Press Release

Contact: Debra Humphreys
Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs
202-387-3760 ext. 422
Humphreys@aacu.org

New Grant Supports Project on General Education and Global Learning

Luce Foundation Provides Funding to Association of American Colleges and Universities for New Project as Part of Shared Futures Initiative

Washington, DC—July 11, 2005—The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has announced the launch of a new project, Shared Futures: General Education for Global Learning. With a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, AAC&U will create a network of sixteen colleges and universities that will work together over a two-year period. The institutions in this network will use global issues as an organizing principle for general education and develop programs that prepare students for citizenship in a world of global change and interdependence.

"We are delighted to be able to integrate AAC&U's deep institutional commitment to global learning with our continued work in general education, and look forward to establishing global knowledge and understanding as core concerns of the college curriculum," said AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider. "Through this project, participating institutions will help shape the liberal education we need for the twenty-first century."

General Education for Global Learning seeks to increase student knowledge of and engagement with large, compelling, and unsolved global questions. Through a competitive process, sixteen colleges and universities will be selected to participate in the project. They will use global issues to reform general education programs and send teams of faculty members to a faculty development institute designed to provide the intellectual and practical tools needed to effectively teach globalized general education courses. The project will also support a special issue of AAC&U's periodical Diversity Digest featuring models developed by participating schools.

"The challenges of today's world require college graduates to have far more knowledge about the world and our nation's role within it," said AAC&U Senior Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Global Initiatives Caryn McTighe Musil. "All college students should have a general education that provides them with deep knowledge of the world's peoples and problems, and that develops their intercultural competencies so they can see the world from multiple perspectives. We are grateful to the Henry Luce Foundation for enabling AAC&U to assist campuses in educating students to become responsible citizens of the nation and the world."

This project, directed by Kevin Hovland, AAC&U's director of global initiatives, is part of AAC&U's signature initiative Shared Futures: Global Learning and Social Responsibility. Begun in 2001, Shared Futures seeks to develop curricula that deepen student knowledge of the world, challenge unexamined assumptions about American identity and global citizenship, and test our commitments and ideals for a world lived in common. Some other projects in the initiative include Liberal Education and Global Citizenship: The Arts of Democracy, a project focused on the major that was supported by the Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, and Liberal Arts Colleges and Global Learning, a research project funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

For information about the project, including how to apply to participate, and about other AAC&U projects, meetings, and resources, see www.aacu.org.

The Henry Luce Foundation was established in 1936 by Henry R. Luce, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Time Inc., to honor his parents who were missionary educators in China. The Foundation builds upon the vision and values of four generations of the Luce family to broaden knowledge and encourage the highest standards of service and leadership. A commitment to increase America's capacity for international understanding is central to the Luce Foundation's mission.

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 1,000 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.