Register Now for Fall Conferences

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 related 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—between academic and student affairs and across departments—that lead to intentional and integrative learning.

AAC&U Invites Proposals for Spring Conferences

AAC&U invites proposals for sessions at its Integrative Designs for General Education and Assessment Conference, which will be held February 21-23, 2008, in Boston, MA. The conference will focus on ways that faculty, academic administrators, and student affairs educators can shape higher education’s response to calls for increased accountability while, at the same time, reinvigorating general education. The deadline for submitting proposals is August 15.

AAC&U is also accepting proposals for sessions at Discovering, Integrating and Applying Knowledge Conference, which will be held April 10-12, 2008, in Austin, TX. This conference will focus on educational practices that raise levels of persistence and achievement for today's college students; examine institutional barriers to establishing and sustaining these practices; and explore how to increase institutional commitment to underserved students and their access to high impact practices. The deadline for submitting proposals is September 7.

K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award Now Accepting Nominations

AAC&U is now accepting nominations for the 2008 K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Awards. This 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, 2007. 

AAC&U’s 2008 Annual Meeting to be held in Washington, DC, January 23-26

AAC&U’s 2008 Annual Meeting – “Intentional Learning, Unscripted Challenges: Knowledge and Imagination for an Interdependent World” – will be held in Washington, DC, January 23-26, 2008. A pre-conference symposium, "No Longer Optional: Educating for Personal and Social Responsibility,” is scheduled for Wednesday, January 23, with the keynote address by Elizabeth Kiss, President of Agnes Scott College.  Martha Nussbaum, Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, will speak at the Opening Plenary; and Walter Isaacson, author of Einstein: His Life and Universe, is the Closing Plenary speaker.  The Wednesday Night Forum will feature Natalie Angier, Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer for The New York Times and author of The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science.  Registration materials will be available online September 1.

AAC&U Announces Staff Appointments for New Senior Positions Leading Assessment and Global Learning Initiatives

AAC&U promoted two staff members to newly created positions. Ross Miller has been appointed Senior Director of Assessment for Learning in AAC&U’s Office of Quality, Curriculum, and Assessment. Kevin Hovland has been named Director for Global Learning and Curricular Change in AAC&U’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Global Initiatives. These appointments emerge from AAC&U’s ongoing strategic planning efforts. Miller’s appointment reflects AAC&U’s continued commitment to educational leadership for assessment approaches that deepen student learning and allow students the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to apply their learning to real world settings. Hovland’s appointment reflects AAC&U’s expanding curricular and faculty development efforts designed to better prepare students for global interdependence and responsible citizenship.

Monthly Radio Segment on Value of Liberal Education Launched in Wisconsin

As part of its involvement in LEAP Forward Wisconsin -- the first pilot state-wide LEAP initiative -- the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point has launched a monthly radio segment on WSPT 1010 AM. Part of their "Portage County Live" series, the segment is a monthly discussion on the value of liberal education with the station manager, a UWSP faculty member or administrator, and Judge John Finn, the president of their local "Academy of Letters and Sciences," a community advocacy board for UWSP's College of Letters and Science. See the AAC&U LEAP Web pages for more information about how to get involved in your area.

Shared Futures: Common Ground Summer Institute Held at Sonoma State University

Approximately 90 faculty and administrators from 16 institutions attended the Shared Futures Institute at Sonoma State University. The Shared Futures project seeks to infuse global learning across the general education program rather than contain it in a single non-western course. In the past year, the project has grown with the help of a FIPSE grant to further include science faculty in constructing general education courses that create connections between global learning and ethical citizenship.

Campus Teams Work on Student Engagement, Inclusion, and High Achievement Efforts at Institute in Burlington, Vermont

Thirty-two institutions sent teams to the seventh annual Greater Expectations Institute, which was held June 20-24 in Burlington, Vermont. The 185 participants developed campus-specific plans that align institutional policies with best practices to encourage student engagement, inclusion, and high achievement. Institute topics included the change process, aligning leadership and resources, and effective use of assessment tools and data. Participants saw a previous Institute action plan come to life when visiting the University of Vermont GreenHouse residential learning community. Learn more about the Greater Expectations Institute on AAC&U’s Web site.

Bringing Theory to Practice Awards $860,000 in New Grants

The Bringing Theory to Practice Project (BTtoP), sponsored by the Charles Engelhard Foundation of New York City and developed in partnership with AAC&U, announced that grants totaling $860,000 have been awarded to six colleges and universities. These institutions are being funded to develop and evaluate new strategies to get students more engaged with their learning, and, in so doing, improve their health and civic engagement.

Assessment in Cycles of Improvement Faculty Designs for Essential Learning Outcomes
By Ross Miller

A Brief History of Student Learning Assessment
How We Got Where We Are and a Proposal for Where to Go Next
By Richard J. Shavelson

Peer Review Spring 2007
Assessing Student Learning

2008 Annual Meeting:

Intentional Learning, Unscripted Challenges: Knowledge and Imagination for an Interdependent World
January 23–26, 2008
Washington, DC

Network for Academic Renewal Conferences:

Civic Learning at the Intersections: U.S. Diversity, Global Education, and Democracy’s Unfinished Work
October 18–20, 2007
Denver, Colorado

Sharing Responsibility for Essential Learning Outcomes: New Partnerships across Departments, Academic Affairs, and Student Affairs
November 1–3, 2007
Savannah, Georgia

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