Press Release

CONTACT: Debra Humphreys
(202) 387-3760(ext. 422)
e-mail: humphreys@aacu.org

Charting the Future of Campus Diversity

More than 600 Faculty and Campus Leaders Debate the Future of Campus Diversity and Global Learning at Association of American Colleges and Universities Conference

Washington, DC—October 24, 2002—Hundreds of college faculty and administrators gathered this week in St. Louis for the 4th Association of American Colleges and Universities' (AAC&U) Biennial Diversity and Learning Conference. This year's event focused on the theme of "Education for a World Lived in Common." The three-day event featured lessons learned from decades of campus-based work on diversity and learning as participants grappled with new challenges facing higher education. The conference featured hundreds of presenters from schools across the country and an excerpted premier of a new PBS miniseries on immigration,
The New Americans.

AAC&U Vice President Caryn McTighe Musil described the questions the conference was designed to address: "We are asking what higher education can do to bring us together in both local and global communities. We ask what learning would look like if it were based on a shared commitment to deliberate, thoughtful, and sustained investigations of our differences and our collective power to shape a better world." Speakers in St. Louis grappled with these questions and presented the latest research about diversity and student learning. They described the sorts of programs that effectively prepare students with the intercultural and global citizenship skills they need in today's world. Conference participants explored the challenge of educating today's students for a world lived in common, despite the divisions, inequities, and differences that often seem to dominate national, global, and sometimes even campus life.

"In these troubled times, campuses are faced with many new challenges as they work to prepare a new generation for a changing world. Today's students must prepare for a world of work that places a premium on group problem-solving and intercultural communication skills," said AAC&U Director of Programs Heather Wathington, who coordinated the conference. "Well beyond this need, however, is the need for colleges to provide students with not only the skills to navigate cultural complexity, but the commitment and dedication to work towards healthier communities and a more just world."

AAC&U President, Carol Geary Schneider, added, "The health of our communities and our diverse democracy will depend on the ethical judgment and civic responsibility our students acquire while in college. While the task is daunting, the campus diversity movement provides much reason for hope. The academy has accumulated a great deal of wisdom and many proven practices to help us face the new challenges before us. I am heartened by the enthusiasm and sheer brain power gathered at this conference."

The conference opened with an excerpted preview screening of a new PBS documentary, The New Americans. This documentary looks intimately at the American Dream through the eyes of immigrants and refugees-from Nigeria, India, the Dominican Republic, the West Bank, Mexico, and Vietnam. Series Producer, Gita Saedi, was also on hand to discuss the making of the series.

The conference program featured more than 50 sessions on such topics as global citizenship, creating effective diverse learning environments, religious pluralism on today's campuses, identity development in transnational contexts, service learning, new approaches to studying the Holocaust, and new directions for the campus diversity movement.

Featured Speakers include: Chandra Talpade Mohanty, professor of Women's Studies, Hamilton College; Evelyn Hu-DeHart, director, Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, Brown University; Obioma Nnaemeka, associate professor of French, Women's Studies, and African American Studies, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis; Grant Cornwell, vice president of the university and dean of Academic Affairs, St. Lawrence University; Sylvia Hurtado, associate professor of Education, University of Michigan, Daryl G. Smith, professor of Education and Psychology, Claremont Graduate University; Victor Kazanjian, Jr. dean of Religious and Spiritual Life, Wellesley College; Edgar Beckham, emeritus dean of the college at Wesleyan University.

To see a copy of the program, see www.aacu.org/diversityandlearning/index.cfm. For information about AAC&U and its many diversity, equity, and global initiatives, see http://www.aacu.org/about/degi.cfm.

AAC&U is the leading national association devoted to advancing and strengthening liberal learning for all students, regardless of academic specialization or intended career. Since its founding in 1915, AAC&U's membership has grown to more than 1000 accredited public and private colleges and universities of every type and size. AAC&U functions as a catalyst and facilitator, forging links among presidents, administrators, and faculty members who are engaged in institutional and curricular planning. Its mission is to reinforce the collective commitment to liberal education at both the national and local levels and to help individual institutions keep the quality of student learning at the core of their work as they evolve to meet new economic and social challenges. For information about AAC&U, see www.aacu.org.