Register Now for "Diversity and Learning"

AAC&U encourages representatives from member institutions to register early for "Diversity and Learning: Democracy's Compelling Interest." Participants at the conference will explore how democracy's compelling interests are tied to educational excellence and consider what the structures, pedagogies, programs, and policies in a truly inclusive academy would look like. The conference will be held October 21-23 in Nashville, Tennessee; registration forms are available online.

AAC&U Announces Partnership with Consortium for Liberal Education and Entrepreneurship

With support from a subcontract in a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City to the College of Charleston, AAC&U will sponsor a national symposium and develop a series of publications to explore how the idea of an entrepreneurial spirit, imbued with a sense of social responsibility, can reinvigorate contemporary understandings of liberal education. The symposium, "Working Convergences: Liberal Education, Creativity, and the Entrepreneurial Spirit," will be held on January 26, 2005, in conjunction with AAC&U's Annual Meeting. This collaborative project with the College of Charleston's Consortium for Liberal Education and Entrepreneurship will help institutions to infuse entrepreneurship into the framework of liberal education and to connect the arts and sciences with business, engineering, and other professional programs. For more information, see the press release announcing the grant.

Charles Engelhard Foundation Expands Support for Bringing Theory to Practice

A grant from the Charles Engelhard Foundation will enable the Bringing Theory to Practice project, in partnership with AAC&U's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Global Initiatives, to support campuses as they develop and evaluate engaged learning strategies designed to prevent or reduce levels of student depression and substance abuse. The project will establish and monitor demonstration-campuses, organize presentations and colloquia, and support new research. A press release announcing the project is available on AAC&U's Web site; additional information about the project can be found at www.bringingtheorytopractice.org.

AAC&U Partners with DebateWatch

Through its Center for Liberal Education and Civic Engagement, AAC&U is partnering with DebateWatch, a voter education program led by the Commission on Presidential Debates, to encourage students to watch and discuss televised presidential debates. Campuses interested in promoting DebateWatch or in hosting a DebateWatch event can find more information online.

AAC&U Sponsors Webcast on Students and Democracy

Mark your calendar for "Journey Towards Democracy: Involving Students in the Political Process," an interactive Webcast sponsored by AAC&U's Center for Liberal Education and Civic Engagement. The Webcast will take place from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. EST on September 29; speakers will include Scott Keeter, associate director of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, Jennifer Bonardi, associate director of Democracy Matters, and Ben Brandzel, executive director of Click Back America.

SENCER Summer Institute Draws International Faculty, Features New Model Courses

Forty-four campus teams from twenty-eight U.S. states and several foreign countries, including South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Honduras, and the Republic of Georgia, will attend the 2004 SENCER Summer Institute in Santa Clara, California, August 6-10. The participants from the Republic of Georgia, with support from the National Science Foundation and from SENCER institutions in the U.S., will develop teaching and learning centers to support SENCER projects. Another highlight of the 2004 institute will be the introduction of new model courses to help students connect scientific knowledge to public decision making and the effective "work" of citizenship.

Fourth Annual Greater Expectations Institute Focuses on Student Engagement, Inclusion, and Achievement

The 2004 Greater Expectations Institute, which was held June 23-27 in Snowbird, Utah, drew more than 190 participants. Members of the twenty-nine participating teams developed campus-specific plans to align institutional purposes, policies, structures, and practices to encourage the engagement, inclusion, and high achievement of all students. Topics of discussion included understanding and tapping into the educational benefits of diversity, building collaborative leadership, and sustaining educational change initiatives.

Richard Vaz Appointed as New Senior Science Fellow

AAC&U recently announced the appointment of Dr. Richard F. Vaz, associate dean of interdisciplinary and global studies and associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, as a senior science fellow. Dr. Vaz will work with staff members in AAC&U's Office of Education and Quality Initiatives to develop and implement new strategies to achieve greater expectations in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. A press release announcing his appointment is available online.

AAC&U and Carnegie Foundation Issue Joint Statement on Integrative Learning

Integrative Learning: Opportunities to Connect, a collaborative project of AAC&U and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, has released a statement on integrative learning. The statement calls upon colleges and universities to create opportunities for more integrated, connected learning, and to make those opportunities available to all students throughout their college years. For more information about integrative learning, or to download the statement, visit the Integrative Learning pages.

Spring Liberal Education Features Papers from Annual Meeting

The spring issue of Liberal Education highlights AAC&U's 2004 Annual Meeting, "Practicing Liberal Education," and includes papers on faculty development, liberal education and the professions, and the Higher Education Act's reauthorization process. Excerpts from this issue, and an archive of previous issues, are available online.

Diversity Digest Explores Pathways to College

The new Diversity Digest focuses on the Pathways to College Network, a national alliance dedicated to improving college preparation, access, and success for underserved groups. The issue features results from a study of the high school sophomore cohort of 1980, data about African American student achievement at historically black colleges and universities, a report from the Posse Foundation, and articles on other topics critical to the success of low-income, underrepresented minority, and first-generation students. For more information about AAC&U's diversity initiatives, visit DiversityWeb.

AAC&U Community Mourns Two Deaths

Faith Gabelnick, president emerita of Pacific University and former member of AAC&U's board of directors, passed away on June 13. President Gabelnick was a gifted and committed leader who did a great deal to call attention to students' ways of knowing, to the importance of diversity as a form of civic engagement, and to the potential educational value of learning communities. We are especially grateful for her leadership within AAC&U in framing campus-community dialogues about diversity, democracy, and higher education.

AAC&U also extends sympathy to Paul and Eileen Gaston, whose twenty-three-year-old son, Tyler Lee Gaston, died on July 1. Dr. Gaston, the provost of Kent State University and a former member of AAC&U's board of directors, continues to teach in our General Education Institute and has an important article in the current issue of Liberal Education. Memorial contributions can be made to Kent State Foundation, for the library in memory of Tyler Gaston, PO Box 5190, Kent, Ohio 44242.

Taking Responsibility for the Quality of the Baccalaureate Degree
A Report from the Greater Expectations Project on Accreditation and Assessment

Network for Academic Renewal Meetings:

Diversity and Learning: Democracy's Compelling Interest will take place October 21-23, 2004, in Nashville, Tennessee

Educating Intentional Learners: New Connections for Academic and Student Affairs will take place November 11-13, 2004, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

General Education and Assessment: Creating Shared Responsibility for Learning Across the Curriculum will take place February 17-19, 2005,
in Atlanta, Georgia

2005 Annual Meeting:

Liberal Education and the New Academy: Raising Expectations, Keeping Promises will take place January 26-29, 2005, in San Francisco, California

For more information on meetings, visit www.aacu.org/meetings/index.cfm

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