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

Additional campus resources on topics central to the 2012 Annual Meeting

ADVANCING LIBERAL EDUCATION

The Bard Early College Model: Forging Public-Private Partnerships to Democratize Education
Bard High School Early College, Bard College
This model pertains to developing liberal arts early college programs through public-private partnerships. Administrators from Bard College’s three Bard High School Early College (BHSEC) campuses use both theoretical and practical aspects of developing programs that use rigorous curricula based in critical thinking in urban settings where liberal arts can seem an unnecessary luxury. BHSEC remains committed to the liberal arts ideals, for intellectually curious students from all socio-economic backgrounds.

The BASE Advising Initiative: How One Liberal Arts College Has Strengthened Academic Advising to Improve Student Success
Bowdoin Advising Program in Support of Academic Excellence (BASE), Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College has recently implemented a program called Bowdoin Advising Program in Support of Academic Excellence (BASE), which creates a more intentional advising structure for students who may be less well prepared for College.  BASE “boosts” academic advising by giving faculty advisors in-depth training and support and facilitates student success by creating a more directed format for course selection, frequent meetings with advisors, increased student self-reflection, skill-building workshops, and greater levels of communication between students, academic advisors, and academic support staff.

Teaching International Development in the Liberal Arts
Teaching International Development in the Liberal Arts, Associated Colleges of the Midwest
While international development continues to attract interests from students, their understandings of international development theory and practice can be fragmented. Students' first exposure to international development often takes place during study abroad in developing areas/countries. But is this enough? Teaching international development from a liberal arts perspective can only occur through interdisciplinary exchange that should ideally happen within the classroom but also in connection with students' experiences in the field (e.g. internships, research projects, volunteering) and through study abroad programs. One way to support this mission is to establish a foundational network upon which long-term faculty collaboration and interaction can occur. To that end, five faculty members from Beloit College and Colorado College hosted two workshops in January and May of 2011 on the theme of teaching international development in the liberal arts. The impetus behind these workshops was two-fold:

a) to discuss, design and implement strategies towards the interdisciplinary teaching of international development.
b) to link this interdisciplinary teaching more deliberately to students’ study abroad experiences.

Outcomes of these workshops include:  sharing course syllabi, texts, resources and assignments as they relate to international development; hearing students’  experiences working with development NGOs and studying in a developing country and learning how to connect returning/overseas students with their peers preparing to go abroad using new technologies (i.e. in-class Skype meetings, blogs, digital storytelling, etc.). Finally, a number of participating faculty drafted a shared teaching module on “doing development.” Participants from Beloit, Colorado, Knox and Ripon used this module to ask students to consult on an environmental conservation program in a developing country that factored in cultural, economic and political needs.

The Value of Study Abroad: A Case Study of a Small College Model
Study Abroad, Ana Maria College
Central to both a liberal education and an increased global understanding is a study abroad experience. Students at less selective colleges are often challenged by economic conditions and a lack of confidence. Anna Maria College offers a campus based study abroad program that provides a safe and nurturing environment for the students and an affordable option for a semester abroad.

Fostering a “Higher” Impact:  Designing First Year Experiences for Special Student Populations
"Hokie Horizons" and "Zip-Line To Success" First Year Experiences, Virginia Tech
Undecided first year students and transfer students are examples of populations who often face unique challenges at four-year institutions. Unfortunately, most first-year experiences (FYEs) do not address the unique needs of these populations. Virginia Tech has found a way to use the VALUE framework to have a “higher” impact by paying attention to the needs of such special student populations.

ASSESSMENT

Transparency in Learning and Teaching: Empowering Faculty to Enhance Students' Learning Through Collaborative Research
Illinois Initiative on Transparency in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, University of Illinois Urbabna-Champaign
In a two-year pilot study involving approximately 7500 students in seventy-two courses at nine universities in five countries, the Illinois Initiative on Transparency in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education has demonstrated a promising model for addressing two ambitious goals in global higher education: 1) supporting faculty across disciplines, institutions and countries in collaborative research on students’ learning experiences, and 2) enhancing students’ metacognition – their understanding of and their agency in how they learn.

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

Thinking and Acting Locally and Globally: Integrating Community Engagement and Service Learning into Diverse Academic Settings
Washington Semester Program, American University
The Washington Semster Program explores how students can think AND act both globally AND locally, by introducing service learning and civic engagement in both community-based and international relations courses. This program has led hundreds of students in a variety of cross-cultural settings – both in the US and abroad -- that provide the skills and field experiences to integrate learning and action, global issues and local concerns.

Linking Theory and Practice Through Civic Engagement
Chicago Program: Arts, Entrepreneurship, & Urban Studies, The Associated Colleges of the Midwest
The Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) - Chicago Program: Arts, Entrepreneurship, and Urban Studies, has a strong reputation for providing undergraduate students opportunities to put their liberal arts education into action. This experiential program has also developed interesting collaborations with campus faculty that enhances student learning. Chicago Program faculty and campus faculty have collaborated to link theory and practice through civic engagement. This program features a curriculum that joins internships, seminars, independent study, and an integrative core course focused on the various threads of complex urban life. In particular, the program has been especially focused on engaging students and faculty with the assets of Chicago's various neighborhoods rather than with their problems.

Democracy in Collaboration: Student Scholars – Community Mentors
Consortium for Innovative Environments in Learning Institutions: New College at the University of Alabama, Pitzer College, and Prescott College
Strong, collaborative relationships between the academy and the public are crucial to effective democratic problem solving. Three CIEL institutions have designed programs to involve students in addressing contemporary crises, teaching them through collaboration with community partners to imagine more positive, sustainable, and inclusive futures. Strategies employed by these three diverse institutions involve students in community-based partnerships, re-framing the influence of scholarly research in “real world” issues and effective democratic practices.

Facilitating a Multidisciplinary Approach to College-Community Initiatives
Civic Innovations: Port Richmond Partnership, Wagner College
Wagner College has embarked on a complex partnership with an economically distressed neighborhood, known as Civic Innovations: Port Richmond Partnership. One of the collaborations involves Project Hospitality’s Health Heart Campaign. Bridging the expertise of three academic disciplines, this initiative has allowed research and innovation to develop in parallel to one another within one campus. By working on a single project within one neighborhood, faculty and students are able to discuss the complex facets of this community initiative, their role as a citizen and a college partner, and attune their problem solving to this multi-pronged approach.

DIVERSITY AND DEMOCRACY

The ICE Bridge—Bringing Diversity Education and International Education Together
Intercultural Competence and Experience Certificate, Grand Valley State University
The uniqueness of this 5-component certificate curriculum is that it:
1. Builds on the existing two-course U.S. Diversity and International Awareness requirements as part of the university’s General Education program
2. Combines domestic diversity education, with international education—thereby “bridging the gap” that traditionally exists in US universities between International Education units/programs and multi-cultural affairs units/programs
3. Has at its core a robust experiential learning component, in which students intentionally place themselves in a working environment in which their own culture is not dominant; this practicum course involves reflective learning as a cohort, so that participants learn from other students’ cultural immersion experiences while having their own. Many students use a term-long study abroad experience for this practicum, while others complete the practicum in diverse settings on or near the university’s Michigan campuses
4. Features diverse team-teaching instructional pairs in the instruction of the program’s initial course: ICE 100—Introduction to Intercultural Competence & Communication

GLOBAL LEARNING

Liberal Education for Greater Global Understanding and Cooperation: Preparing Students for Today's Peace Corps
Peace Corps Prep Program, The University of Montana
Peace Corps preparation is one of the great, if seldom acknowledged, shared government-university-individual educational experiments of our time. The higher-education community must acknowledge its responsibility for equipping volunteers with the academic foundation they need to succeed. Peace Corps sponsors Masters Internationalist programs at 80+ institutions nationwide. However, most volunteers join with only a bachelor’s degree. In spring 2011, Peace Corps and The University of Montana established the first undergraduate program at a public university. This Peace Corps Prep Program, which provides generalist and specialist options and builds on the existing minor in International Development Studies, could serve as a model for other universities.

A Study Abroad Science Course to Expand Global Understanding
Ghana Study Abroad Program, University of North Carolina at Asheville
In the summer of 2011 students from University of North Carolina Asheville went to Ghana West Africa. As part of a class the students were asked to investigate the role of Science in another culture and to interact with the practitioners of science in that culture. By examining a different context for science the students were asked to reflect on their own culture and to place it in a global context. This course was designed to make connections across disciplines and address the issues of diversity both locally and in the global workplace.

The Better Citizens Series:  Understanding and Improving Intercultural Sensitivity between Underrepresented Minority Students and International Faculty
Better Citizen Series, University of Connecticut
Cultural sensitivity is often discussed in the paradigm of a majority/dominant population and a minority one, but what happens in the classroom when minority groups meet? This project represents a seven-week student initiated interactive seminar that engaged unrepresented minorities with international faculty. 

Exploring Middle Eastern Cities in a Pittsburgh-Doha Videoconferenced Class
Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh), Carnegie Mellon University-Qatar
Hundreds of American universities are now developing overseas programs and partnerships, even branch campuses. These are valuable opportunities to connect undergraduates in different countries, exposing them to global perspectives and cross-cultural interactions rarely available in traditional classrooms. New technologies make these sorts of interactions possible. However, while connecting remote classrooms via videoconferencing technology is increasingly easy, teaching these courses effectively is another matter and involves specific challenges -  from the logistical ones, including managing sometimes unpredictable technology, different time zones, and academic calendars, to other, more complex ones, such as engaging students who are not physically present, promoting meaningful exchange and understanding among students separated by thousands of miles, and reconciling significant cultural differences. Yet this is what happened with an architecture course that successfully brought together students from Carnegie Mellon's Pitsburgh campus with students at Carnegie Mellon's branch campus in Doha, Qatar.

Study e-Broad: How a Partnership between Universities and an NGO Can Foster Socially Conscious Global Education
Global Solidarity Network, Cabrini College, Seattle University, and Villanova University
Study abroad programs to so-called developing countries can be powerful educational experiences, but a variety of factors can work against broad student participation, including cost,  living situation, language, safety concerns, unfamiliarity with non-Western countries, cultures, and other issues. A partnership between universities and Non-Governmental Organizations in developing countries can offer opportunities to educate engaged, socially conscious students. An online "Study e-Broad" program is one outcome of such a partnership. The Global Solidarity Network--formed by universities and an NGO--has proven to be scalable, cost-effective, and mutually beneficial.

Implementing the UN Global Compact in Colleges and Universities
United Nations Global Compact in Higher Education, State University of New York Global Center
Academic institutions act as global enterprises with resulting civic responsibilities. The “Guide to the United Nations Global Compact for Higher Education Institutions,” is a project of an international working group supported by the State University of New York Office of Global Affairs and the UNGC, the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) Academic Working Group.  The working group, led by the State University of New York Office of Global Affairs, includes members from around the globe: Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. They have recently developed an implementation framework for colleges and universities, which parallels what has existed for the corporate sector for a decade. Working group members are now piloting the academic framework, prior to widespread dissemination and adoption.

Global Learning, Human Rights, and Social Media: A Study Abroad Experience at the ICC
International Criminal Court, Central Michigan University
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is a study abroad experience offered by Central Michigan University. “The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an independent, permanent court that tries persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern, namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The ICC is based on a treaty . . . the ICC is a court of last resort. . . In addition, the ICC only tries those accused of the gravest crimes." Dr. Hope May, professor and designer of the course and study abroad experience spent months working with key individuals to organize this teaching and learning opportunity for students. Dr. May and students used social media to inform family, friends, and the university audience of their day to day experiences.

Developing Global Citizenship and Responsible Leadership by Studying Human Rights in Burma
Studying Human Rights in Burma, Rollins College
Students, staff and faculty at Rollins College jointly led two trips to the Thai-Burma border over the past two years to study human rights activism in one of the world's most repressive regimes. This is a model of participatory education and civic engagement that links the field experience to pre- and post-trip educational opportunities inside and outside the classroom. This includes initiatives such as developing student leaders for the trip; encouraging students to engage in human rights activism on campus; and forging long-term linkages with community organizations in the field. 

GENERAL EDUCATION

Thinking Big: Big History and the Big Questions
Big History, Dominican University of California
Dominican University of California has created and delivered innovative freshman seminars that teach written and oral communication, information literacy, and are foundational and global in intent. They address the Essential Learning Outcomes 1-3. The content of these high-impact courses is Big History, a universal narrative that draws on the sciences and humanities to tell the story of our universe and emphasize global interconnectivity to provide a foundation for addressing the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Integrating Natural Ecosystems into College Campuses – The Case Study of Elon University Forest
Elon Forest, Elon University
Experiences in nature are valuable for ecological understanding, psychological well-being, and creative inspiration. Nevertheless, many students have lost access to experiential learning in nature. Elon University found a way to explore the integration of natural ecosystems into a college campus. This program's goals include exploring how campus resources impact general education, the link between global challenges and environmental education, and the practical aspects of establishing permanent natural areas on campuses.