| Meetings and Institutes
Register for Spring Meetings on General Education and Assessment; Faculty Roles in High-Impact Practices
Registration is now open for AAC&U’s spring Network for Academic Renewal meetings: General Education and Assessment: Maintaining Momentum, Achieving New Priorities, February 18-20, 2010, in Seattle, Washington; and Faculty Roles in High-Impact Practices, March 25-27, 2010, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The general education meeting will bring campus practitioners together to discuss maintaining momentum in general education reform and creating effective assessment plans, especially in tough economic times. It will feature a keynote address by Robert Weisbuch, president of Drew University. The faculty roles meeting will explore how to support faculty in developing and using high-impact practices to increase student achievement and help students examine the “big questions.” Nancy Cantor, chancellor and president of Syracuse University, will be the featured speaker. An early registration discount is available through March 1 for the faculty roles meeting. Both meetings will feature practical solutions that participants can implement on their own campuses.
Apply to Send a Team to AAC&U’s Summer Institutes on General Education, Greater Expectations to Make Excellence Inclusive, or Engaging Departments
Applications are currently being accepted online and by mail for campus teams to attend one of AAC&U’s 2010 summer institutes: the 2010 Institute on General Education and Assessment, June 4-9 at the University of Vermont in Burlington; the 2010 Greater Expectations Institute on Leadership to Make Excellence Inclusive, June 15-19 at Vanderbilt University in Nashville; and the 2010 Engaging Departments Institute, July 7-11 at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Applications are due February 19 for the General Education institute, March 12 for Greater Expectations, and March 19 for Engaging Departments. Institutes offer campus leadership teams a time and place for sustained collaborative work on an important project—away from the daily pressures of campus life. Details about each institute and how to apply are available online.
Apply for PKAL Summer Faculty STEM Leadership Institute by March 12
Early-career STEM faculty are invited to apply for the Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) Summer Faculty Leadership Institute, July 17-22, 2010, in Crestone, Colorado, on the Baca campus of Colorado College. The institute is designed around a carefully coordinated blend of theory and practice, weaving discussions of national issues into sessions on the politics of change. Institute mentors guide the conversations and institute sessions and work with participants on pedagogical approaches for STEM classes, including case studies, role-playing, field trips, and collaborative problem solving. The Summer Leadership Institute is supported by the National Science Foundation and all costs at the institute are covered, except travel to and from the institute site. However, travel stipends are available for faculty from historically black colleges and universities and from Hispanic-serving institutions. Applications are due March 12.
Submit Proposals for Fall 2010 Meeting on Diversity, Learning, and Pathways to Inclusive Excellence
Proposals are now being accepted for AAC&U’s Network for Academic Renewal meeting, Facing the Divides: Diversity, Learning, and Pathways to Inclusive Excellence, to be held October 21-23, 2010, in Houston, Texas. The meeting will focus on pragmatic ways in which colleges and university leaders can foster inclusive learning environments and help students to engage with each other across differences, respectfully and productively. The conference will include five primary themes:
- Framing Goals for Diversity and Inclusive Excellence
- Ensuring Access and Essential Learning
- Developing and Assessing Curricular and Co-Curricular Efforts
- Fostering Identity, Civility, and Democratic Classrooms
- Building Institutional Capacity to Make Excellence Inclusive
For details about each theme and information about how to submit a proposal, see the Call for Proposals. Proposals are due March 15, 2010.
Nearly 2,000 Attend AAC&U Annual Meeting
Nearly 2,000 participants gathered together last week at AAC&U’s annual meeting, The Wit, The Will,…and the Wallet to learn, debate, and discuss how to maintain quality in undergraduate education even in the midst of challenging economic times. Speakers included Undersecretary of Education Martha Kanter, University of Richmond President Edward Ayers, Lumina Foundation President Jamie Merisotis, Wheaton College President Ronald Crutcher, and Jonah Lehrer, author of How We Decide. If you couldn’t make the meeting, you can read about it and the many valuable sessions and resources available from it on AAC&U’s LEAP blog, which features many guest bloggers covering a variety of topics from the meeting. Also, see media coverage from the meeting, including articles from the Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Ed. Podcasts of selected plenary speeches and resources from concurrent sessions will be available online in February.
LEAP News
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Employers Seek Higher Levels of Learning, More Liberal Education Outcomes, New Survey Reveals |
Findings from a new survey of employers (PDF) commissioned as part of AAC&U’s LEAP initiative were released last week. More than 90 percent of employers are asking employees to use a broader set of skills and have higher levels of learning than in the past. Only one in four believe that colleges and universities are doing a good job of preparing graduates for the demands of the global economy. See the news release and full results of this and other LEAP-sponsored surveys. Also see news stories in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Community College Times, USA Today, and Inside Higher Ed.
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LEAP Forum in Portland Focuses on Strengthening Understanding of College Learning Outcomes |
Leaders in business and education gathered in Portland, Oregon, on January 7, 2010, to participate in a forum, College Learning and Oregon’s Future: Return on Investment for Students, the Economy and Our Communities, cosponsored by the Oregon Joint Boards of Education, the Oregon Business Council, and LEAP. The forum was supported with funds from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education. Participants discussed contemporary developments in college education, nationally and in Oregon, linked to the PK-16 continuum of learning. Topics included learning outcomes that matter in college, practices that support student success in achieving essential outcomes, emerging practices in outcomes assessment, and Oregon’s engagement in LEAP, including the Give Students a Compass Project (PDF). The forum was part of a series of LEAP events being held across the country as part of AAC&U’s efforts to provide advocacy and leadership for liberal education for all of today’s college students. Another forum will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, in spring 2010. See the LEAP Public Forums page.
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New Cochair and Six New Members Named to LEAP National Leadership Council |
Deborah Traskell, State Farm Insurance executive vice president, has been named the new cochair of the LEAP National Leadership Council. Six other new members of the National Leadership Council have been named from business, law, higher education, and community activism. Ron Crutcher, continuing as cochair of the NLC with Traskell, said, “We are very pleased to welcome new NLC members who will help bring fresh perspectives from an array of fields.” These new members will join existing NLC members in guiding the initiative’s next phase of work. See the full listing of NLC members and the press release announcing new members.
Project Highlights
New Report on Campus Climate for Ethics and Academic Integrity
The second of three reports from AAC&U’s Core Commitments initiative, Developing a Moral Compass: What Is the Campus Climate for Ethics and Academic Integrity? focuses on whether—and how well—educational environments foster academic integrity and promote ethical responsibilities to self and others. The report presents findings from a unique campus climate assessment tool—administered in 2007 to 24,000 students and 9,000 academic administrators, faculty, and student affairs professionals at twenty-three colleges and universities—regarding opportunities for developing competence in ethical and moral reasoning and cultivating personal and academic integrity. Issues addressed in the publication include sources of support for students to discuss their moral and ethical challenges and the impact of academic honor codes. The first report, Civic Responsibility: What Is the Campus Climate for Learning? is available now, and a third report, Taking Seriously the Perspectives of Others: What Is the Campus Climate for Engaging Diverse Viewpoints? will be released in spring 2010. Order the new report now.
VALUE Project Releases Report on “Tips and Tools for Using Rubrics” to Assess Liberal Education Outcomes
AAC&U’s Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education (VALUE) project recently released a practical guide for faculty and campuses interested in using rubrics to assess student learning. The publication, Assessing Outcomes and Improving Achievement: Tips and Tools for Using Rubrics, provides advice on the development and effective use of rubrics to evaluate college student achievement at various levels. Also included are the generic rubrics developed by faculty teams for fifteen liberal learning outcomes. These VALUE rubrics can be readily adapted to reflect the missions, cultures, and practices of individual colleges and universities. Read an excerpt and order the publication online. The fifteen VALUE rubrics are also available online for download as PDFs .
Other AAC&U News
AAC&U Board Releases Statement, “The Quality Imperative,” Calling for More Attention to Student Learning
AAC&U’s board of directors’ new statement, “The Quality Imperative,” calls for much greater attention to what students actually learn in college and to efforts to raise levels of achievement, even as the nation focuses on increasing college access and completion rates. “It is very clear from our survey of employers that higher education needs to increase not only the numbers of students who graduate, but the levels of learning they obtain in college,” said AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider. The board statement notes that “public policy cannot simply assume that program completion and high-level student achievement on key learning outcomes are one and the same.” The statement urges attention to broadening the educational focus for all students, suggesting that “narrow training—the kind currently offered in far too many degree and certificate programs—will actually limit human talent and opportunity for better jobs in today’s knowledge economy.” The entire statement may be read as a PDF.
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New Book on Interdisciplinary Campus Cultures Copublished by AAC&U
AAC&U is please 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. |
Nine Graduate Students Honored with K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Awards
The K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award is given annually by AAC&U to graduate students who are committed to developing academic and civic responsibility in themselves and others, and who show exemplary promise as future leaders of higher education. The 2010 winners are:
- Netta Avineri, Applied Linguistics, University of California, Los Angeles
- Shauna K. Carlisle, Social Welfare, University of Washington
- Judith Flores Carmona, Sociology of Education, University of Utah
- Elizabeth Hoover, Anthropology, Brown University
- Ilana Kramer, Clinical Psychology, Long Island University Brooklyn Campus
- Jonathan P. Rossing, Rhetoric and Public Culture, Indiana University
- Jentery Sayers, English, University of Washington
- Wendy Wagner, College Student Personnel Administration, University of Maryland
- Holly F. West, Higher and Postsecondary Education, New York University
More information is available in the press release.
AAC&U Board Chair Eduardo Padrón named Floridian of the Year
Florida Trend magazine named AAC&U board chair Eduardo Padrón the Floridian of the year for 2009. Padrón, who is president of Miami Dade College, was the first Hispanic and the first community college leader to serve as chairman of AAC&U’s board of directors. The magazine recognized Padrón for his influence and service to Floridians as president of the nation’s largest college. Read the Florida Trend article here.
AAC&U Invites Submissions to National Gallery of Writing
AAC&U is a partner in the National Gallery of Writing, an online exhibition of writing hosted by the National Council of Teachers of English. The theme of the AAC&U Gallery is “the meaning of liberal education in the twenty-first century.” We invite students, faculty, and staff from our member institutions—and friends of liberal education wherever they may be—to submit work to be displayed in this innovative venue. Anyone may submit one piece of writing for review and possible acceptance. The form or mode of writing is up to the writer. The AAC&U gallery curators will review and respond to each submission. For more information and detailed submission guidelines, visit AAC&U’s gallery. To browse other galleries, visit the National Gallery of Writing homepage.
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Network Meetings
General Education and Assessment: Maintaining Momentum, Achieving New Priorities
February 18-20, 2010
Seattle, Washington
Faculty Roles in High-Impact Practices
March 25-27, 2010
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Summer Institutes
Institute on General Education and Assessment
June 4-9, 2010
University of Vermont
Greater Expectations Institute: Leadership to Make Excellence Inclusive
June 15-19, 2010
Vanderbilt University
Engaging Departments Institute
July 7-11, 2010
University of Pennsylvania
PKAL Summer Leadership Institute for Early Career Faculty
July 17-22, 2010
Baca Campus of Colorado College
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