AAC&U officers and staff regularly travel throughout the country, and occasionally the world, to speak and consult at AAC&U member schools through seminars, institutes, and workshops as well as in more informal gatherings. AAC&U staff also regularly speak on the value of liberal education at various media and public affairs events. These meetings are an opportunity for the membership to influence the direction of AAC&U's initiatives. We look forward to seeing you the next time we are on your campus.

Debra Humphreys, AAC&U vice president for communications and public affairs, delivered the keynote address, “College Learning for the New Global Century: Teaching and Assessing What Really Matters Today” at the annual “What is an Educated Person?” conference held in Utah on November 7. Participants debated what outcomes were most important and how they might best be assessed, especially focusing on the development of electronic portfolios. See the op-ed by William Sederburg based on his welcoming remarks to the same conference in this month’s Perspectives section.

Caryn McTighe Musil, AAC&U senior vice president for diversity, equity, and global initiatives, participated in a webinar held by the American Council on Education (ACE), “Advancing Internationalization at Baccalaureate Degree Institutions,” on December 1, 2008. The webinar reviewed the major findings of ACE research on trends in campus internationalization for baccalaureate degree-granting institutions. Participants compared internationalization at their institution to national results and explored the implications for their campus practices.

Terrel Rhodes, AAC&U vice president for quality, curriculum, and assessment, gave a presentation on rubric development and e-portfolios as part of AAC&U’s FIPSE- funded VALUE project at the Advanced Practices luncheon at the 2008 Assessment Institute, October 26-28, in Indianapolis, Indiana,  sponsored by IUPUI. He also participated in the Reinvention Center’s 2008 conference, Education, Innovation and Discovery: The Distinctive Promise of the American Research University. On December 1, Rhodes gave the keynote address on high-impact practices and general education at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas for a campus faculty conversation as part of their ongoing curriculum renewal, begun during their attendance at AAC&U’s General Education and Greater Expectations summer institutes. On December 9, he will speak at the University of Michigan-Flint’s annual Assessment Summit on rubrics developed through the VALUE project and their use in assessing student work.