Press Release

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

Association of American Colleges and Universities Becomes Lead Partner in Pathways to College Network

AAC&U to Focus on College Persistence and Achievement

Washington, DC—July 18, 2003—The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has joined the Pathways to College Network (Pathways) as a lead partner in charge of a working group on college persistence and achievement. Launched in 2001 to advance college access and success for under-served students, Pathways is a network of organizations and foundations that promote college access at national, state, and local levels. The Network includes foundations, non-profit organizations, educational institutions, and the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) and its Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE).

The mission of Pathways is to focus research-based knowledge and resources on improving college preparation, access, and success for under-served populations, including low-income, underrepresented minority, and first-generation students. The Network seeks to change perceptions, practices, and policies focused on academic preparation and college opportunity; eliminate policy and programmatic barriers to college going; and make readiness for college success a fundamental goal of public education in the United States.

Other lead partners in Pathways include The College Board, Council for Opportunity in Education, National Council for Community and Education Partnerships, Pacific Resources for Education and Learning, and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. Through these and its many other partner organizations, Pathways connects practitioners, policymakers, and community leaders with research on effective strategies; advances new research; and facilitates policies and programs with evidence of improving college success and achievement for under-served students.

As a lead partner working on college persistence and achievement, AAC&U will be contributing to upcoming Pathways publications and to its comprehensive set of electronic resources (www.pathwaystocollege.net). In addition, AAC&U will work with the other partners to disseminate materials to appropriate stakeholders so that the Pathways vision of serving all constituencies well becomes a reality.

“Building on two decades of work on campus diversity and the groundbreaking Greater Expectations initiative on the emergence of a new practical and engaged liberal education, AAC&U is thrilled to be joining the Pathways to College Network as a lead partner,” said Jack Noonan, president emeritus of Bloomfield College and chair of AAC&U's board of directors. “As we articulated in a recent statement issued after the Supreme Court's decisions on affirmative action, higher education must take on an expanded role in our nation's ongoing quest for equal opportunity. Higher education organizations and leaders must redouble our efforts to work in partnership with primary and secondary educators to improve the quality of educational outcomes for all the nation's children, especially those who have been underserved by the system.”

Through its recent national initiative, Greater Expectations: The Commitment to Quality as a Nation Goes to College, AAC&U has articulated a new vision for learning in the twenty-first century. The Pathways initiative reflects a core commitment at the heart of that vision—that diversity and inclusion must be integral elements in any twenty-first century articulation of educational excellence. The Pathways initiative also draws on AAC&U's family of projects addressing diversity and college achievement and success. AAC&U has provided national leadership on issues of campus diversity in higher education since 1971. AAC&U's work in this area has focused primarily on higher education's responsibilities in a diverse democracy, and American pluralism, diversity, and justice-seeking as elements of a quality liberal education for all students. More recently, AAC&U has also focused on promoting knowledge about both global and U.S. diversity as intellectual and ethical pathways to students' liberal learning and civic responsibility.

Dr. Barbara Hill, senior consultant, will serve as AAC&U's liaison to the Pathways Network and the initiative will be coordinated from AAC&U's Office of Education and Institutional Renewal under the leadership of Alma Clayton-Pedersen.

Further information about Pathways and its research and resources can be found at www.pathwaystocollege.net.

To see the statement on “Diversity and Democracy: The Unfinished Work” issued after the recent Supreme Court decisions on affirmative action, see www.aacu.org/About/diversity_democracy.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.

Information about AAC&U membership, programs, and publications can be found at www.aacu.org.