2009 Greater Expectations Institute: Leadership to Make Excellence Inclusive
June 17-21, 2009 | Dudley H. Davis Student Center | University of Vermont
About the Institute
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The 2009 AAC&U Greater Expectations Institute has been designed to help campuses respond to national calls to improve the quality of undergraduate education for more Americans in the highly competitive new global century. Specifically, the Institute’s intensive five-day program is designed for campuses working to build their own institutional capacity and campus leadership to increase the engagement, inclusion, and high achievement of all their students. The Institute will help campus teams align institutional purposes, structures, and practices as well as advance and assess the kinds of learning outcomes—such as critical inquiry, communication skills, social responsibility, intercultural competence, and integrative learning—essential for success in today’s world and discussed in AAC&U’s signature report, Greater Expectations: A New Vision for Learning as a Nation Goes to College, and its more recent Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP) initiative report, College Learning for the New Global Century.
Making Excellence Inclusive
Since the mid-twentieth century, progress has been made in expanding college access to historically underserved students—including racial/ethnic minority students, students from low-income backgrounds, and first-generation college students. Far more work is needed, however, if we are to continue to expand access, but also ensure that all students achieve a quality education adequate to the needs of a more demanding world. To do this, we must, in short, make excellence inclusive.
We know that current and future college students will come from a wider array of backgrounds and from populations currently not well served by our nation’s schools. The most growth in college attendance will come from these groups of students and our campuses will reflect these dramatic demographic shifts among both traditional-aged and older student populations.
Developing Multilevel Leadership for Inclusion, Engagement, and Student Success
Substantial changes are needed to address these population shifts and ensure that today’s students get the education they need. Responding to these changes and to calls for improved achievement levels requires multilevel leadership on our campuses to establish educational practices that foster a culture of high expectations for all our students—but especially for those who have historically been underserved.
Current realities require holistic thinking about how to enact new and more effective teaching practices, use research on learning to guide change, and create supportive environments that intentionally draw on the intellectual and social capital that every student brings to the learning enterprise. The Institute will focus, then, on a set of high-impact educational practices and ways to make them more central and pervasive in every student’s curriculum.
NEW! Teams attending the 2009 AAC&U Greater Expectations Institute will receive a $1,300 subsidy
During tough economic times, it is more important than ever for us all— leaders in higher education institutions and associations, and individual educators—to be resolute in our efforts to provide a high quality liberal education to all students. AAC&U and Bringing Theory to Practice (BT to P) are doing their part by proudly announcing travel and fee subsidies for up to thirty selected campuses to attend the 2009 Greater Expectations Institute (a total of $1,300 per five-person team). AAC&U is reducing the Institute fee to $5,800 for a five-person campus team from AAC&U member institutions and to $6,500 for a five-person campus team from non-AAC&U member institutions. BT to P is providing a reimbursement of up to $700 for travel or toward further reducing Institute fees.
BT to P and AAC&U are partners. Although we are independent entities that work to achieve our own objectives, BT to P and AAC&U share many areas of mutual interest and shared support. When those areas are truly symbiotic, both parties make a special effort to reinforce them. The 2009 Greater Expectations Institute will help campus teams align institutional purposes, structures, and practices, and advance and assess the kinds of learning outcomes essential for success in today’s world. These outcomes—such as critical inquiry and skills, personal and social responsibility, intercultural competence, student well-being, and integrative learning—are discussed in both AAC&U’s and BT to P’s reports and stated objectives.
Key elements of the Institute’s core curriculum—particularly leadership development, making excellence inclusive, and achieving and assessing the multiple outcomes of liberal education—are recognizably shared in the partnership of AAC&U and the BT to P project. The intensive, five-day Institute provides ample time for team consultations and skill building sessions with national experts, and advanced reading resources that enable teams to create concrete action plans for implementation upon your return to campus.
We hope that the announcement of these subsidies will encourage you to apply to attend the Greater Expectations Institute. It will enhance efforts to advance promising practices on your campus that enable all students to get the most out of their education.
See the sidebar for more information about the Institute. Or, contact Nakia Bell at 202-387-3760 x. 407 or bell@aacu.org for more information and to request a brochure and application.
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