For Immediate Release

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

AAC&U Receives Grant from the National Science Foundation to Support Project on Preparing Critical Faculty for the Future

Faculty Development Project Will Provide Multiple Professional Development Opportunities for Women STEM Faculty of Color at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Washington, DC—October 5, 2010—The Association of American Colleges and Universities announced today that it has received a grant from the National Science Foundation to support a new project, Preparing Critical Faculty for the Future (PCFF).  The project will provide professional development for a critical group of faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields: women faculty of color at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).  The initiative will be led by AAC&U Senior Fellow Alma Clayton-Pedersen and builds on AAC&U’s earlier project, Preparing Future Faculty (1993-2002).  Project Kaleidoscope Executive Director, Susan Elrod, will serve as a senior advisor to the project. 

The PCFF initiative will develop a series of national symposia and workshops engaging women STEM faculty of color at HBCU’s in strategies to implement curricular frameworks and effective teaching strategies designed to increase the number of underserved students who pursue degrees in STEM fields.  The project will also provide support to participating faculty to develop their academic leadership abilities.  The initiative will be particularly focused on building participants’ capacity to address the varied skills and abilities of today’s college students, and the changing demographics of our undergraduates.  It will draw from AAC&U’s continuing work on effective educational practices in its Liberal Education and America’s Promise initiative and from the experience of Project Kaleidoscope staff and faculty leaders.

“This initiative brings together several important areas of STEM reform,” said Carol Geary Schneider, AAC&U president. “AAC&U has been working to better prepare new faculty for the challenges of twenty-first century college learning since the early 1990s.  This initiative continues that work, but also brings to the effort new research and promising practices developed through AAC&U’s Making Excellence Inclusive initiative and Project Kaleidoscope’s extensive experience with faculty development.”

The project will provide professional development opportunities embedded in various AAC&U Network for Academic Renewal meetings and AAC&U Summer Institutes over the next three years. 

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 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.

Information about AAC&U membership, programs, and publications can be found at www.aacu.org.