Press Release

Contact: Debra Humphreys
Vice President for Communications
and Public Affairs
202.387-3760 ext. 422
humphreys@aacu.org

Association of American Colleges and Universities Selects Teams from 101 Campuses to Participate in Summer Institutes

Faculty and Administrators to Attend Institutes on General Education;
Leadership for Student Engagement, Inclusion, and Achievement;
and Science Education and Civic Engagement

Washington, DC—May 5, 2004—The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) announced today the selection of teams from 101 colleges and universities for its three summer institutes. Faculty and administrators from thirty-one campuses will attend AAC&U's Institute on General Education May 21-26, 2004. This will be the first year that the Institute will be held on the campus of Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island. Teams from thirty campuses will participate in the 2004 Greater Expectations Institute on Student Engagement, Inclusion, and Achievement in Snowbird, Utah, which will be held June 23-27, 2004. This institute is sponsored by AAC&U's national initiative, Greater Expectations: The Commitment to Quality as a Nation Goes to College. Representatives from forty-four campuses will participate in the fourth summer institute sponsored by AAC&U's initiative on Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER), which will be held August 6-10, 2004, at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California.

Teams attending AAC&U's Institute on General Education will examine current trends in general education, discuss strategies for implementing curricular reforms, and refine their own general education reform plans in the context of their campus missions. Participants will attend sessions on such topics as faculty development, the politics of curricular change, interdisciplinarity and integrative learning, service learning, diversity and global learning, technology, and learning communities. A special track in this year's Institute focuses on planning effective strategies for assessing general education outcomes and programs.

"We are extremely pleased to be offering an expanded program featuring a special track on assessment for this year's Institute on General Education," said AAC&U Vice President Andrea Leskes. "The campus of Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island also provides a wonderful new location for the Institute, and we are very pleased that we received a record number of applicants. The applications demonstrate that institutions across the country are thinking in new and exciting ways and raising expectations for general education in the new academy."

The fourth annual Greater Expectations Institute is designed to help faculty and administrative leaders create curricular structures that prepare students to flourish in a complex, diverse, and interdependent world. The Institute supports teams of campus leaders as they explore ways of deepening and connecting existing campus reform efforts. Teams at the Institute develop concrete blueprints for divisional, departmental, and/or campus-wide action. The Institute addresses the urgent question of how to create campus environments that engage, include, and challenge all students while tapping innovative programs already in place.

At this year's Institute, a select number of participating campuses will also be participating in AAC&U's new initiative, Making Excellence Inclusive. "We are very pleased to be able to offer at this year's Greater Expectations Institute an opportunity for institutions to work on the goal of making excellence inclusive," said AAC&U Vice President Alma Clayton-Pedersen. "In addition to working at the Institute on their own campus programs, these institutions will help AAC&U link the next generation of work on diversity and inclusion with that of academic quality and accountability."

The SENCER Institute is part of a comprehensive, national project funded by the National Science Foundation. SENCER aims to improve undergraduate science education and stimulate civic engagement by teaching science "through" complex and unsolved public issues such as HIV/AIDS. The SENCER Institute is designed to strengthen faculty leadership and institutional capacity through a team-based, intensive, residential program for innovators interested in developing science courses that challenge students academically and engage them civically. Participants in the Institute share models for undergraduate science and learn about resources to support continued improvement of science education at the undergraduate level.

"Teams selected to participate in this year's SENCER institute are working on an exciting array of curricular projects designed to engage students with some of the most challenging public policy questions of our day," said AAC&U Senior Policy Director David Burns. "We look forward to working with all the participants and to hearing from alumni of prior institutes about the progress they have made in transforming the undergraduate science and math curriculum."

See below for lists of schools selected to participate in these three institutes. For additional information about Greater Expectations, SENCER, or other AAC&U programs and initiatives, visit www.aacu.org.

AAC&U Summer Institutes: Participating Schools

Institute on General Education

Arizona State University (AZ)
Bates College (ME)
Bemidji State University (MN)
Bennett College (NC)
Bridgewater State College (MA)
Butler University (IN)
Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
Cheyney University of Pennsylvania (PA)
Franklin Pierce College (NH)
Georgia College and State University (GA)
Iowa Wesleyan College (IA)
Kansas City Kansas Community College (KS)
Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LA)
Montgomery College (MD)
Mount Mercy College (IA)
Mount Saint Mary College (NY)
North Carolina A&T State University (NC)
Saint John Fisher College (NY)
Saint Mary’s University (TX)
Saint Olaf College (MN)
Salve Regina University (RI)
Southern Connecticut State University (CT)
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (IL)
Suffolk University (MA)
Susquehanna University (PA)
University of Arizona (AZ)
University of Hartford (CT)
University of North Dakota (ND)
University of Richmond (VA)
University of Southern Maine, Lewiston-Auburn College (ME)
Zayed University (United Arab Emirates)

Greater Expectations Institute: Campus Leadership for Student Engagement, Inclusion, and Achievement

California State University Channel Islands (CA)
Campbellsville University (KY)
East Stroudsburg University (PA)
Eastern New Mexico University (NM)
Grand Valley State University (MI)
Harvey Mudd College (CA)
Hobart and William Smith Colleges (NY)
Indiana State University (IN)
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IN)
John Carroll University (OH)
Longwood University (VA)
McDaniel College (MD)
McKendree College (IL)
Mount Hood Community College (OR)
North Shore Community College (MA)
Occidental College (CA)
Oklahoma City University (OK)
Prince George’s Community College (MD)
Richard Stockton College (NJ)
Saint Mary’s College (CA)
Stanford University (CA)
State University of New York-Stony Brook (NY)
Texas Christian University (TX)
University of Akron (OH)
University of Louisville (KY)
University of Rhode Island (RI)
Virginia Commonwealth University (VA)
Washington State University (WA)
Western Kentucky University (KY)
Wheaton College (MA)

Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER) Institute

Alma College (MI)
Ball State University (IN)
Bloomfield College (NJ)
Brooklyn College (NY)
Chapman University (CA)
College of Notre Dame of Maryland (MD)
College of the Holy Cross (MA)
Columbia University (NY)
Duke University (NC)
El Camino College (CA)
Elon University (NC)
Fairleigh Dickinson University (NJ)
Georgia College and State University (GA)
Gettysburg College (PA)
Hampton University (VA)
Harold Washington College (IL)
Iowa State University (IA)
Ithaca College (NY)
Lesley University (MA)
Loyola Marymount University (LA)
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MA)
Meredith College (NC)
Metropolitan College of New York (NY)
Middlesex County College (NJ)
Mount Saint Mary’s College (MD)
New York University (NY)
Norfolk State University (VA)
Purchase College, State University of New York (NY)
Purdue University (IN)
Raritan Valley Community College (NJ)
Richard Stockton College (NJ)
Roger Williams University (RI)
Rutgers University (NJ)
Skidmore College (NY)
Southern Connecticut State University (CT)
Technological University of Central America (Honduras)
Towson University (MD)
University of Alaska Fairbanks (AK)
University of Hartford (CT)
University of North Carolina at Asheville (NC)
University of South Carolina-Sumter (SC)
University of Virginia’s College at Wise (VA)
Wheelock College (MA)
Whittier College (CA)

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. Founded in 1915, AAC&U now comprises more than 1,150 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 on the AAC&U Web site.