AAC&U News | May 2007 | News & Events

May 2007

Register Now for Fall Conferences on Civic Learning and Sharing Responsibility

Early registration is now available for AAC&U’s two fall Network for Academic Renewal conferences. “Civic Learning at the Intersections: U.S. Diversity, Global Education, and Democracy’s Unfinished Work” will take place October 18–20, 2007, in Denver, Colorado. This conference will highlight current research and promising practices pertaining to the creative integration of civic, diversity, and global work on campus and will include a particular focus on articulating the aims and learning outcomes of civic engagement programs. “Sharing Responsibility for Essential Learning Outcomes: New Partnerships across Departments, Academic Affairs, and Student Affairs” will be held November 1–3, 2007, in Savannah, Georgia. The conference will examine new frameworks for essential learning outcomes and highlight collaborative educational practices that lead to intentional and integrative learning.

AAC&U Announces 2008 Annual Meeting

AAC&U’s 2008 annual meeting, “Intentional Learning, Unscripted Challenges: Knowledge and Imagination for an Interdependent World,” will be held January 23–26, 2008, in Washington, DC. Participants will explore innovative and imaginative strategies and structures for college learning—purposeful pathways that clearly and intentionally connect wide-ranging knowledge of science, cultures, and society; high-level intellectual and practical skills; active commitment to personal and social responsibility; and demonstrated ability to apply learning to complex problems and challenges. Participants will also explore the role of assessment in measuring achievement of essential outcomes and in providing useful data to ensure that all students get the education they need and deserve in today’s world. The call for proposals will be available at the end of May.

AAC&U Publishes Guide to Diversity and Institutional Change

Making a Real Difference with Diversity: A Guide to Institutional Change provides readers with step-by-step guidance on implementing, evaluating, and sustaining comprehensive diversity work on campus. Drawn from the six-year Irvine Campus Diversity Initiative, this publication offers a set of promising practices and selected quantitative and qualitative findings related to college access and success for underrepresented students, increasing the presence of underrepresented minority faculty, and strengthening overall institutional functioning regarding diversity.

Core Commitments Leadership Consortium Expands

Seven new institutions have joined the Leadership Consortium for Core Commitments: Educating Students for Personal and Social Responsibility. This national AAC&U initiative seeks to embed personal and social responsibility learning objectives pervasively across institutions and to document the impact of campus efforts to foster such learning. The second cohort of institutions was selected from the initial applicant pool and chosen both on the basis of work already accomplished and on an articulated plan to deepen and extend that work. The seven new institutions are Allegheny College; Elizabethtown College; Portland State University; Richland College, Dallas County Community College District; Sacred Heart University; Saint Anselm College; and the United States Military Academy. Team leaders from these campuses gathered in Washington, DC, on May 7 to learn more about project components, including a new Personal and Social Responsibility Institutional Inventory that all consortium institutions will administer to students, faculty, academic administrators, and student affairs administrators in fall 2007.

Core Commitments Advisory Board to Guide Pathbreaking Effort to Advance Education for Personal and Social Responsibility

AAC&U recently announced the names of fifteen individuals who will serve on an advisory board for Core Commitments: Educating Students for Personal and Social Responsibility. Board members’ areas of expertise span the five dimensions of personal and social responsibility that frame the project: (1) striving for excellence, (2) cultivating personal and academic integrity, (3) contributing to a larger community, (4) taking seriously the perspectives of others, and (5) developing competence in ethical and moral reasoning. The group will provide rich intellectual guidance for the project and help shape the direction of many of its activities over the next two years.

Bringing Theory to Practice Sponsors “Bridging Divides” Workshop

The Bringing Theory to Practice project workshop held in Washington, DC, March 30–31 brought together faculty, student affairs practitioners, service-learning experts, and health center professionals from thirty campuses, including those already involved with the project as well as several new schools. Teams worked together to bridge divides and promote student well-being. For more information about the event and ways to get involved in the project, visit the Bringing Theory to Practice Web pages.

LEAP Convenes Meeting of Business and Educational Leaders in Massachusetts

At an April meeting cosponsored by AAC&U and the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, business leaders and educators discussed connections between college learning and the needs of the global economy. The meeting was designed to form the nucleus of a larger ongoing discussion across the state of Massachusetts about moving from the LEAP vision for higher education (PDF) to successful innovation and educational reform. LEAP National Leadership Council members Peter Karoff, president and founder of the Philanthropic Initiative, Jack Wilson, president of the University of Massachusetts System, and Keith Peden, senior vice president of human resources at Raytheon Company, joined with Gary DiCamillo, chair of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable Education Task Force, to invite business leaders in the Boston area to discuss ways of building public and student commitment to the essential learning outcomes of a college education.

Sixty Campus Teams to Attend AAC&U’s Institute on General Education and the Greater Expectations Institute

Teams from twenty-eight campuses will attend this year’s Institute on General Education in Newport, Rhode Island, May 18–23. Participants at the institute will examine current trends in general education, discuss strategies for implementing curricular reforms, and refine campus-specific general education reform plans in the context of campus missions. The seventh annual Greater Expectations Institute, which will be held June 20-24 in Burlington, Vermont, will bring together teams from a diverse group of thirty-two institutions. Participating campus teams will work on a variety of projects aimed at creating and sustaining environments that foster student engagement, inclusion, and high achievement. For more information and complete lists of participating campuses, see the press release announcing the 2007 summer institutes.

AAC&U Invites Nominations for Board of Directors

Nominations for the AAC&U Board of Directors for terms beginning in 2008 are now being accepted. Any individual from an AAC&U member campus is eligible to serve on the AAC&U Board of Directors. The current board members are listed online.To nominate an individual to serve on the AAC&U Board of Directors, please send a letter to Bethany Zecher Sutton, Secretary to the Board, 1818 R Street NW, Washington, DC 20009, or e-mail sutton@aacu.org.

AAC&U Invites Nominations for Future Leaders Award

Nominations are now being accepted for the K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award. Sponsored by K. Patricia Cross, professor emerita of higher education at the University of California–Berkeley, the award recognizes graduate students who show exemplary promise as future leaders of higher education; who demonstrate a commitment to developing academic and civic responsibility in themselves and others; and whose work reflects a strong emphasis on teaching and learning. The deadline for nominations is October 5. Recipients of the award will participate in AAC&U’s 2008 annual meeting, which will be held January 23–26 in Washington, DC.

Ms. Magazine Features Article by AAC&U Senior Vice President

An article by AAC&U Senior Vice President Caryn McTighe Musil, “Harvard Isn’t Enough,” appeared in the spring issue of Ms. Magazine. The article highlights the progress women have made in higher education, but also notes that women “continue to advance more slowly up faculty ranks and earn less salary than their male colleagues” and that they “are still disproportionately represented in lower ranks and at less prestigious institutions.” Because these and other problems remain pervasive, colleges and universities need to continue to seek ways of supporting women in academe, Musil argues.

New Resources to Cope with Traumatic Events Available from NIMH

In the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedies, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has released new information on coping with traumatic events and overcoming emotional problems that result from violence. These resources might be of use to students, faculty, or staff either in relation to the Virginia Tech shootings and their aftermath or for traumatic situations on other campuses. The NIMH Web site provides free and downloadable information on risk factors, symptoms, when to seek professional help, and possible treatment options. Visit NIMH online for trauma resources and violence resources. AAC&U issued a statement of condolence in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy.

Teleconference to Explore Sustainability Education

Join national experts June 6, 2007, from 1:00 to 2:00 pm EST to learn about sustainability education in curricula, facilities and purchasing, planning, and community partnerships, and about the wave of increasing enrollments at sustainability-infused colleges throughout the country. The teleconference is sponsored by the Society for College and University Planning on behalf of the Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium and the Disciplinary Associations Network for Sustainability, a network of which AAC&U is a founding supporter. For more information, contact Debra Rowe at dgrowe@oaklandcc.edu. Registration information is available online.