| Meetings and Institutes:
Apply to Attend AAC&U’s Engaging Departments Institute— Deadline Extended to April 9
AAC&U is extending the application deadline for its 2010 Engaging Departments Institute to April 9, 2010. The institute provides an opportunity for colleges and universities to bring together a group of strategically selected campus leaders—including deans, department chairs, and faculty members—to collaboratively advance plans to foster, assess, and improve student learning outcomes within departments and across the campus. Accepted campuses can take advantage of a special subsidy from the Teagle Foundation, where $150.00 per team member will be remitted to the campus upon payment of the registration fee. Teams must have a minimum of five team members. For complete information, please visit the institute Web page. Online applications are due by 5 p.m. EST on April 9, 2010.
Deadline Extended for Greater Expectations Institute—Apply by April 15
The Greater Expectations Institute is designed to help campuses respond to national calls to improve the quality of undergraduate education, increase student engagement and success, and make excellence inclusive. The 2010 institute will help campus teams align institutional purposes, structures, and practices as well as advance and assess learning outcomes that are essential for success in today’s world. The institute will be held June 15-19, 2010, on the campus of Vanderbilt University.
The
application deadline has been extended to April 15, 2010. If you missed the original deadline and would like to apply for the institute, please contact Nakia Bell at bell@aacu.org or 202.387.3760 ext. 407.
Plan Now for Academic Year 2010-2011 AAC&U Meetings
Now is the time to save the dates to attend AAC&U conferences next academic year. Upcoming meetings include:
- October 21-23, 2010—Facing the Divides: Diversity, Learning, and Pathways to Inclusive Excellence. Network for Academic Renewal Conference, Houston, Texas
- November 11-13, 2010—Creativity, Inquiry, and Discovery: Undergraduate Research In and Across the Disciplines. Network for Academic Renewal Conference, Durham, North Carolina. Call for proposals is now online—proposals due April 8, 2010.
- January 26-29, 2011—AAC&U Annual Meeting, San Francisco, California.
- March 3-5, 2011—General Education and Assessment. Network for Academic Renewal Conference, Chicago, Illinois.
- March 24-26, 2011— STEM and Liberal Education. Network for Academic Renewal Conference, Miami, Florida
Check the AAC&U meetings homepage for updates and details in coming months.
LEAP News:
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LEAP National Leadership Council Discusses Future of LEAP Initiative |
Members of the National Leadership Council for Liberal Education and America’s Promise met on March 22, 2010, in Washington, DC, to discuss the next phase of the LEAP initiative. The council acknowledged the positive—and extensive—impact LEAP has had on campuses around the country. At the same time, LEAP Council members also discussed the need—especially in a time when the national debate is focused on the issue of access and completion—to continue to amplify LEAP’s messages about the essential learning outcomes needed to maintain educational excellence in the twenty-first century. The National Leadership Council members expressed interest in expanding the LEAP work into additional states and forging new partnerships with employers and policy leaders. For information about how your campus can join LEAP’s work, visit the LEAP “How to Get Involved” Web page.
Project Highlights:
Core Commitments Unveils New Web Site, Resources on Personal and Social Responsibility
The revamped and reorganized Core Commitments Web site is now live! In addition to publications, valuable resources, and project information, the updated Core Commitments site now also includes the Promising Practices Resource Bank, which features exemplary practices from a variety of institutions across the country. Also new to the site is information about the Research Collaborative, and updates on the Personal and Social Responsibility Inventory and its supplement, the Moral Development Module. If you have questions, suggestions,
or would like to submit a promising campus practice for consideration, contact Chad Anderson, Core Commitments program associate, at Anderson@aacu.org.
Attend Regional PKAL Workshop for Early-Career STEM Faculty; Follow Project Kaleidoscope via Facebook and Twitter
AAC&U partner Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) is planning a regional leadership workshop at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, June 11-13, 2010, for early-career STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) faculty in the Upper Midwest region.
This workshop is designed for faculty who are thinking about leading transformative STEM learning projects in their classrooms, departments or institutions. For more information, visit the workshop Web site. Applications, including a nomination letter, are due April 16.
There are also three new ways to follow PKAL's work: join the PKAL e-mail list to receive periodic announcements of upcoming events, news and resources; follow PKAL on Twitter; and become a fan on Facebook.
AAC&U, Other Organizations Create Network for Campus Internationalization Resources
Through its Office of Diversity, Equity, and Global Initiatives, AAC&U joins eleven other higher education organizations dedicated to global learning and campus internationalization to form the Inter-association Network on Campus Internationalization (INCI). The INCI Web site serves as a common portal to provide an overview of and access to each association’s information and resources on internationalization and global learning. Designed for college and university presidents, provosts, academic deans, senior international officers, and interested faculty, the portal contains carefully selected links to resources for AAC&U members or anyone else leading internationalization on their campus. To learn more and to browse the list of organizations involved, see the organization’s Web site.
AAC&U VP to Participate in Webcast on Civic Learning
AAC&U Senior Vice President Caryn McTighe Musil will participate in a Webcast, “Preparing for Citizenship or a Career—a False Choice,” cosponsored by the American Democracy Project and the Society for College and University Planning. The Webcast challenges the all-too-common “false choice” between preparing students for careers and preparing them for lives of meaningful citizenship. A recent AAC&U study found that today’s employers are demanding some of the same skills in future employees as those required of citizens wanting to build thriving, healthy, and inclusive communities. Explicitly integrating civic development into career preparation offers multiple opportunities for improving student learning.“Preparing for Citizenship or a Career” will explore practical strategies and approaches that campuses can use to develop both career and civic skills. The Webcast will air on Thursday, April 29, at 3:00 p.m. EDT. More details and registration information are available online.
Other AAC&U News:
AAC&U President Releases Statement on Common Core Standards
AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider released a statement calling the common core standards release by the National Governor’s Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers an important first step, but far from what is really needed to face up to America’s achievement shortfalls. Schneider’s statement makes four key points: The nation must face up to the reality of our current achievement shortfall; math and English are not enough; new standards must be accompanied by new ways of organizing students’ learning and new approaches to assessment; and many sectors of our society will need to come together to truly prepare students for success in college and life beyond college. Read the full statement, as well as the press release.
AAC&U Announces New Publications Discount for Campus Representatives and Associates
AAC&U is pleased to offer a new discount for publications purchased by AAC&U Campus Representatives and Associates. Campus Reps and Associates will now receive a 20 percent discount on the purchase of one to ten copies of a single publication. (A 20 percent discount is available to others only for larger purchases—purchases of 11-20 copies of a single publication.) Please note that this 20 percent discount—applied automatically upon checkout—is available only for online purchases via AAC&U's shopping cart. If you would like to see the complete listing of Campus Representatives and Associates at your institution, visit AAC&U's member list online and click on your institution's roster. More information on AAC&U membership benefits—including how to become an AAC&U Associate—is available online.
New Book on Interdisciplinary Campus Cultures Copublished by AAC&U
AAC&U is pleased to copublish an important new book by Julie Thompson Klein, Creating Interdisciplinary Campus Cultures: A Model for Strength and Sustainability. With a foreword by AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider, the book provides a systematic approach to interdisciplinarity on campus, grounded in a conceptual framework, and also presents a portfolio of pragmatic strategies. Read an excerpt. The book is available for purchase from Jossey-Bass publishers in hardcover or as an e-book.
Applications Available for 2010 Award for Improving General Education
Application forms for the 2010 Association for General and Liberal Studies Award for Improving General Education are now available online. The 2010 award will recognize institutions that improve learning through collaborative efforts to gather results, use the results to develop systematic learning improvement projects, and then verify those improvements. The best models in three different learning domains will receive AGLS Awards. Winners’ processes will be featured in a plenary session during AGLS’s 50th Anniversary Conference in Austin, Texas, October 7-9, 2010. For more details, see the award announcement. The application deadline is June 15, 2010.
AAC&U Remembers Charles Muscatine
In a statement released on March 23, AAC&U noted with sadness the passing of Charles Muscatine, former English professor at the University of California at Berkeley and member of the panel that authored AAC&U’s influential report, Integrity in the College Curriculum, published in 1985. Muscatine, a specialist in the medieval poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer, was known for his commitment to academic freedom and student-centered higher education institutions. See the full text of the statement.
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Summer Institutes
Institute on General Education and Assessment
June 4-9, 2010
Burlington, Vermont
Greater Expectations Institute
June 15-19, 2010
Nashville, Tennessee
Engaging Departments Institute
July 7-11, 2010
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Network Meetings
Facing the Divides: Diversity, Learning, and Pathways to Inclusive Excellence
October 21-23, 2010
Houston, Texas
Creativity, Inquiry, and Discovery: Undergraduate Research In and Across the Disciplines
November 11-13, 2010
Durham, North Carolina
For more
information on meetings, visit www.aacu.org/meetings/index.cfm
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