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Association of American Colleges and Universities Receives Grant from Lumina Foundation for Education to Expand Its Work On "Making Excellence Inclusive"

With partners in three states, project will focus on providing high-impact educational practices to students historically underserved by higher education

Washington, DC—December 4, 2008—The Association of American Colleges and Universities announced today that it has received a grant from Lumina Foundation for Education to support its work on Making Excellence Inclusive.  This new funding will support the scaling up of efforts already underway as part of AAC&U’s initiative, Give Students a Compass.  Give Students a Compass, funded with grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and from State Farm Companies Foundation, supports colleges in three public systems—California State University, Oregon University System, and the University of Wisconsin System—as they work to reform general education and ensure all their students’ achievement of a set of learning outcomes essential for professional success and effective citizenship in the 21st century.

“We are delighted that support from Lumina Foundation will help to increase underserved students’ access to the best that American higher education has to offer,” said AAC&U Vice President for Education and Institutional Renewal, Alma Clayton-Pedersen.   “This project will assist campuses in generating valuable information and new perspectives on their existing data to inform the creation and expansion of educational practices that ensure underserved students achieve at high levels.”

With the expanded support from Lumina, participating colleges and universities will build their capacity to support underserved students’ level of academic success by broadening their participation in a set of educational practices that research has shown to be effective.  The project will build institutional capacity to track, document, and monitor underserved students’ access to these practices and how they are benefiting from them.  It will also help institutions increase the number of students with access to the practices and build campus leadership for educational change.

Making Excellence Inclusive will focus specifically on five educational practices that show effectiveness for all students—and even more effective for historically underserved students.  They include: 1) first year experiences, 2) learning communities, 3) service learning, 4) undergraduate research, and 5) capstone courses or activities.  Through access to these kinds of practices, students will benefit from learning environments that make use of real-world challenges and that engage big societal questions.  Students will then be able to see the relevance of their learning more readily and will become more adept at applying the theories and concepts to their own everyday observations and life experiences.

“The California State University is the largest and most diverse public system of higher education in the country,” said CSU Chancellor Charlie Reed.  “We are committed to providing all 450,000 of our students with the educational excellence they deserve and this project will help us to do just that.  Faculty members and educational leaders throughout CSU are eager to expand their use of engaged learning practices that will ensure our students’ success.”

Both Making Excellence Inclusive and Give Students a Compass are part of AAC&U’s initiative, Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP).  LEAP is an initiative that champions the value of a liberal education—for individual students and for a nation dependent on economic creativity and democratic vitality. The initiative focuses campus practice on fostering essential learning outcomes for all students, whatever their chosen field of study.  The Making Excellence Inclusive initiative is led by AAC&U Vice President for Education and Institutional Renewal Alma Clayton-Pedersen.  Give Students a Compass is led by AAC&U Senior Director for LEAP State Initiatives Susan Albertine. 

About AAC&U

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.

About Lumina Foundation for Education

Lumina Foundation for Education, an Indianapolis-based, private, independent foundation, strives to help people achieve their potential by expanding access and success in education beyond high school.  Through grants for research, innovation, communication and evaluation, as well as policy education and leadership development, Lumina Foundation addresses issues that affect access and educational attainment among all students particularly underserved student groups, including adult learners.  The Foundation bases its mission on the belief that postsecondary education remains one of the most beneficial investments that individuals can make in themselves and that society can make in its people.  For more details on the foundation, visit www.luminafoundation.org.