Press Release

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

College Leaders Gather in New Orleans to Make Democracy’s Challenges a New Priority for Today’s College Students

Participants Explore Key Recommendations in AAC&U’s New LEAP Report—Including a Call for More Focus on Civic Engagement, Social Responsibility, and Global Learning for All Students

New Orleans, LA – January 17, 2007 – The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) is holding its Annual Meeting in New Orleans January 17-20, 2007.  This meeting, The Real Test: Liberal Education and Democracy’s Big Questions, explores how colleges and universities are preparing students to meet real-world challenges.  Connecting the knowledge learned in the classroom with the choices, actions, and responsibilities demanded of active, engaged citizens is a theme throughout the conference, beginning with Dillard University President Marvelene Hughes’ opening plenary, Fulfilling the Promise of a Just Democracy: New Orleans after Katrina.

While the meeting brings together college educators from across the country, all keynote speakers at the meeting are centrally involved with the rebuilding of New Orleans.  As AAC&U’s Board of Directors noted last year, “New Orleans represents a valuable opportunity for the nation—and its colleges and universities—to reflect on the root issues that make many Americans especially vulnerable in times of catastrophe.” 

“The implications of our work to educate students for today’s world become even more evident and pressing when set within the context of challenges facing New Orleans,” said AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider.  “We must ready students for today’s world – a world filled with problems for which there are no easy answers and in which the important questions of the day do not come in multiple choice form.  In our meeting this year, we will focus on the student-learning outcomes that matter in the 21st century – those skills that enable students to engage the big questions and connect what is learned in the classroom to real-world settings.”   

The meeting follows the January 10th release of the latest report in AAC&U’s Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) campaign, College Learning for the New Global Century.  From the National Leadership Council (NLC) for LEAP, the report outlines the important outcomes of a college education as well as effective practices that can help students achieve these outcomes.  These educational principles provide the framework of the meeting. 

At the meeting, AAC&U also announced 18 institutions selected to participate in a new national initiative, Core Commitments: Educating Students for Personal and Social Responsibility.  These schools will advance various campus programs to improve students’ sense of personal and social responsibility.  The chosen schools include:

• Babson College, MA
• Bowling Green State University, OH
• California State University-Northridge, CA
• Concordia College-Moorhead, MN
• Miami University, OH
• Michigan State University, MI
• Middlesex Community College, MA
• Oakland Community College, MI
• Rollins College, FL
• Saint Mary's College of California, CA
• St. Lawrence University, NY
• Tulane University, LA
• United States Air Force Academy, CO
• University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL
• University of Central Florida, FL
• University of the Pacific, CA
• Wagner College, NY
• Winthrop University, SC

The annual meeting will feature panels on AAC&U’s new LEAP Report, presentations by several LEAP NLC members, and other sessions on such topics as:

• The Politics of Accountability
• Fulfilling the Promise of a Just Democracy
• Liberal Education and the New Global Economy
• What Does Knowledge Have to do with Democracy?  The Responsibilities of Higher Education in Times of Crisis and Hope
• Cultural Immersion in New Orleans: From Knowledge to Social Responsibility
• Believe It or Not:  Addressing Religion, Faith, and Spirituality on Campus

Featured speakers include:

• Marvalene Hughes, President of Dillard University
• Scott Cowen, President of Tulane University
• Walter Isaacson, President and CEO of the Aspen Institute
• James Engell, Chair of the Department of English and American Literature and Language at Harvard University and co-author of Saving Higher Education in the Age of Money
• Anthony Dangerfield, who has taught at Cornell University, Dartmouth College, and Harvard University, and co-author of Saving Higher Education in the Age of Money

To learn more about LEAP or to read an online version of College Learning for the New Global Century, visit www.aacu.org/advocacy/leap.  To see the Annual Meeting program or hear podcasts of featured sessions (available in late January), visit www.aacu.org/meetings/annualmeeting/.  

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 1,200 member institutions—including 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.