Discussions at 2006 Annual Meeting Focus on Liberal Education, Academic Freedom, Global Learning, and Civic Engagement

AAC&U’s 2006 annual meeting, “Demanding Excellence: Liberal Education in an Era of Global Competition, Anti-Intellectualism, and Disinvestment,” drew a record number of participants to Washington, DC. The meeting featured plenary addresses by education and workforce policy expert Roberts T. Jones, Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton, and author and professor Azar Nafisi. Other highlights of this year’s meeting included member discussions about the Liberal Education and America’s Promise campaign and the release of the latest findings from the Higher Education Research Institute’s annual survey of college freshman.

AAC&U thanks the following sponsors for their support of this meeting: College LiveText, Multi-Health Systems, Compass Knowledge Group, Stylus Publishing, and TIAA-CREF.

Register Now for Upcoming Network for Academic Renewal Conferences

Online registration is available for AAC&U’s two spring Network for Academic Renewal conferences. “General Education and Outcomes That Matter in a Changing World,” to be held March 9-11 in Phoenix, Arizona, will provide a forum for dialogue about what students need to know in our information-rich, technologically advanced, and globally connected society. The conference will also provide diverse examples of how campuses across the country are advancing and assessing key outcomes. February 15 is the cutoff date for making hotel reservations at the reduced conference rate.  

Another Network for Academic Renewal conference, "Learning and Technology: Implications for Liberal Education and the Disciplines," will be held April 20-22 in Seattle, Washington. This conference will examine how technology can further the goals of liberal education. Participants will discuss how technology can enhance student learning and bridge cultural divides, and will consider institutional structures and systems that enable faculty and staff to more effectively use new technologies.

AAC&U Announces LEAP National Leadership Council Members

At its 2006 annual meeting, AAC&U announced the members of the National Leadership Council for its advocacy campaign, Liberal Education and America’s Promise: Excellence for Everyone as a Nation Goes to College. The National Leadership Council--which includes representatives from higher education, public policy, philanthropy, business, and the media--will champion the value of an engaged and practical liberal education. The council will be cochaired by Ronald Crutcher, president of Wheaton College in Massachusetts, and Peggy O’Brien, senior vice president of educational programming and services at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. For more information, see the press release announcing the formation of the council.

AAC&U Members Discuss “Principles of Excellence” and Campus Efforts to Advance Liberal Education

At AAC&U’s 2006 annual meeting, member presidents and campus representatives provided feedback on a draft set of “principles of excellence” developed by the Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) National Leadership Council. The principles highlight the importance of a collective national commitment to an excellent liberal education for all students and focus on the need to clarify essential learning outcomes, teach the arts of analysis and discovery, connect knowledge and practice, assess our students’ best work, and make excellence inclusive. Participants discussed ways to better define and promote these key principles on their campuses and in their communities.

In addition, AAC&U members from LEAP partner institutions discussed how campuses can participate in the LEAP public advocacy campaign and integrate their participation with their own campus priorities and activities. Dave Wilson from University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Ann Rider from Indiana State University (both LEAP partner campuses) presented details of activities their institutions sponsored in fall 2005. Ross Miller of AAC&U announced plans to collect campus “profiles” of practices to achieve liberal education outcomes. These profiles will be shared among LEAP campuses, AAC&U members, and the higher education community in general. 

AAC&U Board Issues Statement on Academic Freedom

AAC&U’s board of directors has issued a statement, “Academic Freedom and Educational Responsibility,” that addresses recent debates on bias and intellectual diversity in the classroom. The statement argues that debates about the personal political views of faculty members distract attention from the far more urgent challenge of providing a quality education that prepares all college students to succeed and make a difference in today’s complex world. It discusses the need to teach students to make informed judgments in the face of conflicting views and reaffirms the importance of protecting the academic freedom of faculty members to make judgments about curricula. For more information, see the press release about the board statement.

2006 AAC&U Summer Institutes Accepting Applications

Applications for the 2006 AAC&U Institute on General Education are currently being accepted. The institute, which will be held June 9-14 in Washington, DC, will offer an intellectually stimulating environment for advancing campus planning in general education. The deadline for applications is March 8.

Online applications are now also being accepted for the 2006 Greater Expectations Institute. The Greater Expectations Institute will be held June 21-25 in Snowbird, Utah, and is designed for campus teams that are working on ways to improve student engagement, inclusion, and high achievement. The deadline for applications is March 17.

AAC&U Cosponsors Wye Faculty Seminar and Presidents' Seminar with the Aspen Institute

This year’s Wye Faculty Seminar will be held July 22-28, 2006, in eastern Maryland. The seminar, cosponsored by the Aspen Institute and AAC&U, gathers a diverse group of faculty in intellectually rigorous roundtable discussions. Seminar participants read classical and contemporary texts on citizenship, the American polity, and global values, discussing ideas and challenges that nurture and invigorate their teaching. More information about the Wye Faculty Seminar, including registration forms, is available from the Aspen Institute.

For the first time this year, AAC&U and the Aspen Institute are also sponsoring a Wye Presidents' Seminar. The new seminar--held July 21-23 at the Aspen Wye campus in Maryland--will assist presidents and administrators in relating leadership challenges to global economic and political questions. This year's seminar will focus on the Middle East. More information about the presidents' seminar is available on AAC&U's Wye Seminars Web page.

Peer Review Invites Readers to Participate in Online Survey

AAC&U is currently conducting an online readership survey for Peer Review. Through this brief, anonymous survey, we hope to collect valuable information about our readers and their reading preferences. We invite you to participate in the survey, which should take no more than fifteen minutes to complete. Responses will be used by AAC&U editors to make future decisions that will make Peer Review more valuable for all of our readers. Please help us by completing this survey questionnaire now.

Nine Graduate Students Honored with K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Awards

AAC&U recently announced the 2006 recipients of the annual 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 award winners--Derek Cabrera, Michael Coyle, Emily Fairchild, Molly Beth Kerby, Diane Nutbrown, Regina Praetorius, Victor Raymond, Joan Shin, and Ian Stewart--participated in and were honored at AAC&U’s 2006 annual meeting. For more information, see the press release announcing the 2006 award recipients.

Liberal Education Examines Leadership in the New Academy

The Winter issue of Liberal Education explores issues related to educational leadership and shared governance and examines the role of both faculty and presidential leadership in guiding curricular change. Also included are a report on students' perceptions of liberal arts and sciences disciplines and a look at the role of spirituality in liberal learning.

Results from Liberal Education Survey Are In

Ninety percent of Liberal Education readers describe the journal as “valuable” or “very valuable” to their careers, according to an online survey conducted last fall. The readership study also revealed that 85 percent of readers save copies of Liberal Education for future reference, 70 percent share articles with colleagues, 82 percent regard the topics covered as timely, 42 percent typically spend at least one hour reading each issue, and 40 percent read articles online. Feedback on Liberal Education is always welcome; comments can be sent to David Tritelli at tritelli@aacu.org.

WII and AAC&U Announce Spring Faculty Fellows

The Washington Internship Institute (WII) and AAC&U recently announced the appointments of Lynn Bachelor, Laura L. Behling, and Sandra Bland as faculty fellows for the spring 2006 semester. Participants in the Faculty Fellows Internship Program, which is offered by WII in cooperation with AAC&U, 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. For information about the spring fellows, see the press release announcing the appointments. For information about applying to the program, visit the Faculty Fellows Internship Program online. Applications for the fall 2006 semester are due by March 30, 2006.

Humanities Advocacy Day to Be Held in March

Humanities Advocacy Day, an annual event organized by the National Humanities Alliance and sponsored in part by AAC&U, seeks to promote federal support for scholarly research, education, and public programs in the humanities. This year’s event, which will be held March 1-2, will provide an important opportunity for advocates to communicate the public value of the humanities to policy makers in Washington, DC. For more information, visit the Humanities Advocacy Day Web pages.

Center Launches National Study on Impact of Liberal Education

The Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College, a partner in the Liberal Education and America's Promise campaign, has announced the launch of the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education. This four-year, multi-million dollar program is one of the most comprehensive national studies of the effects of American higher education. The study will focus on the impact of liberal arts education, exploring how students develop during their college years and how key educational experiences promote this development. For more information, see the press release (PDF) announcing the launch of the study.

General Education: A Self-Study Guide for Review and Assessment
By Andrea Leskes and Ross Miller

Levels of Assessment : From the Student to the Institution
By Ross Miller and Andrea Leskes

Why Do I Have to Take This Course? A Student Guide to Making Smart Educational Choices
By Robert Shoenberg

Making Diversity Work on Campus: A Research-Based Perspective
By Jeffrey F. Milem, Mitchell J. Chang, and Anthony Lising Antonio

Network for Academic Renewal Conferences:

General Education and Outcomes That Matter in a Changing World will take place March 9-11, 2006, in Phoenix, AZ

Learning and Technology: Implications for Liberal Education and the Disciplines will take place April 20-22, 2006, in Seattle, WA

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