AAC&U Annual Meeting
January 25-28, 2012
Washington, DC / Grand Hyatt Hotel

SHARED FUTURES / DIFFICULT CHOICES
Reclaiming a Democratic Vision for College Learning,
Global Engagement, and Success

HIGHLIGHTED SESSIONS

Front and Center: Moving Civic Learning from the Sidelines
Immediately following the Opening Plenary, participants are invited to continue to share strategies that advance civic learning and democratic engagement. What are the next practical steps required if higher education is to take the lead in local and national efforts to make democratic engagement a centerpiece of college learning? A distinguished panel of national leaders will frame the discussion.
Eduardo Ochoa, Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education, US Department of Education; Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, Director of Cultural Conversations at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies; Lewis M. Duncan, President, Rollins College; Anthony S. Tricoli, President, Georgia Perimeter College

Life after College: 
Findings from the Academically Adrift Follow-Up Study
Students often spend a limited number of hours studying and show small (or no) gains on a measure of critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing during college.  How are these graduates faring two years after degree completion?   We consider a range of transitions, from enrollment in graduate school, to unemployment, living arrangements, and engagement with current events.  While college graduates overall are facing difficult transitions, highly academically engaged undergraduates who demonstrated learning gains during college report more positive outcomes.
Richard Arum, Professor of Sociology and Education, New York University; and Josipa Roksa, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Virginia—co-authors of Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses (University of Chicago Press, 2011)

Empowering Students: The Democracy Commitment and Community Colleges
The Democracy Commitment aims to increase the civic skills and the civic capacity of community college students to do the work of democracy, by creating a space for community colleges to share best practices across campus and district boundaries. Professional development, a "civic inventory," curricular and extra-curricular programming, community partnerships, and regional and national meetings are strategies being employed to address community needs by educating students for lives of engaged citizenship. Leaders of the initiative will share what is working at their colleges, and engage participants in discussing the challenges of education for democracy.
Bernie Ronan, Associate Vice Chancellor, and Alberto Olivas, Director, Center for Civic Participation—both of Maricopa County Community College District Office; Brian Murphy, President, and Rowena Tomaneng, Associate Vice President of Instruction—both of DeAnza College

We’re Losing Our Minds:
Rethinking American Higher Education
America is being held back by the quality and quantity of learning in college.  Questions of cost, efficiency, completion, and access, important as they are, are relevant only if students learn.  Many college graduates cannot think critically, write effectively, solve problems, understand complex issues, or meet employers’ expectations—and the need for systemic change—not just one college or a few exemplary programs—is pressing.   The authors argue that solutions are within reach, but that nothing short of a national discussion, involving all stakeholders, will generate enough energy and influence to restore learning as the first and highest priority in our colleges and institutions. 
Richard P. Keeling, Principal and Senior Executive Consultant, and Richard H. Hersh, Senior Consultant—both of Keeling & Associates and co-authors, We’re Losing Our Minds: Rethinking American Higher Education (forthcoming January 2012, Palgrave Macmillan)

Building a Diverse Leadership to Guide 21st Century Democratic Visions and Institutions
This session will explore the disparity between men and women students in visible leadership positions on college and university campuses and the implications of this absence of diversity at the top for building the democratic visions and values needed in today’s world.  A recent study undertaken at Princeton University shows that women are excelling academically in the classroom, yet they are less likely to obtain organizational roles with high visibility and power, a trend echoed across sectors today where women’s leadership hovers between 14% and 17%. ­­ Academic and corporate leaders will address this reality, probe its causes, and identify initiatives being taken across the nation to encourage women’s leadership on campuses and in corporations.
Linda Basch, President, National Council for Research on Women Network; Nan Keohane, former President, Duke University and Wellesley College and Visiting Professor, Princeton University; Beverly Daniel Tatum, President, Spelman College; Melinda Wolfe, Head of Professional Development, Bloomberg LP; and Annalisa Jenkins, Executive Vice President, Merck Serono

Presentation of Ernest L. Boyer Award

All in a Life’s Work:
Improving Institutional and Student Success
Renowned scholars and practitioners Betsy Barefoot and John Gardner are the recipients of the 2012 New American Colleges & Universities Ernest L. Boyer Award. Following the presentation of the award, they will reflect on their efforts to create environments that effectively promote student success. Founders of the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education, they have worked with colleges and universities throughout the world to improve student learning and retention. Currently, the Institute’s work focuses on implementing a previously non-existent set of aspirational standards for the first year and the transfer student experience. These standards are known as “Foundational Dimensions”® in a process called Foundations of Excellence® in the First College Year or Foundations of Excellence® – Transfer Focus.
John N. Gardner, President, and Betsy O. Barefoot, Vice President—both of the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education
This session is sponsored by The New American Colleges and Universities

The Innovative University:
Changing the DNA of Higher Education from the Inside Out

The Innovative University illustrates how higher education can respond to the forces of disruptive innovation, and offers a nuanced and hopeful analysis of where the traditional university and its traditions have come from and how it needs to change for the future. Through an examination of Harvard and BYU-Idaho as well as other stories of innovation in higher education, the book deciphers how universities can find innovative, less costly ways of performing their uniquely valuable functions. Dr. Eyring will discuss how the traditional university survives by breaking with tradition, but thrives by building on what it's done best.
Henry Eyring, Advancement Vice President, BYU-Idaho, and co-author (with Clayton M. Christensen) of The Innovative University: Changing the DNA of Higher Education from the Inside Out (Jossey-Bass, 2011)

Reinforcing the Equity Imperative:
Policies and Practices for Full Participation in a Global and Interconnected Society
The strength of our economy and civic society depends on the capacity—and willingness—of our postsecondary education system to support first-generation, low income, and underrepresented minority students to and through college completion and into the workforce.  In light of changing student demographics, institutions of higher education would be wise to approach the current education landscape as an opportunity to ensure that students, regardless of race/ethnicity or socioeconomic status, have access to high-quality learning experiences needed to graduate, armed with the knowledge and skills to succeed in a global and interconnected society.  Panelists will provide insights and ideas on translating an equity-minded approach to postsecondary education policy into promising institutional practices that improve student learning outcomes, particularly for first generation, low-income and underrepresented minority students.
Moderator: Tia Brown McNair, Senior Director for Student Success, AAC&U
Speakers: Estela Mara Bensimon, Professor of Higher Education and Co-Director, Center for Urban Education, University of Southern California; Michelle Asha Cooper, President, Institute for Higher Education Policy; Robert T. Teranishi, Associate Professor of Higher Education, New York University and Principal Investigator, The National Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islander Research in Education

Attending to Students' Inner Lives:
A Call to Higher Education
Recent research on college students underscores the importance of students'  “inner lives”—their values, beliefs, and sense of meaning and purpose.  The Astins will discuss why it is important for colleges and universities to begin focusing greater attention on this aspect of the students’ lives. Such a reorientation of priorities will help create a new generation who are more caring, more globally aware, and more committed to social justice than previous generations, while also strengthening students' capacity to respond to the many stresses and tensions of our rapidly changing technological society.
Helen S. Astin, Professor Emerita of Higher Education and Senior Scholar, and Alexander W. Astin, Allan M. Cartter Professor Emeritus of Higher Education and Founding Director—both of the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California Los Angeles

Contingency and the Common Good:
Setting the Stage for Democratic Reform of Academic Employment Practices
This session will situate the model of contingent academic employment in the context of national political and socioeconomic trends and concern for the quality, vitality, and public standing of undergraduate liberal education. Examples of successful reforms will be presented, and the audience will be invited to consider whether and how these and other ongoing efforts to reform the contingent academic hiring model support democratic values, strengthen the teaching profession, and enhance undergraduate learning.Audience members will also be invited to join the discussion by proposing additional actions and strategies to strengthen the contingent academic employment reform movement and to ensure the vitality and integrity of higher education for the common good.
Adrianna Kezar, Associate Professor for Higher Education, University of Southern California; Maria Maisto, President of the Board, New Faculty Majority, and Adjunct Faculty, Cuyahoga Community College
This session is sponsored by the New Faculty Majority Foundation (NFM) and is scheduled in conjunction with NFM’s National Summit on January 28 

Cultivating Transformative Leadership for Institutional Citizenship
Entrenched and structural inequality is an urgent and sticky problem affecting the health of our democracy and requiring institutional and grass roots leadership equal to the task of mobilizing and sustaining broad-scale change.  This transformative leadership must be equipped to change the hard wiring that preserves embedded inequality, address multi-dimensional problems that cut across institutional boundaries, mobilize networks, and build collective will across diverse stakeholders.  This session will share the results of collaborative research identifying frameworks and strategies for higher education to cultivate transformative leadership equipped to advance full participation and public problem solving—a dual agenda we call institutional citizenship.  
Susan Sturm, George M. Jaffin Professor of Law and Social Responsibility and Director of Center for Institutional and Social Change, Columbia University; Nancy Cantor, Chancellor and President of Syracuse University; Shirley Collado, Dean of the College and Chief Diversity Officer, Middlebury College; and George Sanchez, Vice Dean for Diversity and Strategic Initiatives, University of Southern California 

Sustaining Comprehensive Internationalization
Sustaining interest in a more global view of education light of many current, competing challenges is not be an easy task, requiring involvement of faculty, deans and provosts along side of international education professionals. This session will highlight the competing forces that threaten internationalization, and describe an approach to comprehensive internationalization, including the steps “from concept to action,” of particular value to those wishing to be on the leading edge of internationalization on their campuses.
John Hudzik, Former Vice President for Global Engagement and Strategic Projects, Michigan State University; Alan Ruby, Education Policy Adviser, University of Pennsylvania
Moderator:  Dorothea J. Antonio, Director, Internationalization Services, NAFSA: Association of International Educators
This session is presented by NAFSA: Association of International Educators

A Series of Sessions from the Lumina Foundation for Education

New Frontiers for Higher Education Quality Assurance:
Prioritizing Learning and Demonstrated Achievement in the US and Europe

Sessions in this special track—sponsored by the Lumina Foundation and the European Centre for Strategic Management of University—will feature discussion of new frontiers in assessing and assuring the quality of student learning in higher education. Sessions will include a discussion of the new Lumina Foundation Degree Qualifications Profile, as well as other approaches to assessment, accreditation, and quality monitoring in Europe, and will provide concrete examples of how institutions can improve student learning while enabling student mobility and increasing retention and completion rates.