Press Release

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

New Faculty Fellows Judy Krutky, Regina Turner, and Bernice Bass de Martinez Appointed for Spring Semester

Krutky and Martinez Are Working at AAC&U, Turner at Ford's Theatre

Washington, DC—February 22, 2005—The Washington Internship Institute (WII) and the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) have announced the appointment of three faculty fellows for the spring 2005 semester. Professors Judy Krutky, Regina Turner, and Bernice Bass de Martinez are serving in the Faculty Fellows Internship Program sponsored by WII in cooperation with AAC&U.

Judy Krutky is a professor of political science and international studies at Baldwin-Wallace College. She is spending the spring semester in Washington, DC, serving in AAC&U's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Global Initiatives. Through her internship, Dr. Krutky hopes to learn how educators can best prepare their students to live and work in a world that is increasingly interconnected. She will work directly with staff at AAC&U who are shaping higher education's efforts to increase global and civic engagement for all students.

Krutky received her bachelor's degree at Southern Methodist University, her master's from the Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, and her doctorate from Columbia University. At Baldwin-Wallace, she has developed an interdisciplinary major in international studies, helped develop the Living Learning Center Program, and written and directed a Department of Education grant for internationalizing the curriculum.

Regina Turner, an associate professor of communication studies at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), is spending her spring semester at Ford's Theatre, where she will learn about the marketing involved in running a professional theater. Turner believes that theater can and should play a significant role in transmitting important information to the community. She wants to use her internship to learn about what is needed to support the work she has already done to market higher education to persons who have little knowledge of or interest in college as a postsecondary option.

Dr. Turner's recent achievements include writing, directing, and producing theater performances about diversity in urban higher education settings. She has also researched and written two major reports on how urban universities can respond better to retention issues. Turner received her undergraduate degree at the University of Maryland, College Park, her master's at Atlanta University, and her doctorate at Bowling Green State University.

Bernice Bass de Martinez, a professor of teacher education on special assignment to the president at California State University, Sacramento, is working at AAC&U in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Global Initiatives this spring. Martinez is concerned with the low retention rates of students of color and will be investigating effective strategies to address this issue. She is also interested in learning how others effectively handle issues of equity and affirmative action in a highly political setting while dealing with the reality of changing demographics.

Dr. Martinez received her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Northern Colorado and her doctorate from the University of Florida. She is currently part of a Ford Foundation-funded research collective studying women faculty of color.

The WII Faculty Fellows Internship Program enables faculty to broaden their professional, disciplinary, and personal horizons, reinvigorating their own work as scholars, teachers, and educational leaders. Fellows spend one full semester in a challenging professional environment in the Washington, DC, area. In collaboration with local leaders, faculty fellows investigate applied areas of knowledge, develop skills, and explore the systems and policies of their host organizations or agencies. Through these professional internship experiences, fellows gain new insights into how the aims of liberal education can be enhanced by high-quality experiential learning programs.

"The Faculty Fellows Internship Program is 'engaged learning' at its best," says WII President Mary Ryan. "The fellows fully understand and integrate their knowledge into their professional work sites. The program is truly unique in terms of faculty development."

For information about the program, see www.wiidc.org/faculty-about.shtml. For more information about AAC&U's projects and initiatives, see www.aacu.org.

WII is a recognized leader in the field of experiential education, creating Washington, DC-based learning opportunities for U.S. and international students. Its highly successful academic programs include the Embassy and Diplomatic Scholars Program, which arranges student internship in embassies and international organizations, and the Capital Experience, which places interns at sites such as the National Institutes of Health, the Smithsonian Institution, and legislative offices on Capitol Hill. WII is committed to individual development through excellence in experiential education.

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.