AAC&U News | October 2005

AAC&U Invites Proposals for Diversity and Learning Conference

AAC&U invites scholars, educators, practitioners, students, administrators, community partners, and others to submit proposals for "Diversity and Learning: A Defining Moment." This Network for Academic Renewal conference, to be held October 19-21, 2006, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is designed to take stock of how effective the current structures, programs, and conceptualizations for diversity education are, while also charting emerging new directions for the next generation's work. To view the call for proposals, visit the Diversity and Learning pages. The deadline for submission is January 13, 2006.

Integrative Learning Conference Registration Continues Online and On-Site

AAC&U's next Network for Academic Renewal conference, "Integrative Learning: Creating Opportunities to Connect," will be held October 20-22 in Denver, Colorado. This conference will explore ways of helping undergraduates integrate their learning--across courses, among disciplines, over time, and between knowledge and practice. Registration for the conference will be available online through October 17 and will continue on-site at the Denver Marriot beginning on October 20.

Early Registration Still Available for Civic Engagement Conference

Discounted early registration rates for "The Civic Engagement Imperative: Student Learning and the Public Good" are available through October 17. This Network for Academic Renewal conference will clarify definitions and outcomes for civic engagement, explore new scholarship on coherent and effective civic engagement programs across the curriculum and cocurriculum, and consider innovative collaborations between educational and community leaders. Regular registration will continue up to and through the conference, which is scheduled for November 10-12 in Providence, Rhode Island.

Pre-meeting Symposium to Explore Science and Global Learning

AAC&U's 2006 annual meeting, "Demanding Excellence: Liberal Education in an Era of Global Competition, Anti-Intellectualism, and Disinvestment," will be held January 25-28, 2006, in Washington, DC. This year's pre-meeting symposium, "Recentering: Science and Global Learning in the Undergraduate Curriculum," will address the critical role of science education in developing fuller understanding of global challenges: How can we ensure that our graduates possess the scientific literacy necessary to thrive in a future marked by global interdependence? And how can we more fully utilize general education science requirements to engage students in the search for solutions to global problems? The keynote luncheon speaker will be James Gentile, president of Research Corporation and former dean of natural sciences at Hope College. More information and registration materials are available on the annual meeting Web pages.

LEAP Publishes Resources on Liberal Education Outcomes

As part of the Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP) campaign, AAC&U has created an index of essential liberal education outcomes (PDF) drawn from work on the Greater Expectations initiative and from employer and accreditor expectations for student learning. With assistance from research scholars around the country, LEAP staff are now compiling a report on student achievement on each of these key liberal education outcomes, Liberal Education Outcomes: A Preliminary Report on Student Achievement in College. Scheduled for release in early November, this report draws together research from diverse sources to examine what we know--and how much we need to find out--about student achievement of important learning outcomes.

AAC&U Garners More Support for LEAP Campaign

A growing number of individuals and foundations are lending support to Liberal Education and America's Promise: Excellence for Everyone as a Nation Goes to College, AAC&U's decade-long campaign to expand public understanding of the value of liberal education.

LEAP Partner Holds Campus-Community Dialogue

On September 21 and 22, LEAP partner campus Indiana State University held a campus-community dialogue, "The Good Life and the Good Community: The Value of Liberal Education in the Wabash Valley." The dialogue addressed the opportunities that liberal education brings, how the commitment to liberal education already benefits the Wabash Valley, and how that commitment might be renewed to ensure that future generations have access to and value liberal education. Visit AAC&U's advocacy pages to find out more about the LEAP campaign and to learn how to get involved.

AAC&U Selects General Education for Global Learning Participants

AAC&U is pleased to announce that sixteen colleges and universities were chosen through a competitive application process to participate in Shared Futures: General Education for Global Learning, an initiative supported by the Henry Luce Foundation. The selected institutions will work together to use global issues as an organizing framework for creating coherent, integrated general education programs. For additional information on this project, and for a full list of participating institutions, visit the Shared Futures: General Education and Global Learning pages.

Bringing Theory to Practice Project Announces Seventh Demonstration Site

The Bringing Theory to Practice Project, in partnership with the AAC&U and with support from the Charles Engelhard Foundation, recently announced the addition of Morgan State University as a seventh demonstration site. The addition of this campus has been made possible by a generous grant from the Christian A. Endeavor Foundation. In total, the project has now granted $630,000 to seven institutions that will seek to improve student health and encourage civic engagement by developing and evaluating new strategies to engage students with their learning.

Liberal Education Invites Readers to Participate in Online Survey

AAC&U is in the process of conducting a series of online readership surveys for our quarterly periodical publications. Through these brief, anonymous surveys, we hope to collect valuable information about our readers and their reading preferences. The first survey is for Liberal Education, AAC&U's flagship journal. The survey, which should take no more than fifteen minutes to complete. Responses will be used by the AAC&U editors to make future decisions that will make Liberal Education more valuable for all of our readers.

Peer Review Looks at Integrative Learning

Watch your mail for the Summer/Fall issue of Peer Review, which focuses on integrative learning. Articles in this issue explore how integrative learning fosters connections among disciplines and cocurricular experiences and transcends academic boundaries. The issue was supported, in part, by a William and Flora Hewlett Foundation grant to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for Integrative Learning: Opportunities to Connect, a project cosponsored by AAC&U.

New Diversity Digest Focuses on Civic Engagement

The latest issue of Diversity Digest examines the premise that diversity work--although rarely named as such--is in fact civic work. The issue offers concrete examples of institutions that have linked diversity and civic engagement in powerful, effective, and educationally transforming ways.

Faculty Invited to Apply for Faculty Fellows Internship Program

The Faculty Fellows Internship Program, offered by the Washington Internship Institute (WII) in cooperation with AAC&U, provides professional internship experiences in Washington, DC. Faculty fellows spend one semester working at a government agency, nonprofit organization, national association, museum, foundation, or other site. Through such challenging internship experiences, fellows broaden their professional, disciplinary, and personal horizons, reinvigorating their own work as scholars, teachers, and educational leaders. Applications for the fall 2006 semester are due by March 30, 2006. More information about the program is available on the WII Web site.

Nominations Accepted for Cross Future Leaders Awards

AAC&U is now accepting nominations for the K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Awards. These awards recognize graduate students who are committed to developing academic and civic responsibility in themselves and others and who show exemplary promise as future leaders of higher education. The deadline for nominations is November 4.

ACAD and Phi Beta Kappa to Hold Joint Conference on Liberal Arts Education

"Liberal Arts Education in America and the World," a conference cosponsored by the American Conference of Academic Deans (ACAD) and the Phi Beta Kappa Society, will be held October 27-29 on the campus of George Washington University in Washington, DC. More information, including a schedule of events and a registration form, is available on ACAD's Web site.

AAC&U Invites Nominations for Board of Directors

AAC&U members are invited to nominate individuals from member campuses to serve on the AAC&U Board of Directors. To nominate an individual, please contact Bethany Zecher Sutton, senior assistant to the president, at sutton@aacu.org.

AAC&U Board of Directors Honors Departing Membership Director Esther Merves and Welcomes New Membership Director Dennis Renner

At its October meeting, AAC&U's board of directors honored Esther Merves for her six years of service as AAC&U's director of membership. During her tenure, AAC&U's membership increased by 50 percent. The AAC&U board passed a resolution of appreciation that "expressed appreciation for her energetic leadership, untiring efforts on behalf of the Association, her guidance of the Membership Committee, and representation of the interests of liberal education." In August, AAC&U welcomed Dennis Renner as its new director of membership. Before assuming his position at AAC&U, Dennis managed membership affairs at the American Astronomical Society and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.