Annual Meeting Early Registration Ends November 20

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.  The pre-meeting symposium, “No Longer Optional: Educating for Personal and Social Responsibility,” and the opening-night forum, “Scientific Literacy and the Beautiful Basics of Science,” presented by Natalie Angier, will be held Wednesday, January 23.  AAC&U’s welcoming reception will also be on Wednesday this year, immediately following the forum.  We encourage you to make hotel reservations and register by November 20 to take advantage of discounts. For online registration and conference highlights, visit the annual meeting Web pages.

Plan Ahead for Spring Network Meetings on General Education and Assessment; Effective Educational Practices

Start planning now for AAC&U’s upcoming spring Network for Academic Renewal meetings. A February 21-23, 2008, meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, titled “Integrative Designs for General Education and Assessment,” will focus on ways that faculty, academic administrators, and student affairs educators can re-energize their general education programs while also responding to calls for increased accountability. AAC&U will also host “Discovering, Integrating and Applying Knowledge: Effective Educational Practices for Today’s Students and Tomorrow’s Innovation” April 10-12 in Austin, Texas. This meeting will explore issues of student achievement and practices effective in helping all students succeed and achieve essential learning outcomes.

Symposium Focuses on Institutional Commitment to Personal and Social Responsibility

Fifty participants from twenty institutions gathered recently for a Core Commitments symposium, “Education for Personal and Social Responsibility: Building Collective Institutional Commitment,” held in conjunction with the AAC&U Network Meeting on "Civic Learning at the Intersections" in Denver, Colorado, and sponsored by AAC&U’s Core Commitments initiative. During the symposium, participants used a matrix to assess the pervasiveness of their institutions’ efforts to educate students for personal and social responsibility, discussed the impact of institutional culture on students’ intellectual and ethical development, and learned about strategies for building more civically engaged campuses. For more information about the initiative and future events, please visit www.aacu.org/core_commitments.

New Seminar on Citizenship and the Polity Sponsored by AAC&U and the Aspen Institute

AAC&U and the Aspen Institute are pleased to announce a new seminar for 2008: the Wye Chief Academic Officers’ Seminar. It will be offered in addition to the Wye Faculty Seminar and the Presidents’ Seminar.  The focus of both the Wye Chief Academic Officers’ Seminar (June 15-20, 2008) and the Wye Faculty Seminar (July 19-25, 2008) will be “Citizenship and the Polity.” The seminars will address the importance of exchanging ideas with colleagues from other colleges and universities while probing the fundamental values and goals that are the reason for our institutional existence.  The Presidents’ Seminar, held July 24-27, 2008, will assist presidents in relating their leadership challenges to global economic and political questions.  All seminars will be held the Aspen Wye River campus in Queenstown, Maryland.  More information about the seminars is available online.

Public Health Initiative Releases Curriculum Guide, Plans Summer 2008 Institute

The Educated Citizen and Public Health Initiative aims to provide all undergraduate students opportunities for education in public health. Developed in part by the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR) and AAC&U, the initiative offers publications, workshops, and curricular resources to assist faculty members who are developing undergraduate public health courses and curricula.  Plan ahead for the next major activity: an Undergraduate Public Health Institute, July 14-15, 2008, in Crystal City, Virginia. Applications to attend the institute will be accepted through February 27, 2008.  See the project’s recently released Curriculum Guide for Undergraduate Public Health Education and provide feedback.

Campus Covenant Highlights Miami Dade’s Commitment to Liberal Education

On October 19, leaders at LEAP Campus Action Network member Miami Dade College signed a Learning Outcomes Covenant, formalizing the institution’s commitment to student success in ten important learning outcomes. Miami Dade also pledged to advance and assess these outcomes throughout the curriculum of all of the institution’s credit programs, as well as in cocurricular activities. Read Miami Dade’s press release about the covenant, and learn more about LEAP and the Campus Action Network.

Participants Share What Works at Fall Network Meetings

AAC&U's Network for Academic Renewal drew more than five hundred educators to two separate meetings this fall to share best practices and research results. "Civic Learning at the Intersections," which took place in Denver, Colorado, focused on issues of civic engagement, personal and social responsibility, and diversity. “Sharing Responsibility for Essential Learning Outcomes: New Partnerships across Departments, Academic Affairs, and Student Affairs," held in Savannah, Georgia, explored collaborative practices in assessing learning outcomes and the partnerships necessary to achieve these outcomes. AAC&U extends its gratitude to the University of Denver and Inside Higher Education for their support of these network meetings.

New Podcasts Available on AAC&U Web Site

Visit the AAC&U Web site to download and listen to brand-new podcasts from the recent "Civic Learning at the Intersections" Network meeting. Featured are author Benjamin Barber’s keynote address and Columbia University’s Lee Knefelkamp’s plenary address. Find and download all of AAC&U’s past podcasts here.

Liberal Education, Fall 2007
Faculty Leadership and Institutional Change

On Campus With Women, Vol 36, No. 2
Women on the Web

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:

Integrative Designs for General Education and Assessment February 21-23 2008
Boston, Massachusetts

Discovering, Integrating and Applying Knowledge: Effective Educational Practices for Today's Students and Tomorrow's Innovation
April 10-12, 2008
Austin, Texas

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