New York-area high school students participating in Stony Brook's Program for Health and Higher Education (PHHE) Partners Project.

Amy Castner, associate director of AAC&U's Program on Health and Higher Education (PHHE), visited SUNY-City College of New York on November 30 to attend the Peer Education Conference: Partnerships in Health: You and HIV/AIDS. In December, she traveled to the University of San Francisco to give a PHHE presentation on National Leadership Resource Database and other HIV/AIDS curriculum resources.

AAC&U Senior Science Fellow Karen Oates presented "Science and the Undergraduate Community Research" at the Odyssey of Inclusion-6th Annual Conference on Learning Communities in Chicago.

On January 14, AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider attended a meeting on "Pedagogies of Engagement" co-sponsored by the Atlantic Philanthropies and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in Menlo Park, California. President Schneider will present Dr. Bobby Fong at the presidential inauguration ceremony at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana on February 9th.

Daniel Teraguchi, program and research associate in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Global Initiatives, presents "Investing in America's Future: The Value of Asia Pacific American Leadership" at the 2002 Leadership Excellence Annual Conference on February 7-9, hosted by the Center for Leadership Studies at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas. The presentation focuses on the dearth of Asian Pacific Americans in leadership roles and research on promotions to executive positions that prove to be based on social capital rather than on technical expertise. For more information on the Leadership Excellence Conference, visit http://www.leadershipstudies.org/conference.