Educating for Personal and Social Responsibility:
Deepening Student and Campus Commitments

October 1-3, 2009
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Call for Proposals

The deadline for submitting proposals has passed. Contact Siah Annand at Annand@aacu.org for additional information.

• Conference Themes
• Session Formats
• New!  Become a LEAP Featured Session
• Writing a Strong Proposal
• How to Submit a Proposal
• Final Reminders

About the Conference

As we prepare students for a world of differing and sometimes conflicting values, whether in the workplace, their own communities, and in the larger global landscape, what capacities and commitments do they need to develop to succeed in these changing environments? What experiences will give students the knowledge, values, skills, and resolve to lead lives of personal integrity, moral and ethical discernment, and responsible action? How can colleges and universities move beyond discrete activities and scale up to meaningfully engage all students in developing these capacities over time? And how can colleges and universities, as institutions, act as honorable and responsible agents in their communities?

In response to a national call to action, colleges and universities across the country have confirmed that it is time to reclaim and revitalize the academy’s role in fostering personal and social responsibility. AAC&U’s Network for Academic Renewal invites proposals for sessions on research, models, and promising practices that help students — and institutions — build these capacities.

The main conference will feature workshops, research/project discussions, poster demonstrations, and roundtable discussions. Special two-part poster/roundtable discussions have been designed to showcase how campuses are directly engaging students in shaping their learning experiences and will include one or more students as co-presenters (see below for more details).

A pre-conference symposium will invite students to strategize about ways to maximize their role in advancing education for personal and social responsibility. Insights from the student symposium will be highlighted in a special featured session on the first full day of the conference. More information on the student symposium will be available this spring.

Colleges and universities of all types and sizes are invited to submit proposals that address the following themes and related questions. (Note: the questions are suggestive of things to think about when framing proposals; not all have to be answered in every proposal.)

Proposal reviewers strive to select a mix of sessions that reflect a diversity of innovations, institutions, disciplines, programmatic areas, and individuals. Joint submissions from across campuses and campus-community partners are also encouraged.

Conference Themes

THEME 1: The Aims and Outcomes of Personal and Social Responsibility

This track seeks proposals about how campuses can identify and clearly communicate the broad aims and outcomes of personal and social responsibility. Proposals could explore the development of these outcomes on campus, links to institutional mission and purpose, consensus-building and gaining “buy-in” on goals, and topics within personal and social responsibility that are especially resonant with today’s students.

• How have colleges and universities defined personal and social responsibility as part of their overall goals for learning in the undergraduate years?
• What sort of education for personal and social responsibility matters in different majors? What sort of learning and practice related to personal and social responsibility should all students encounter through general education, the co-curriculum, and curricular/co-curricular partnerships?
• What is the relationship between personal and social responsibility?
• How can colleges and universities help students develop a community orientation or world-mindedness through reflection on personal goals, values, and purposes?
• What support do students need to critically examine their own values in the context of new understandings about self, others, and the world?

THEME 2: Curricular and Co-Curricular Designs and Pedagogies

This track seeks proposals that describe curricular and co-curricular practices that help students to develop perspective-taking, responsible community involvement, principled engagement in their coursework and in campus life, and the ability to negotiate complex ethical dilemmas.

• How have campuses used engaged educational practices (e.g., service-learning and civic engagement, global and diversity learning, undergraduate research, honors codes and other integrity programs) to enhance perspective-taking, ethical reasoning, and community engagement? What are campuses doing to scale up such opportunities in order to reach more students?
• What does education for personal and social responsibility “look like” in different majors? In general education? How have campuses begun to “map” multiple curricular and co-curricular opportunities, so that students develop more sophisticated knowledge, skills, and abilities over time?
• What role can partnerships among academic affairs, student affairs, community organizations, and students play in ensuring that learning opportunities are integrated and build on one another in ways that foster students’ cognitive, moral, and affective development? What special role can peers play in students’ education about these issues?
• How can campuses help students to internalize commitments to excellence, integrity, and community, so that their actions are not spurred simply by rules, policies, or course requirements? How can education for personal and social responsibility decrease negative behaviors, from cheating and incivility to binge drinking, social isolation, and hate crimes? What types of opportunities help students to act – to develop motivation, efficacy, and a sense of purpose – within their various communities (academic, campus, local, or beyond)?
• How have faculty and staff helped students to grapple with issues of personal and social responsibility when students move into new settings, such as through service-learning, action research, or internships?
• How have institutions helped students apply the learning associated with moral discernment, ethical reasoning, and perspective-taking to solve “unscripted problems,” particularly those associated with local, national, and global challenges?
• What lessons can be learned from unsuccessful or less-than-successful attempts to educate students for personal and social responsibility? When have campuses been able to “turn around” programs and designs to achieve with greater success?

THEME 3: Teaching Values

This track invites proposals that highlight models of teaching for personal and social responsibility that take into account both the academic freedom and the educational responsibility of the faculty. Proposals should focus on the ways in which faculty and staff are generating robust discussions about values and differing perspectives, as well as the ways in which campuses, through mechanisms such as centers for teaching and learning, are helping this to happen.

• How are faculty members making explicit an exploration of values and ethics within their disciplines and departments? How have faculty introduced the often-contested histories and values that are part of knowledge production?
• What concerns might faculty and student affairs professionals have about introducing discussions about values and perspective-taking? What pedagogical techniques are faculty and staff utilizing to help students examine and evaluate competing sets of values?
• How are faculty and staff dealing with students’ own fears about inculcation or indoctrination? How do students come to see college as a time when values will be tested, sorted through, and re-formed?
• What role does emotion play in educating students for personal and social responsibility? What roles do reflection, deliberation, and dialogue play?
• Can being more explicit about acknowledging higher education’s role in teaching values — and the sense of loss that sometimes accompanies personal and intellectual growth — help reduce some of the resistance that students sometimes exhibit?
• What values has the academy historically embraced — such as inquiry, skepticism, objectivity, and analytical thinking — that might inform or complicate the teaching of personal and social responsibility?
• How can faculty navigate their commitments to academic freedom and disciplinary focus to teach students important skills and capacities beyond course content? Are there examples where faculty or whole campuses have refined pedagogy or improved course designs to better help students explore their own values and the values and perspectives of others?
• How can student development theory clarify why students sometimes display resistance when confronted with new or competing sets of values, evidence, and experiences?

THEME 4: Research and Assessment

This track seeks proposals about the ways in which campuses are assessing and evaluating efforts to educate students for personal and social responsibility. Assessment models and tools might be formative or summative in nature and should include the ways in which faculty and staff are using assessment to inform curricular and co-curricular reform and choices in institutional priorities and practices.

• What kinds of things are faculty and staff already doing in classroom or program assessment that might inform institutional-level change on these issues?
• What is the relationship between student learning and student development with respect to developing personal and social responsibility, and how might faculty and staff better utilize research on both as part of their everyday work?
• What are some tools, such as e-portfolios, that institutions might use to track student progress in these areas over time?
• What evidence exists that educating students for personal and social responsibility will help graduates be effective in making ethical and evidence-based judgments in work and in life; in enhancing institutions such as government, workplaces, and civic organizations; and in building economically and environmentally sustainable and just communities? How have campuses reached out to alumni to ascertain the effects of their efforts to educate for personal and social responsibility?
• Who participates in education for personal and social responsibility? Does evidence indicate that programs are reaching beyond already-interested students, faculty, and staff? What are campuses doing to help ensure that students historically underserved by higher education — first-generation students, low-income students, and underrepresented minority students — are participating in and benefiting from signature programs and practices?
• What roles can institutional-level data and national/standardized assessments (including quantitative and qualitative assessments) play in furthering students’ development of these capacities? What assessments are helping campuses to build capacity to make education for personal and social responsibility central to the educational experience and campus ethos? What “local” assessments related to personal and social responsibility would be useful to conference participants?
• What role can narrative and personal stories play in advancing student learning and enhancing campus cultures?

THEME 5: Institutional Self-reflection

This track invites proposals related to building an overall campus culture of personal and social responsibility. Proposals should address how an institution can build a culture of self-reflection to examine both assets and gaps in current practices, including structures, incentives, and rewards to help faculty and staff make this work part of their everyday roles and responsibilities.

• What is the moral responsibility of higher education to educate all students well and at high levels, including education for personal and social responsibility? How is this responsibility communicated to new faculty, staff, and administrators and how are those responsible for student learning in these areas rewarded?
• How do campuses promote and structure education for personal and social responsibility so that it reaches beyond already-interested students, faculty, and staff? How can the already-interested individuals be better supported in doing this work so that their efforts are not competing against the general norms of the institution?
• What responsibilities do campuses have to become honorable and responsible agents in the world? What does it mean for institutions to be good contributors to larger communities, near and far? To be institutions of integrity and ethical purpose? To take seriously the perspectives of individuals on and off campus, including those whose voices are less frequently heard?
• How can institutions become more intentional about modeling excellence, integrity, commitment to the common good, and openness to differing perspectives? What risks do campuses run by expecting responsible behaviors from students but then modeling seemingly contradictory behaviors? How can students and others on campus be better engaged in the moral and ethical struggles inherent in institutional decision-making?

Session Formats

There are five session formats from which to choose: (1) Hands-On Workshop, (2) Research/Project Dissemination & Discussion, (3) Poster Demonstration, (4) Roundtable Discussion, and (5) Two-Part Poster/Roundtable Discussion. Please select the format that will best facilitate participants’ understanding and potential use of your work. One way to effectively engage participants across the different formats is to have them explore ways to apply your information and resources to their own institutional and professional settings.

Note: The special two-part poster/roundtable discussions are intended to showcase how campuses are directly engaging students in shaping their learning experiences and should include one or more students as co-presenters (see below for more detail).

FORMAT 1: Hands-on Workshop
(90 min.; 2-3 facilitators; room set in round tables)

Workshops provide an opportunity for the facilitators to significantly engage participants in active learning about the session topic. Workshops should begin with a brief framing of the topic and an overview of intended activities and goals for the session. Facilitators should introduce one or more models or strategies employed in their own work and can include data/findings related to the topic, benchmarks for success, common challenges, and practical examples that enhance participants’ learning. Facilitators should specifically take participants through one or more relevant exercises or activities (including in small groups) that will help them to move their own efforts forward upon returning to campus.

All sessions should include discussion of how participants might translate and adapt models and strategies to their institutional and professional settings. If the workshop is better suited to a particular type of institution (e.g., community college, research university) or level of expertise (novice, intermediate, advanced), please make that clear.

Hands-On Workshop proposals should:

1. state the conference theme you have selected
2. state the problem or issue that your workshop addresses
3. indicate how models or strategies that you plan to share have effectively addressed the problem or issue
4. describe the intended activities and outcomes of your session, where the activities highlight how participants will achieve the outcomes
5. describe the aspects of your work that can be applied to one or more sectors of higher education (i.e., large universities, liberal arts colleges, comprehensive institutions, community colleges)
6. describe the level to which your session is geared (novice, intermediate, advanced)
7. include links to relevant Web sites or attachments of materials you will share, if available
8. include time for participants to discuss how your models and strategies might translate to their own campus contexts and roles
   

FORMAT 2: Research/Project Dissemination & Discussion
(75 min.; 2-3 facilitators; room set in round tables)

This session should allow for (a) 15-20 minutes for facilitators to highlight their research findings or promising project, model, or other innovation; (b) 35-40 minutes to work through practical applications of this work (e.g., to other institutions or in scaling up to involve greater numbers of students); and (c) 15-20 minutes for general participant questions-and-answers. Research-focused proposals should state the research hypothesis, the methodology used, and the major findings, and offer concrete examples/steps related to using the findings to affect change. Data, findings, and applications should be presented in ways that are accessible to participants and allow them to engage in a discussion about implications. Project/model/innovation-focused proposals should briefly describe the project, the parties involved (e.g., humanities and science faculty, residence life staff, first-year students, etc.), the impetus for the project, components, challenges encountered, and strategies for implementation.

All sessions should include discussion of how participants might translate and adapt the research or project/model/innovation to their institutional and professional settings. Facilitators are also welcome to solicit feedback that would inform their work. If the dissemination & discussion session is better suited to a particular type of institution (e.g., community college, research university) or level of expertise (novice, intermediate, advanced), please make that clear.

Research-Focused Dissemination & Discussion proposals should:

1. state the conference theme you have selected
2. state the hypothesis/problem your research has addressed
3. describe briefly the methodology and the parameters of the study
4. provide visual means of presenting findings and applications (e.g., powerpoint presentation, handouts)
5. include links to relevant Web sites or attachments of materials you will share, if available
6. include time throughout the session for participants to discuss the implications of the findings and practical applications

Project/Model/Innovation-Focused Dissemination & Discussion proposals should:

1. state the conference theme you have selected
2. describe the project, model, or innovation to be featured
3. highlight the parties involved (e.g., humanities and science faculty, residence life staff, first-year students), the impetus for the project, components, challenges encountered, and strategies for implementation
4. include links to relevant Web sites or attachments of materials you will share, if available
5. include time throughout the session for participants to discuss the implications of the findings and practical applications
   

FORMAT 3: Poster Sessions
(60 min.; 1-2 facilitators; 6’x3’ skirted table; no internet access; electrical outlet and other supports as available, upon request)

Poster sessions lend themselves well to combining visual displays of key information with written materials and small group interaction to create a more individualized learning experience. These sessions provide an opportunity for you to share your work with the full conference audience, and they are a valuable way to initiate conversations with colleagues with similar interests. These sessions can include 3’x 4’ boards to display charts, diagrams, pictures, and/or graphs that depict program components, findings, samples of student work, participant testimony, and so on. You may also wish to present information through technological means or other types of visual displays that can be set-up on the 6’x3’ table provided.

Poster Session proposals should:

1. state the conference theme you have selected
2. state the problem or issue that your display will address
3. indicate how your work has effectively addressed the issue
4. describe the visual data, display, etc. that you will provide
5. indicate how the data or information will be useful to a particular or multiple sectors of higher education
6. include links to relevant Web sites or attachments of materials you will share, if available
7. include students or student perspectives where relevant

NOTE: Our ability to provide technical assistance is limited, but if you have a project for which you need such assistance, we are happy to explore options with you. Poster boards are provided upon request.

FORMAT 4: Roundtable Discussions
(60 min.; 1-2 facilitators; roundtable of 10 during continental breakfast; no audio-visual)

Roundtable discussions are facilitated among colleagues who share an interest in your topic. They provide a valuable opportunity to network and reflect upon ideas, challenges, and possible solutions in an informal setting. Roundtable discussions may take one of the following approaches:

• Topical discussion: The facilitator briefly presents on a topic related to one of the conference themes and uses the roundtable discussion to explore issues of concern to the group and to uncover new ways of thinking about the topic.
• Practice/strategy discussion: The facilitator prefaces the discussion with a brief overview of a particular practice or strategy she/he is using and provides a handout that includes a longer description as well as a bibliography or other resources. She/he can then pose or invite a question to stimulate and focus the conversation so that others can share their own experiences using the particular practice or strategy.

Roundtable Discussion proposals should:

1. state the conference theme you have selected
2. describe the topic or practice/strategy that you will present for discussion and why it is important to address this issue
3. indicate your experience in the topic area or in using the practice/strategy (including relevant theory, goals or purpose of the topic or practice being discussed, benchmarks of success, challenges, and findings, where applicable)
4. indicate the outcomes participants should expect from the discussion and examples of how you will prompt and sustain conversation to achieve those outcomes
5. include links to relevant Web sites or electronic copies of the materials you will share (electronic copies of materials can be provided later)
6. include students or student perspectives where relevant
   

FORMAT 5: Two-part Poster/Roundtable discussion
(Part 1: poster session [see above for logistics]; Part 2: roundtable discussion [see above for logistics])

These special two-part poster/informal roundtable discussions are intended to showcase how campuses are directly engaging students in shaping their learning experiences. In this combined format, students, student affairs professionals, and faculty members are invited to present together a curricular/co-curricular project — a course, student conference, peer education program, service learning project, etc. — related to education for personal and social responsibility and where students play a direct role in shaping content, structures, and activities.

The poster should highlight how the program or project came about, demonstrating how students were engaged in the development process. The poster can also feature the program or project’s components; the activities students undertook; examples of assessments; and testimonies from those involved. Handouts can also be used highlight activities.

In the roundtable, students, student affairs personnel, and faculty are invited to engage participants in discussion about their experiences in developing, implementing, and sustaining the program/project, including the process and designs used to facilitate student learning, challenges encountered, and lessons learned.

Note: These sessions also serve as an opportunity to directly engage students in shaping their learning experiences, and so proposals should include one or more students as co-presenters.

For guidelines on writing these proposals, consult the guidelines for posters and for roundtables, above.

New! Become a LEAP Featured Session in the Conference Program

This designation is intended to spotlight the innovative work of colleges and universities that are members of the LEAP Campus Action Network (CAN).  CAN brings together colleges, universities, and organizations committed to liberal education; helps them to improve their efforts to ensure that all students achieve essential outcomes; and highlights their effective practices.  If you would like your session to receive this designation, please review the eligibility section below and email Siah Annand at annand@aacu.org, letting her know of your interest.  Note:  you should still submit your proposal using the online submission form.

Eligibility 

• Any type of session—hands-on workshop, poster, or roundtable discussion—can be designated as a LEAP Featured Session in the conference program.
• Session presenters must be from CAN member institutions. (To find out if your campus is a member, or to find out about signing up for CAN, click here.) 
• Session proposals should explicitly address: (1) one or more of the LEAP essential learning outcomes (pdf) and (2) one or more of the LEAP principles of excellence (pdf) or high-impact practices (pdf) identified as mechanisms for achieving the essential learning outcomes.
• Preference will be given to sessions that address how the campus practice/strategy engages a significant number of students or can be scaled to engage a significant number of students, particularly those students historically underserved by higher education. 

About LEAP: Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) is AAC&U’s primary vehicle for advancing and communicating about the importance of undergraduate liberal education for all students.  LEAP seeks to engage the public with core questions about what really matters in college, to give students a compass to guide their learning, and to make a set of essential learning outcomes the preferred framework for educational excellence, assessment of learning, and new alignments between school and college.  For more information, click here.

Writing a Strong Proposal

The proposal should consist of a session title, a brief abstract, and a longer session description accompanied by presenter names, titles, and institutional/organizational affiliations. Your proposal should be clear and concise and your session title should accurately reflect your session content. Experts in the field and AAC&U staff will review all proposals. Reviewers will look favorably upon proposals that (1) offer practical models and/or innovative strategies that reflect one of the conference themes, (2) reflect sound theory or research, (3) include findings from evaluation and assessment, (4) identify the intended audience and active learning goals for the session (including what attendees will gain from going to the session), and (5) reflect a diversity of innovations, institutions, disciplines, programmatic areas, and individuals. Joint submissions from across campuses and campus-community partners are also encouraged.

Tips

• Consider how your work might be useful to individuals at different types of institutions and/or those serving different student populations.
• Indicate if your session will: (1) combine the work of more than one institution, (2) illustrate perspectives of different organizational roles (e.g., faculty, department chairs, student affairs personnel, academic advisors, librarians, students), or (3) focus on a specific audience. We particularly welcome student perspectives on the featured models and strategies.
• Include facilitators who bring diverse perspectives and life experiences to the topic or issue your proposal addresses. AAC&U is committed to presenting conferences where sessions and the communities of participants reflect the diversity of our campuses.
• Show how your session will be interactive. AAC&U Network conferences strive to engage participants in discussion and activities during sessions. Please do not plan to read a paper.
• Provide a clear sense of how your session will unfold and be prepared to discuss what worked, what did not, and how you addressed challenges along the way.
• Avoid “show and tell” submissions that have little or no applicability to other institutions.
• Present work that has proven effective and is well beyond the planning stages.

Below is a sample session title and abstract that clearly states the issue to be explored, provides supporting evidence, and discusses what participants should expect from their attendance. Your longer session description should provide greater detail about these aspects of the session.

Searching for Faculty of Color and Sustaining their Presence on Campus
Recent studies have shown that institutional context affects not only searches for faculty of color but also the socialization processes through which these faculty members negotiate their own cultural backgrounds alongside newly forged identities within the academy. In this session, the facilitators will: (a) highlight emerging practices at institutions that successfully recruit and sustain faculty of color; (b) recommend strategies for institutions to increase the presence of faculty of color; and (c) share a set of socialization experiences of linguistic-minority women faculty. Participants will explore implications for creating a “multi-contextual” campus culture that validates the importance of different ways of thinking and learning, and they will share their own institutional experiences and promising strategies related to the recruitment and success of faculty of color.

How to Submit a Proposal

The deadline for submitting proposals has passed. Contact Siah Annand at Annand@aacu.org for additional information.

Acceptance
You will receive notification about the status of your proposal by March 13, 2009.

Registration Fees
All session facilitators at the conference are responsible for the appropriate conference registration fees, travel, and hotel expenses. Please be sure all individuals in your proposal have this information and can be available to present at any time throughout the event. Presentation times range from Thursday, October 1, 2009 beginning at 8:30 p.m. through Saturday, October 3 at 12:00 noon.

Resources for Attendees of Your Session

Conference participants like to have resource materials to help them implement and/or share new ideas when they return to campus. In an effort to conserve natural resources, and increase the potential for active participation in your session, we strongly encourage facilitators to provide us with online resources one month in advance of the conference.

If your proposal pertains to a project, program, course, or other feature for which there is (or will be) descriptive materials available on the Web or electronically, please provide the URL address or e-document with your proposal, (or when they become available before the conference). AAC&U’s Web site will include these links when we post the program. After the conference, all presenters will be asked to provide additional electronic resources to make available to conference participants.

Final Reminders

Please complete all fields including information pertaining to all additional facilitators.

Please include links to supplemental materials, if available.

Please remember that by submitting a proposal, you agree to:

• Register and pay conference fees if the proposal is accepted
• Inform your co-facilitators about the proposal’s status and the need for all facilitators to pay the conference registration fees and be available throughout the event to present your work as scheduled.

Dates to Remember

• Friday, January 30, 2009: Proposals due to AAC&U
• Friday, March 13, 2009: Proposal acceptance notification

LINKS

About the Conference:
  Overview
  Planning Committee
  Academic Partners
  About the CFP
 

Conference Features
  Schedule at a Glance
  Program Highlights
  Full Program (pdf)
  Workshops
  Democracy Forum
  Student Workshop
  Podcasts
 

About Registration
  Information
  Register Online
  Register by Mail (pdf)
  Registrants
 

  Hotel Details