Press Release

Contact: Debra Humphreys
202-387-3760 ext. 422
Humphreys@aacu.org

Association of American Colleges and Universities Appoints Three New Senior Fellows to Assist with Projects to Prepare Students for an Era of Greater Expectations and Educate the Public about What Really Matters in College

Educational Leaders Stephen Bowen, Deborah DeZure, and Elizabeth Minnich Become AAC&U Senior Fellows

Washington, DC—September 15, 2004—The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) announced today the appointment of three new senior fellows: Dr. Stephen Bowen, Dr. Deborah DeZure, and Dr. Elizabeth Minnich.

"All three of our new senior fellows bring outstanding insights and experience to AAC&U's existing and new projects designed to advance and support liberal education across the country," said AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider. "As we celebrate 90 years of leadership, we are looking forward to our centennial by planning a decade of work that will ensure that every student--including those traditionally underserved--benefits from a strong liberal education. Our new senior fellows bring years of campus experience and creative insights about the future of higher education. Their guidance as we enter our tenth decade will be invaluable."

As an AAC&U senior fellow, Dr. Stephen Bowen will work with both AAC&U's Office of Communications and Public Affairs and its Office of Education and Quality Initiatives. He will assist AAC&U as it develops new initiatives on meeting greater expectations for undergraduate science, math, and engineering students. He also will assist the senior staff as it launches a new public advocacy project to raise awareness among the general public about the key learning outcomes that really matter for today's students. Dr. Bowen served as provost at Bucknell University from 2001 to 2004 and spent twenty-three years at Michigan Technological University as a member of the biology faculty, and as department chair, associate dean, vice provost for instruction, dean of distance education, and interim provost. Dr. Bowen holds a BA in Philosophy and Zoology from DePauw University, an MS in Zoology from Indiana University, and a PhD in Zoology from Rhodes University. Dr. Bowen has extensive experience in implementing assessment initiatives, reforming general education curricula, and developing international education programs.

Dr. Deborah DeZure will spend her time as an AAC&U senior fellow in the Office of Education and Quality Initiatives. She will conduct research related to Integrative Learning: Opportunities to Connect, a project which the Association sponsors in collaboration with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Dr. DeZure is currently director of faculty and organizational development and senior advisor to the provost at Michigan State University. At the University of Michigan (UM), she served as the campus liaison to AAC&U's Greater Expectations Consortium for Quality Education and as coordinator of faculty programs at the Center for Research on Teaching and Learning. She also served as the director of programs for UM's Life Sciences, Values and Society Program. Dr. DeZure earned her BA, MA, and PhD degrees from New York University. She has edited books entitled Learning from Change: Landmarks on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education from Change Magazine and To Improve the Academy.

Dr. Elizabeth Minnich will work as a senior fellow with AAC&U's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Global Initiatives. She will draw on her considerable experience and her years of research on inclusive scholarship, curricula, teaching, and institutional practice to inform AAC&U's efforts to create more engaged and inclusive curricula and to cultivate new connections among liberal learning, democracy, and diversity. Dr. Minnich earned her MA and PhD in philosophy from The New School University, where she was a teaching assistant for Hannah Arendt. She is a leading national scholar on issues of democracy and education. Among Dr. Minnich's many publications, her 1990 book, Transforming Knowledge, received the AAC&U Frederick W. Ness Award. A new, expanded edition of this book is presently in press. She also served as an advisor on AAC&U's national panel for American Commitments: Diversity, Democracy, and Liberal Learning, and served as scribe for that project's report, Liberal Learning and the Arts of Connection. She has served as a dean at several institutions and has taught or been an academic administrator at such institutions as The New School, Sarah Lawrence College, Hollins College, Barnard College, and The Union Institute. Dr. Minnich is currently writing a new book with the working title Thinking Friends and Teachers: A Propos Hannah Arendt, Moral and Political Considerations.

For additional information about AAC&U and its programs and initiatives, visit www.aacu.org.

AAC&U is the leading national association concerned with the quality, vitality, and public standing of undergraduate liberal education. Its members are committed to extending the advantages of a liberal education to 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.