New York Times Highlights AAC&U Member Schools
Twenty AAC&U member institutions were profiled in an article on “Unsung Gems” that appeared in Education Life, a supplement to the Sunday New York Times. In a letter to the editor, AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider expresses appreciation for the article and discusses how the innovative practices it highlights “are part of a contemporary vision for ‘liberal education’ intended to help all college students prepare for the challenges of a volatile and interdependent world.” In addition to being active AAC&U members, several of the schools featured in the article are playing leading roles in the Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) campaign. A press release about the featured campuses and more information about the LEAP campaign are available online
Register Now for Fall Conferences on Diversity and Learning and Faculty Work
The fall working conferences of AAC&U’s Network for Academic Renewal will explore the present and future of the diversity education reform movement and faculty work.
“Diversity and Learning: A Defining Moment” will be held October 19–21, 2006, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The conference will examine the course of the next generation of diversity programs. John Hope Franklin, professor emeritus of history at Duke University and the distinguished author of From Slavery to Freedom and other books, will deliver the keynote address.
“Faculty Work and the New Academy: Emerging Challenges and Evolving Roles” will be held November 9–11, 2006, in Chicago, Illinois. The conference will explore changing faculty roles, responsibilities, and reward systems and will focus especially on the alignment of faculty priorities and institutional purposes.
New Resources from Spring Network for Academic Renewal Conferences Available
Resources from two recent Network for Academic Renewal conferences are now online. Materials related to sessions from “Learning and Technology: Implications for Liberal Education and the Disciplines” and “General Education and Outcomes That Matter in a Changing World” can be downloaded from the conference Web pages.
2006 AAC&U Summer Institutes Foster Campus Collaboration and Innovative Educational Reform Plans
Thirty-one teams representing over forty U.S. campuses and two state systems gathered on the campus of the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, from June 9 to 14 for the sixteenth annual AAC&U Institute on General Education. Participants at this year’s institute attended sessions covering the process and politics of curricular change and assessment of key general education outcomes. Outside of the formal sessions, participants worked on individual campus plans for general education reform and shared strategies and ideas.
Twenty-nine campus leadership teams from the U.S. and Canada met in Snowbird, Utah, from June 21 to 25 for the sixth annual Greater Expectations Institute. Teams worked on projects aimed at increasing student engagement, inclusion, and high achievement on their campuses. This year’s institute saw the introduction of a daily newsletter, which featured summaries of the previous day’s sessions, feedback from participants, useful tips for campus teams, and interviews with institute faculty. To learn more about the institute and to access the newsletters and other resources provided to this year’s participants, please visit the Greater Expectations Institute Web pages.
Nominations Accepted for Cross Future Leaders Awards
AAC&U is now accepting nominations for the 2007 K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Awards. The 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 September 22.
AAC&U Responds to Draft Report of Spellings Commission on the Future of Higher Education
In late June, AAC&U made several recommendations to the Spellings Commission on the Future of Higher Education concerning its approach to accountability. AAC&U’s Statement on Draft Report from Secretary Spellings Commission on the Future of Higher Education, which responded to an early draft of the commission’s report, focuses on the many “purposeful and integrative practices” that have emerged on campuses as a result of Greater Expectations and other national initiatives that respond to changing student and societal needs.
AAC&U Announces New National Initiative on Educating for Personal and Social Responsibility
AAC&U has received a $2 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation to support a national initiative, Core Commitments: Educating Students for Personal and Social Responsibility. Through the initiative, AAC&U will work with a network of colleges and universities to more purposefully develop students’ personal and social responsibility. Core Commitments will support educational leadership, institutional research, and campus change to help college students pursue excellence and develop integrity and responsibility. A call for proposals for campus participation will be issued in late August. For more information, see the press release announcing the new initiative.
Council of Europe Forum Focuses Attention on Higher Education and Democracy
AAC&U played a leading role in organizing a Council of Europe forum for college and university presidents, “Higher Education and Democratic Culture: Citizenship, Human Rights, and Civic Responsibility.” Participants at the international forum, which was held June 22–23 in Strasbourg, France, endorsed a declaration affirming the importance of promoting democracy, human rights, and citizenship. AAC&U Senior Vice President Caryn McTighe Musil has been a member of the U.S. Steering Committee of the International Consortium for Higher Education, Civic Responsibility, and Democracy since its inception and sponsored AAC&U's involvement through the Center for Liberal Education and Civic Engagement. Higher education institutions can sign up online to join in the council’s efforts.
New Study from Campus Diversity Initiative Examines Decline in Economic Diversity on California Campuses
A new report issued as part of the James Irvine Foundation Campus Diversity Initiative reveals that efforts to diversify the student body at twenty-two independent colleges and universities in California have not resulted in greater economic diversity. The report, Using Multiple Lenses: An Examination of the Economic and Racial/Ethnic Diversity of College Students, compares Pell Grant data from 2000 and 2004. Its findings highlight the problems of conflating race/ethnicity and class in analytic data. For more information, see the press release announcing the report’s release. Using Multiple Lenses is the last in a series of briefs that also examined the rise of “unknown” students on campus and efforts to diversify the faculty. The studies can be downloaded from the James Irvine Foundation.
Integrative Learning Project Makes Final Connections
The third and final summer meeting of Integrative Learning: Opportunities to Connect, a joint project of AAC&U and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, was held July 20–23 in Palo Alto, California. The ten project campuses are working on an extensive Web site with “snapshots” of the activities they created to help students develop integrative skills though programs across the curriculum. A public unveiling of the finished Web site on integrative learning will take place at the 2007 AAC&U annual meeting in New Orleans. The work of the integrative learning project has previously been reported in the Summer/Fall 2005 issue of Peer Review and in online publications available from the Carnegie Foundation.
AAC&U Releases Documentary on HIV Education
AAC&U’s Program for Health and Higher Education (PHHE) has released a documentary titled Assessing Student Learning: An HIV Prevention Project. The film captures students reflecting and debriefing after sessions at the 2005 National HIV Prevention Conference. The documentary, which highlights activities designed by PHHE, demonstrates effective ways for educators to engage students in learning about HIV and HIV prevention. Visit www.HIVCampusEducation.org for more information.
AA&U Appoints Terry Rhodes as Vice President for Quality, Curriculum, and Assessment
AAC&U has announced the appointment of Terrel (Terry) L. Rhodes as vice president of the Office of Quality, Curriculum, and Assessment. Rhodes currently is vice provost for curriculum and dean for undergraduate studies at Portland State University; he will begin his work at AAC&U in September 2006. In his new role at AAC&U, Rhodes will develop and lead campus-based national initiatives that build on the earlier projects of the Greater Expectations initiative and focus on undergraduate curricular reform and assessment of key learning outcomes. For more information, see the press release announcing the appointment.
Liberal Education Features Highlights of 2006 Annual Meeting
Watch your mail for the summer issue of Liberal Education, which includes selected papers from AAC&U's 2006 annual meeting, “Demanding Excellence: Liberal Education in an Era of Global Competition, Anti-Intellectualism, and Disinvestment.” Additional articles explore collaborative scholarship and tenure, faculty engagement in the liberal arts, and the “success” of learning communities.
New Issue of Peer Review Focuses on First-Year Programs
The summer issue of Peer Review features first-year programs that are designed to facilitate positive transitions for students into higher education and foster more intentional learning through intensive seminars and faculty contact, mentoring programs, and cocurricular activities. Selected articles from the issue are available online.
Diversity Digest Explores the Role of Science in Global Learning
The latest issue of Diversity Digest focuses on science, diversity, and global learning. Articles cover topics such as the integration of science into general education, the connections between science and global learning, and the educational questions raised by globalization and global citizenship.
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