Press Release
Debra Humphreys
Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs
202-387-3760 ext. 422
Humphreys@aacu.org
AAC&U Receives FIPSE Grant To Expand Work on General Education and Science
New Project Will Extend Work of Shared Futures Network on General Education for Global Learning
Washington, DC -- November 3, 2006 -- The Association of American Colleges and Universities has received a two-year grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education to expand and extend the work of institutions in the Shared Futures: General Education for Global Learning network. The grant will encourage network institutions to make science requirements a more central part of their global general education curricula; use global learning categories and courses to assess key liberal education outcomes; and use general education in science to help students understand the connections between their global learning and ethical citizenship.
"This grant will address the urgent need for colleges and universities to promote disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge about global issues as foundational learning across all general education courses,” said Project Director Caryn McTighe Musil. “Concern about global education is high and many institutions are working to provide students with a rigorous global general education. Global learning in general education, however, is often assigned either to a single non-western course or to humanities and social science disciplines, thus depriving students of the enormous contribution scientific disciplines can make to global learning. Shared Futures institutions will redesign courses and curricula to provide students with global knowledge and skills essential in today’s complex and interconnected world.”
The project seeks to address the following questions:
- How do we prepare graduates for a world shaped by scientific and technological advances and the challenges that accompany them?
- How do we ensure that graduates are well prepared to participate in an interdependent global community?
- How do we prepare graduates for a global economy in which innovation is a constant?
- What kinds of learning are needed for knowledgeable and responsible citizenship—in the United States and abroad?
- How do we help students compose lives of meaning and integrity within a global context?
As part of this FIPSE-funded project, AAC&U will host a second five-day Shared Futures Curriculum and Faculty Development institute, assist network institutions in developing individual campus assessment plans as well as a cross-institutional global learning assessment instrument, and disseminate project models and practices through its conferences, meetings, and publications.
Shared Futures: General Education for Global Learning was established in 2005 with support from the Henry Luce Foundation as part of AAC&U’s large multi-project initiative, Shared Futures: Global Learning and Social Responsibility. Begun in 2001, this initiative seeks to develop curricula and faculty expertise that deepens student knowledge of the world, challenges unexamined assumptions about American identity and global citizenship, and tests our commitments and ideals for a world lived in common.
Through this initiative, AAC&U works to develop opportunities to explore the overarching questions, “what are the responsibilities of American citizens in an interdependent world?” and “what do college graduates need to become responsible national and global citizens?” Other projects in the initiative have included “Liberal Education and Global Citizenship: The Arts of Democracy,” an eleven-institution curriculum and faculty development project 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.
The sixteen institutions chosen as part of the Luce Foundation-supported project, which will also be the consortium in the new FIPSE grant include:
Arcadia University (PA)
Butler University (IN)
California State University-Long Beach (CA)
Chandler-Gilbert Community College (AZ)
Dickinson College (PA)
Drury University (MO)
Hawaii Pacific University (HI)
Marquette University (WI)
Mesa Community College (AZ)
Otterbein College (OH)
Stephens College (MO)
United States Military Academy (NY)*
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (NC)
University of Wyoming (WY)
Wheaton College (MA)
Whittier College (CA)
As part of the Shared Futures initiative, AAC&U also recently released two publications, Assessing Global Learning: Matching Good Intentions with Good Practice by Caryn McTighe Musil and Shared Futures: Global Learning and Liberal Education by Kevin Hovland. To order copies of these publications, learn about AAC&U projects, and access other online and print global resources, see www.aacu.org/issues/globallearning.
FIPSE is providing a grant of $450,000 to support this project. This represents 61 percent of the total cost of the project with the remaining 39 percent or $283,888 provided by AAC&U and participating institutions.
*The United States Military Academy is part of the Shared Futures Network, but will not receive financial support from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary 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.
|
