| Featured News
President David Oxtoby from Pomona College Elected Chair of AAC&U Board; Seven New Directors Named
At the 2010 Annual Meeting, President David Oxtoby assumed the chair of AAC&U’s board of directors, taking over from Miami Dade College President Eduardo Padrón. New directors also named include: Sean Decatur, dean of arts and sciences, Oberlin College; Zelema Harris, chancellor, St. Louis Community College; David Hodge, president, Miami University; Sylvia Manning, president, Higher Learning Commission; Lester Monts, senior vice provost, University of Michigan; Kenneth Ruscio, president, Washington and Lee University; and Sanford Ungar, president, Goucher College. See the press release for more information and the full list of AAC&U’s board of directors.
Meetings and Institutes
AAC&U Meeting in Philadelphia to Address Faculty Roles in High-Impact Practices
From teaching integrative capstone courses to running offices of community engagement to leading national networks devoted to undergraduate research—faculty are at the forefront of developing, improving, and expanding the reach of many high-impact educational practices. What can others learn from their efforts and what support and development do faculty need to expand and improve these practices? This is the question that will be considered at Faculty Roles in High-Impact Practices, March 25-27, 2010, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Highlights will include a keynote speech by Nancy Cantor, chancellor and president of Syracuse University; a lunchtime plenary on academic excellence, inclusion, and student achievement; and a closing plenary, "How Teachers Need To Deal with the Seen, the Unseen, the Improbable, and the Nearly Imponderable” by Marshall Gregory of Butler University. For more information and to register, visit the meeting Web page.
Proposals Due March 15 for Diversity, Learning, and Inclusive Excellence Meeting
Submit proposals by March 15 for conference sessions at AAC&U’s October 2010 Network for Academic Renewal meeting, Facing the Divides: Diversity, Learning, and Pathways to Inclusive Excellence. The meeting will be held October 21-23, 2010, in Houston, Texas, and will focus on the pragmatic ways in which college and university leaders are fostering inclusive learning environments. More information and the complete Call for Proposals is available online.
Apply for AAC&U Summer Institutes—Deadlines Approaching
Apply to attend one or more of AAC&U’s 2010 summer institutes—Greater Expectations: Leadership to Make Excellence Inclusive; Engaging Departments; and the PKAL Summer Faculty STEM Leadership Institute. Applications are due March 12 for Greater Expectations and PKAL and March 19 for Engaging Departments. 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 Engaging Departments institute will help campus faculty and department chairs advance integration and engaged learning in and across disciplines, and to assess student learning outcomes. The PKAL institute is for early-career STEM faculty to work on pedagogical approaches for STEM classes, including case studies, role-playing, field trips, and collaborative problem solving. More information about each institute and application guidelines are available on the Summer Institutes Web page.
AAC&U Invites Proposals for Conference on Undergraduate Research
Proposals are now being accepted for Creativity, Inquiry, and Discovery: Undergraduate Research In and Across the Disciplines, a Network for Academic Renewal meeting to be held November 11-13, 2010, in Durham, North Carolina. This conference will showcase promising models of undergraduate research, and will also focus on aligning undergraduate research with broader student learning goals; integrating research preparation and practice into departmental curricula, courses, and capstone requirements; assessing students’ undergraduate research to see if they have achieved essential learning outcomes; and more. See the call for proposals online—proposals are due April 8.
Resources and Podcasts from AAC&U’s 2010 Annual Meeting Now Available
AAC&U has posted PDFs of many PowerPoint presentations and handouts from the 2010 Annual Meeting, as well as links to additional information about projects, programs, and publications discussed. We also invite you to visit AAC&U’s podcast page, where you can listen to or download presentations that you might have missed or would like to hear again. Two of AAC&U’s newest publications were featured at the Annual Meeting—Developing a Moral Compass: What Is the Campus Climate for Ethics and Academic Integrity? and Assessing Outcomes and Improving Achievement: Tips and Tools for Using Rubrics. Information about Julie Thompson Klein’s new book, Creating Interdisciplinary Campus Cultures: A Model for Strength and Sustainability, copublished with AAC&U, is available from Jossey- Bass
AAC&U Cosponsors “Higher Education and the Greater Good: Meeting the Challenges of the 21st Century”
AAC&U is pleased to be an Academic Partner for the New England Regional Campus Compact Conference, “Higher Education and the Greater Good: Meeting the Challenges of the 21st Century,” to be held April 13-14 at the University of Vermont. Participants will discuss questions such as: How can higher education best prepare students to meet the complex challenges of the twenty-first century? What strategies and innovations are pushing educational and institutional boundaries and helping shape higher education institutions of the future? Also offered are four preconference institutes on April 13: Institutional Assessment of Student Engagement and Success; Preparing Public Problem Solvers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics); Think Tank –Pushing the Boundaries of Higher Education; and Campus-Community Partnerships for Higher Education Access & Success –Listening to the Voices of All Stakeholders. More information is available online.
Nominations, Applications Invited for Remaining Openings in 2010 Wye Faculty and Deans' Seminars
AAC&U and the Aspen Institute invite nominations and applications for two Wye Seminars on "Citizenship in the American and Global Polity" to be held in summer 2010. The Wye Deans' Seminar, to be held June 13-17, is offered to college and university provosts, deans, and chief academic officers and will focus on what our students need to know, and what we need to teach, in a diverse, challenging, global world. The Wye Faculty Seminar, to be held July 17-23, 2010, will assist professors of every discipline and from a wide range of colleges and universities in relating their teaching to broad issues of citizenship and civil society. Both seminars address a central need of deans and faculty members: to exchange ideas with peers from other disciplines and other institutions committed to liberal education while probing ideas and values that underlie a liberal education. The Wye Seminars combine vigorous intellectual exchange with time to read, reflect, exercise, and socialize on the beautiful Aspen Wye River campus in Queenstown, Maryland. More information and application materials are available from the Aspen Institute online or by calling 410-820-5374. Only three places remain in each seminar; applications are due March 10.
LEAP News
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LEAP Leadership Groups Convene for Strategic Planning Sessions at LEAP’s Five-Year Mark |
Approximately forty-five members of the LEAP Presidents’ Trust met in January to talk about their mission to take an active role in promoting the LEAP vision for liberal education among their campus and external communities. The Presidents’ Trust members discussed four key priority areas: Making the Economic Case for Liberal Education; Framing and Enacting the Civic Case for Liberal Education; Supporting First-Generation Families and New Americans in the Journey toward Liberal Education; and Putting Evidence to Educational Use. Each trust member currently is making a commitment to at least one public leadership initiative in 2010 that will build public and/or campus understanding of liberal education during the year ahead. In March, members of the LEAP National Leadership Council will convene to discuss their agenda and priorities for the next phase of LEAP. The role of the National Leadership Council is to expand the LEAP conversation into business, policy, public, and other non-academic contexts.
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State University Systems Redesign General Education, Focus on Inclusive Excellence |
AAC&U’s LEAP in the States Initiative got a boost from state higher education systems thinkers attending AAC&U’s recent General Education and Assessment conference in Seattle. A session organized by AAC&U’s Give Students a Compass and Making Excellence Inclusive projects showcased the work of the California State University System, the Oregon University System, and the University of Wisconsin System in redesigning general education with a focus on underserved students’ success. Another session, organized by the North Dakota University System, attracted faculty and state system academic leaders from more than a dozen states. Participants also discussed the social and moral values and the practical and pragmatic aims of collaboration for systemic change. AAC&U’s LEAP States Initiative, Compass project, and Making Excellence Inclusive initiative provide advanced advice and models to guide state systems as they improve students’ achievement of essential learning outcomes.
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Get More Involved with AAC&U—Join the LEAP Campus Action Network |
AAC&U provides opportunities to connect with other institutions committed to the LEAP vision and goals through the LEAP Campus Action Network (CAN). CAN is a network of colleges, universities, and organizations that are proactively fostering liberal education outcomes for all students. Individuals from CAN partner institutions receive free LEAP publications, attend free workshops and forums, and can showcase their promising practices at AAC&U meetings and conferences. Additionally, CAN partner institutions receive a 25 percent introductory discount on AAC&U Associates program enrollments. CAN membership is free and open only to AAC&U member institutions. Please visit the CAN Web site to learn more.
Project Highlights
Apply to Participate in Electronic Portfolio Research Cohort
AAC&U member institutions working on electronic portfolio assessment are invited to apply to participate in the sixth cohort of the Inter/National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research. Founded in 2003, the Coalition is composed of forty-eight institutional members from five countries who conduct three-year research projects on the impact of e-portfolios on learning on their campuses. Results of some of the early cohorts of the coalition are collected in Electronic Portfolios 2.0: Emergent Research on Implementation and Impact, published by Stylus last year. This sixth cohort will focus on assessment and developing common processes for reading and rating portfolios through collaborative close reading and rubric development. We are particularly interested in the assessment of the distinctive capacities demonstrated in e-portfolios and the role that the digital medium can play in accreditation. Feedback from accreditation agencies will be sought throughout the research process. For more details, see the Coalition Web site. For additional information about AAC&U own work on assessment using rubrics, visit its VALUE project Web page.
Other AAC&U News
AAC&U Invites Nominations for Board of Directors
Nominations for the AAC&U Board of Directors for terms beginning in 2011 are now being accepted. Any individual from an AAC&U member campus is eligible to serve on the AAC&U Board of Directors. The current board members are listed online. To nominate an individual, please send a letter to Bethany Zecher Sutton, secretary to the board, 1818 R Street NW, Washington, DC 20009, or send an e-mail to sutton@aacu.org..
Nominations for Ness Book Award Now Being Accepted
AAC&U invites nominations for the 2011 Frederic W. Ness Book Award. This award is given annually to recognize a book that contributes to the understanding and improvement of liberal education. The award, which includes a prize of $2,000, is a mark of distinction for both authors and publishers and is presented at AAC&U's annual meeting. For information on eligibility, please visit AAC&U's Ness Book Award page. Nominations are due by May 1, 2010.
AAC&U Announces Support for What’s Your Issue? – Film Your Issue Competition for Young Adult Filmmakers
AAC&U invites adults ages fourteen to twenty-four to participate in the What’s Your Issue? – Film Your Issue competition. This competition was publicly announced in January, with wide-ranging support from YouTube, Best Buy, the NAACP, Apple, the American Red Cross, Sony Pictures, and others. Contestants will submit a three-minute video presenting an innovative solution-project idea in one of nine categories: environment, education, health/healthcare, poverty, public service, national security and defense, the economic recessions, and human and equal rights. The deadline for submissions is April 18, 2010. Winners will be selected by both a VIP jury and public online via YouTube. Learn more about the competition online, or contact What’s Your Issue – Film Your Issue president HealthCliff Rothman at
heathcliff@whatsyourissue.tv.
“By Deans, For Deans” Handbook Now Available
The American Conference of Academic Deans (ACAD) announces The Resource Handbook for Academic Deans is now available for online purchase. This revised edition (2008, 2nd Edition) is written “by Deans, for Deans” and is an excellent resource on any bookshelf. Chapters include information on becoming a Dean and personnel issues as well as budget and finance—a wide array of information on issues affecting academic administrators in the field whether you are new to “deaning” or have been at it for awhile. Please visit the “new and improved” ACAD Web site at www.acad-edu.org for easy online ordering.
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Network Meetings
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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