READY OR NOT
Global Challenges, College Learning, and America’s Promise
January 21-24, 2009
Seattle, Washington
The following sessions can provide strategies, suggestions, and models of innovation for those campuses dealing with the current economic crisis. The list includes only a sample of the more than 125 sessions offered at AAC&U’s Annual Meeting. Please see the Conference Program for a listing of all sessions.
Sessions are grouped by topic:
LEADERSHIP
Opening Plenary
Leadership in an Era of Urgency
Higher learning has never been more central to our nation’s prospects. The new press for innovation and creativity in the economy; the new urgency of our global, civic and sustainability challenges—all make the quality of student accomplishment a topic of intense public and policy concern. But as public debates roil, higher education has been more reactive than proactive on the question of how best to ensure that today’s students are fully prepared for a fast-paced future. As the heads of two major educational associations, Molly Broad and Carol Schneider will call on education leaders to vigorously “take the lead” in shaping educational priorities worthy of a great democracy.
Molly Corbett Broad, President, American Council on Education; Carol Geary Schneider, President, Association of American Colleges and Universities
Leadership Decision Making: Why We Err and What We Can Do About It
With so much at stake for our students and our institutions, leadership decision making in academia can be a risky and uncertain business. Human decision making is cognitively complex enough, involving argument making, heuristic thinking, and dominance structuring. Mix in the culture of the academy, and the opportunities for error multiply exponentially. This session will help participants anticipate and recognize the threats posed by some of the most dangerous sources of human decision making error. The speakers will share easy and workable strategies that groups and individuals can use to protect against or mitigate the hazards.
Peter A. Facione and Noreen C. Facione – researchers, authors, and consultants – both of Measured Reasons LLC
Leadership in Shaping Interdisciplinary STEM Learning Environments
Achieving an effective interdisciplinary (ID) environment for undergraduate STEM learning requires attention to: programmatic implications of an ID curriculum; institutional policies for building a faculty, developing budgets, shaping spaces; and understanding how people learn in such environments. Participants will explore promising practices in establishing introductory ID courses; developing ID programs such as environmental science, health and society; and creating institution-wide ID initiatives. Panelists will discuss lessons learned from the PKAL ID Initiative, funded by the Keck Foundation.
Susan Elrod, Professor of Biological Sciences and Director, Center for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Education, California Polytechnic State University; Michael Kerchner, Associate Professor of Psychology, Washington College; Stephanie Pfirman, Hirschorn Professor and Chair, Department of Environmental Science, Barnard College
This session is sponsored by Project Kaleidoscope
FUNDING AND BUDGETARY ISSUES
Funding Liberal Education in an Era of Uncertainty
Funding patterns within higher education are changing. Endowment policies are under political attack. Public institutions are relying more and more on private donors. Private institutions are finding more and more competition for less readily available private funds. Core institutional functions, including liberal education programs, are becoming less appealing to donors than special projects and construction-based naming opportunities. This session will examine the funding prospects for liberal education from the perspectives of the changing and unscripted universe of federal and private grant-makers, endowment and capital campaign consultants, and institutional grant-writing experts.
Frederick Winter, Senior Director of Advancement and Leadership Development, AAC&U; Carol A. Kolmerten, Professor of English, Hood College; Stephen Ross, Director, Office of Challenge Grants, National Endowment for the Humanities
Starting from Scratch: The Challenges of Developing and Funding a Study Abroad Program
If your institution is beginning to formalize study abroad opportunities, this session is for you. It will address the big picture as well as the nuts and bolts of establishing a study abroad program and one person study abroad office. Learn 12 key challenges Shepherd University encountered setting up its study abroad program, the lessons learned along the way, and future challenges.
Ann W. Henriksson, Study Abroad Director and Coordinator of Reference and Government Documents, and Mark Stern, Vice President for Academic Affairs – both of Shepherd University
Small Budgets, Big Impact: How To Leverage Networks, Partners, And Creativity For Major Project Success
One challenge of civic engagement in the co-curriculum is the merging of cost and outcome: creating meaningful experiences for students and the community with small staffs, on small budgets, while still having significant, purposeful impact. This 20/20 session will share proven strategies for success and community change. Come prepared to generate new ideas together and to share your own techniques for implementing effective projects and co-curricular programs on $2000 or less.
Allyson M. Lowe, Director, Pennsylvania Center for Women, Politics & Public Policy, and Mary Whitney, Program Specialist, Rachel Carson Institute – both of Chatham University
Hands on Collaborative Learning in Large Enrollment Classes: Next Generation Course Redesign
We know that hands-on experiential learning, especially in collaboration with other students, is a superior pedagogy but how can this be provided in increasingly larger introductory classes? The Next Generation Course Redesign™ Project brings together faculty from a variety of disciplines who work within a Community of Practice to completely redesign, without increasing instructional costs, five large enrollment introductory classes each year. This panel presentation will introduce the Next Generation Course Redesign Process™ and will showcase courses that combine large and small group work with online activities to enhance and assess student learning outcomes.
Philip M. Turner, Vice Provost for Learning Enhancement, Kelly McMichael, Associate Director of the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment, and Tracey Gau, Lecturer, Department of English – all of the University of North Texas
ACAD Session:
Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creativity in the Arts and Humanities: Institutional Structures, Cultures, and Funding
As undergraduate research becomes a mainstream pedagogy of intentional, interactive learning, deans are faced with structural and leadership challenges. This session will outline some successful organizational models and some of the ways deans have effectively facilitated the teacher-scholar model across all disciplines. Come prepared to share ideas and strategies.
Greg Young, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, Montana State University and Nancy Hensel, Executive Officer, Council on Undergraduate Research
ACADEMIC MANAGEMENT AND INSTITUTIONAL REFORM
Establishing the Successful President/Provost Collaboration to Support Institutional Transformation
Participants will have a greater understanding of a president-provost collaboration and the elements that they see as critical to sustained institutional transformation. The elements include 1) Reviewing the institutional mission; 2) Creating a collaborative environment; 3) Establishing broad leadership and maintaining momentum; 4) Supporting committed and collaborative faculty; 5) Establishing professional development; 6) Identifying the student role; 7) Including administrative staff; 8) Engaging trustees; 9) Managing resources; 10) Attending to consistent and ongoing leadership.
Richard Guarasci, President, and Devorah Lieberman, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs – both of Wagner College
ACAD Session:
Reorganizing Academic Affairs
Many universities have recently found their traditional academic affairs administrative structures no longer provide effective support for their faculties and programs. Reasons for reorganization include enrollment growth, creation of interdisciplinary programs, divisions of labor between evaluative and developmental roles, and fiscal constraints. Through case studies, this session engages participants in the major issues involved in significant reorganization.
Janet McNew, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Steve Kucera, Interim Dean, College of Natural & Health Sciences both of The University of Tampa; Michael L. Berger, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, Arcadia University; Beth Cunningham, Provost and Dean of the Faculty, and Frank Boyd, Associate Dean of the Faculty, both of Illinois Wesleyan University
The Dean Partnership: A Cross-Disciplinary Academic Leadership Model
This presentation will examine the cross-disciplinary model of the “dean partnership” for an academic division, including a redefinition of traditional, silo-based management, reconceptualization of traditional faculty roles, and institutional response. For more than six years, a management and a marketing professor functioned as the “team leaders” for cross-disciplinary faculty that included not only business areas, but a broad array of traditional liberal arts faculty. Implementation of this leadership model led the faculty to achieve national and international recognition for its academic programs, including nine commendations for innovative achievement from an accrediting organization, redesign and implementation of curricula, closure of programs, development of international partnerships and more.
E. Byron Chew, Monaghan Professor of Management, Birmingham-Southern College; Cecilia McInnis-Bowers, Professor of International Business, Rollins College
Creating a Culture of Academic Affairs / Student Development Partnership
The current landscape of higher education requires a stronger connection between the academic affairs and student development divisions than has existed in the past. This alliance must evolve in more symbiotic ways, creating deliberate linkages between the goals and work of each area. This shift in partnership requires re-thinking the boundaries and operations of academic and student development work. In this session academic and student development administrators will discuss their approach to building effective programs and a renewed successful partnership to meet the demands of education in the 21st century. This session will highlight the essentials for a successful teaming of student development and academic affairs in broad administrative terms – such as leadership, shared vision, communication and mutual respect – and will detail the particular success of a new program, including strategies for creating greater community among faculty and student development staff and the role of new technologies in these efforts.
Susan K. Johnson, Associate Dean, School of Arts & Sciences, University of Richmond; Steve Bisese, Vice President, Student Development, University of Richmond
FACULTY APPOINTMENTS AND STAFFING
Who Will Deliver on America's Promise: The Future Professoriate
The academic workforce has changed; we now need a pragmatic model of "the faculty" -whoever they are - that can preserve what is best about the American academy in a period of global as well as national change. If contingent appointments and disaggregated work are irreversible realities, what new model of the professoriate might reasonably retain essential elements common to other professions? Among these common elements are intellectual knowledge about what it means to be a member of the profession (including, but certainly not limited to, disciplinary expertise); skills that enable success carrying out professional duties (in the case of faculty, in teaching and professional service as well as research); self- awareness of the values and attitudes we most associate with the life and practices of the profession; and work conditions befitting a professional.
William M. Plater, Chancellor's Professor, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis; Judith Gappa, Professor Emerita, Purdue University; Jack Schuster, Professor of Education and Public Policy, Claremont Graduate University
There’s No Dead Wood, Only Kindling: Engaging Emeriti Faculty in Institutional Reform
In addition to representing a growing cadre within higher education, recently retired and soon-to-retire faculty represent an important but untapped resource for campus reform. Although these senior members of the academic community bring unique depths of institutional experience to campus ventures, and they can be key participants in the conversation when reform and innovation are the agenda. This panel session at the AAC&U Annual Meeting will examine the role of senior and emeriti faculty in higher education reform.
Douglas Chalmers, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Executive Director, Society of Senior Scholars, Columbia University; Stanley Ikenberry, Regent Professor and President Emeritus of the University, University of Illinois, and past-president of the American Council on Education (ACE); Roger Martin, Professor of History Emeritus and past-president, Randolph-Macon College; author of Racing Odysseus: A College President Becomes a Freshman Again (University of California Press: 2008); Joseph S. Meisel, Program Officer, Research Universities & Humanistic Scholarship, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
An Approach to the Prediction of Adjunct Costs: Monte Carlo Simulation
Monte Carlo simulation can improve an institution’s understanding of how the complex, dynamic system surrounding determination of adjunct costs actually works. Institutions can gain real advantage in their accuracy of budgetary forecasting. At my institution, adjunct costs have been consistently underestimated for many years and this approach has helped correct that. Accurate budgets are always better than inaccurate ones, even if the accuracy is in a direction that increases the level of institutional challenge.
Donald A McCrimmon, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Cazenovia College
ACAD Session:
Intentional Leadership for Interdisciplinary Learning: One College’s Joint Faculty Appointment Initiative
Three deans from a large public research university (RU/VH) will discuss the steps taken to foster interdisciplinary learning, research, and teaching. Presenters will outline a dean’s office initiative to ensure the success of several interdisciplinary joint faculty searches intended to contribute to the college’s intellectual and personal diversity.
Pamela R. Matthews, Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts, Charles A. Johnson, Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Cheryl Hanks, Assistant Dean, College of Liberal Arts; all of Texas A&M University
How Do You Get There from Here? Models for Implementing Integrative Learning and Collaborative Teaching
At Grinnell and Oberlin Colleges, two selective liberal arts colleges, the growing emphasis on next generation integrative learning has led to a renewed interest in collaborative teaching as a way to help ensure that we continue to provide the kind of rigorous inquiry that is at the heart of the best educational experiences. Faculty members and associate deans involved in developing integrative courses will discuss strategies to address pedagogical, philosophical, and staffing issues arising from integrative teaching, and share some lessons learned in the classroom.
Marci Sortor, Associate Dean of the College, Director of Interdisciplinary Studies, and Professor of History, Clark Lindgren, Professor of Chemistry, and Dan Reynolds, Professor of German and Director, Center for the Study of Humanities – all of Grinnell College; Nick Jones, Associate Dean for Curricular Development and Professor of English, and Steven Volk, Professor of History and Director of the Center for Teaching Innovation and Excellence – both of Oberlin College
INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS
ACAD Session:
Models for International Partnerships in Higher Education
This session provides models of successful partnerships with Chinese universities and includes a top administrator from a Chinese university in the discussion. These low profile, financially efficient partnerships have provided Valparaiso University a steady inflow of Chinese students, overseas experiences for students/faculty, new international programs, and a residential scholars program.
Renu Juneja, Associate Provost, Zhimin Lin, Director, China Center, and David Rowland, Dean of Graduate Studies – all of Valparaiso University; President Zhang, Libin, Zhejiang University of Technology
Approaches to the Overseas Experience: Three Different Success Stories
There seems to be widespread agreement that a period of overseas study is an integral part of a liberal education today, but how should that overseas experience be structured? This panel will focus on best practices for the design and administration of overseas programs. Members of the audience will have the opportunity to compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of the different models of overseas program.
Gregory S. Mahler, Academic Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Earlham College; Elizabeth Brewer, Director of International Education, Beloit College; Joseph Brockington, Associate Provost for International Programs, Kalamazoo College; Patricia Lamson, Director of International Programs, Earlham College
From the Ground Up: General Education Reform in Hong Kong
In 2004-2005, the government of SAR of Hong Kong authorized a major reform of its universities – transitioning from a three-year undergraduate degree program focused exclusively on preparation in a focal profession or academic field to a four-year undergraduate degree program, including a substantial component of non-specialized or general education. These concurrent developments have created in Hong Kong a veritable laboratory for the study of the wholesale recreation of general education at both the secondary and postsecondary undergraduate levels. The current session provides an opportunity for four panelists to provide an overview of the challenges and responses of HK universities to four key aspects of current on-going general education developments in this Chinese-British socio-cultural mix.
Martin J. Finkelstein, Professor of Higher Education, Seton Hall University, and Fulbright Senior Specialist, University of Hong Kong; William Lee, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Lingnan University; Ming Pang, Professor of Education, Hong Kong University; Mei Yee Leung, Associate Director of University General Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
The Branding of American Higher Education in the Persian Gulf
Many American Universities are looking for a foothold in the Persian Gulf. What are the attractions of the region? Is it possible to transplant American liberal education? What exactly do the kingdoms of the Persian Gulf expect of higher education? Can an American style education usher in ideals of critical thinking, transparency and
accountability
in monarchical societies? Can the proverbial "clash of civilizations" be diffused through setting up educational shop in the Gulf?
Poonam Arora, Professor and Associate Dean, Zayed University
Global Engagement through Undergraduate Research
Our program partners with international universities in Chile and Singapore to focus undergraduates on both research and global responsibility. Our students work with students on two other continents on common and complex issues of global significance including urbanization with its attendant problems, global health, and global migration. While past topics such as these have focused on social science topics, the model can easily lend itself to the study in the sciences or the humanities.
Paul B. Duff, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies; Professor of Religion, and Elizabeth Chacko, Associate Professor of Geography – both of George Washington University
Global Learning and Civic Engagement: The Sichuan Earthquake and Liberal Learning Outcomes
Widener University, a nationally recognized leader in civic engagement, uses its liberal arts foundations to promote a metropolitan mission that develops global citizens of character. Recent collaborations with four institutions in China have dramatically changed the ways we promote our metropolitan mission, particularly in the case of the partnership between Widener and Chongqing Technology and Business University. Our faculty and students were nearby when the Sichuan earthquake struck, giving us unparalleled opportunities to expand the collaboration and learning outcomes our students were expected to achieve. This presentation will offer an example of shared institutional commitments (the home institution and the foreign institution) where student and faculty exchanges have enhanced our liberal learning objectives and clarified our mission.
Jo Allen, Senior Vice President and Provost and Professor of English, and Paula Silver, Associate Dean of Social Work Education – both of Widener University
The China Challenge and American Higher Education
This dialog and discussion session will focus on how to increase awareness of China in American higher education so that our students will be able to face future challenges raised by China and its fast-growing economy. It will discuss the pros and cons of three institutions’ participation in the Sino-American 1-2-1 program sponsored by AACSU. The session hopes to inspire an engaged learning of global affairs through the promotion of the Chinese student and faculty exchanges and curriculum development on Chinese studies. Through similar programs of global connection, American higher education will be able to stay on the forefront of leadership education in the 21st century.
Li Li, Professor of History, and Marc Glasser, Dean of Graduate School – both of Salem State College; Shu-Chuan Cheng, Chinese Programs Coordinator, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire; Madelyn Ross, Director of China Initiatives, George Mason University
GLOBALIZING THE CURRICULUM
Building a Comprehensive Response to the Challenges of Globalization
This panel highlights the efforts of four institutions in the Consortium for Innovative Environments in Learning to operationalize what it means to be socially responsible members of a global society. Approaches include fresh conceptualizations of global education, sequenced field and study abroad experiences, thematic learning, and assessment of learning outcomes. As intentionally innovative institutions, these colleges have undertaken the challenge of getting beyond piecemeal offerings to make global education a cornerstone of academic work.
Edwin Clausen, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College, Daemen College; Kebokile Dengu-Zvobgo, Director of International Exchanges and Assistant Professor in Gender and Feminist Studies, and Tessa Hicks, Interim Director, Center for California Cultural and Social Issues and Visiting Lecturer, Urban Studies – both of Pitzer College; Roger Gilman, Dean, Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies; Jack Herring, Dean of the Resident Degree Program, Prescott College
This session is sponsored by the Consortium for Innovative Environments in Learning (CIEL)
Technology for Globalization and Education
Although technology, the engine that is driving processes of globalization, would seem to offer higher education solutions for preparing students to be citizens of the world, adoption of technology at liberal arts institutions has been uneven. This session looks at uses of technology in liberal arts education to provide students with a more international perspective of the world and uses these cases to examine the challenges and rewards of technology use in this area.
Rebecca Davis, Associate Director, NITLE Programs, National Institute for Technology & Liberal Education; Michael Toler, Chief Program Officer, National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education; Michel Rocchi, Professor, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, University of Puget Sound
Globalizing The Curriculum Through Faculty Travel-Study Seminars
Our presentation focuses on concrete suggestions for planning, implementing, and assessing international faculty travel seminars. We share our experiences in achieving the greatest impact on faculty development and student learning. Since 1992, St. Lawrence University has benefited from a series of faculty and curriculum grants for expanding the international, intercultural, and global dimensions of teaching and learning. The College of Wooster has launched a similar program, as part of an initiative to globalize our curriculum.
Shila Garg, Dean of the Faculty, Henry Kreuzman, Associate Professor of Philosophy, and Shirley Huston-Findley, Associate Professor of Theatre – all of The College of Wooster; Eve Stoddard, Professor of English & Chair of the Global Studies, and Erin McCarthy, Associate Professor of Philosophy – both of St. Lawrence University
There and Back Again
What if your president gave you six grand and said, go to the Middle East? That's what happened at Champlain College this year, as the Faculty Internationalization Initiative got underway. Designed to produced globalized faculty energized to design third-year general education classes, the Initiative has implications far beyond its intended goal. This presentation examines how such a program can work, and the challenges in making it successful.
Robert R Mayer, Assistant Professor and Core Development Team, Core Division, Champlain College
STRATEGIES FOR STATE SYSTEMS AND HIGH SCHOOLS
Give Students a Compass: States, Systems, and New Strategies for General Education in Public Institutions
In its new project, “Give Students a Compass,” AAC&U is working with three state systems to re-map educational aims, educational practices, and assessment strategies for general education in public higher education. Participating systems will infuse general education with practices that raise the levels of performance and success of all students, especially those who remain underserved. Compass faculty and staff leaders will describe the project and consider its potential to act as a catalyst to generate change that will influence all of higher education.
Susan Albertine, Senior Director, LEAP States Initiative, AAC&U; Elisabeth Zinser, Special Assistant to the Chancellor, Oregon University System; Ken O'Donnell, Associate Dean, Academic Program Planning, California State University Office of the Chancellor; Rebecca Karoff, Senior Academic Planner, Office of Academic Affairs, University of Wisconsin System
“Give Students a Compass” is part of AAC&U’s Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) Campaign
Getting High School Students Ready: Implications of New Directions in College Learning
AAC&U's Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) initiative identifies the need to provide all students with more opportunities for engaged, hands-on, and integrative learning. The LEAP initiative also argues that we must provide a “compass” to help students more effectively chart their way through both high school and college and ensure that they are focused on achieving essential learning outcomes.
How should high schools prepare students to be truly ready for this kind of learning? This session will ask teachers and educational leaders who are deeply involved in envisioning and implementing global education to describe new directions in independent high schools, as well as the obstacles that still stand in the way of enacting the LEAP vision for all students.
Peter Merrill, Head, Division of World Languages, Phillips Academy; Paul Miller, Director of Global Initiatives at National Association of Independent Schools; Clayton W. Lewis, Head of School, Washington International School; Bernie Noe, Head of School, and Anne Stavney, Assistant Head of School – both of Lakeside School; Debra Humphreys, Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs, AAC&U
An Integrated Model for Competencies in Key P-20 Transitions
Missouri’s experiment with defining competencies for access to and exit from beginning collegiate general education courses in seven key disciplines demonstrates the need for a major paradigm shift and highlights collective responsibility across educational levels and sectors. A systemic focus on key points of transition has also emphasizes assessment, transfer, dual credit, and general education policy review and development. A long-term commitment for intentional learning has been set in motion.
Robert B. Stein, Commissioner for Higher Education, State of Missouri, and Hillary Fuhrman, Research Associate, Academic Affairs – both of the Missouri Department of Higher Education
Closing the Achievement Gap: A System Approach
Like most states, Maryland has a significant gap in college participation and success rates between underrepresented minority and low-income students and the student population at large. This presentation will focus on the methods and strategies developed by a public university system to collect data, set benchmarks, and develop strategies to cut the achievement gap in half by 2015.
Nancy S. Shapiro, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, University of Maryland College Park; John Wolfe, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Dewayne Morgan, Graduate Reserach Assistant, and Danielle Susskind, Program Specialist – all of the University System of Maryland
HIGHER EDUCATION AND BUSINESS
Liberal Learning and Business Education
The Carnegie Foundation is currently studying how colleges and universities with business majors can ensure that undergraduate business students receive a good liberal-arts education. Business is now the largest undergraduate major, and a disproportionate share of first-generation college students are choosing this major. Presenters will briefly outline the study’s conceptual frame, methods, and preliminary findings, but the session will be devoted to structured inquiries on the views of participants – How they understand liberal education for business students and how they believe that education can be strengthened.
Anne Colby, Senior Scholar, Thomas Ehrlich, Senior Scholar, and William Sullivan – all of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
This session is sponsored by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
Pedagogies of Engagement and Collaborative Initiatives
Academic and corporate communities agree on the urgent need for contemporary, research-based pedagogies of engagement in STEM fields. Participants will learn how leaders from academic departments and institutions have collaborated with leaders from the corporate and business community in regional networks to ensure that graduates meet the expectations of prospective employers and the public. Such graduates must demonstrate higher-order thinking skills and the ability to solve problems within diverse, multidisciplinary teams. Collaborating partners within PKAL’s NSF-funded Pedagogies of Engagement initiative will share their experiences and lead discussion.
Judith Greiman, President, Connecticut Council of Independent Colleges; Jeanne Narum, Director, Project Kaleidoscope; James Swartz, Dack Professor of Chemistry, Grinnell College, and Project Kaleidoscope Pedagogies of Engagement Project Coordinator
This session is sponsored by Project Kaleidoscope
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