AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider Interviewed for Radio Higher Ed
Hear AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider in an interview with the editors of Radio Higher Ed—a new venture featuring interviews with higher education leaders. Previous interviews have included David Paris, executive director of the New Leadership Alliance for Student Learning and Accountability, and Jamie Merisotis, president and CEO, Lumina Foundation for Education. Radio Higher Ed seeks to inform the public and challenge policy makers about postsecondary education policies, issues, and their implications. Schneider’s interview covers such topics as the importance of civic learning, AAC&U's work in student learning and accountability, the LEAP initiative, and the emergence of the Degree Qualifications Profile as a tool for campuses to examine academic quality. Listen to President Schneider's interview online.
New Leadership Alliance to Sponsor Webcast on Learning and Quality in Higher Education
On Wednesday, May 16 at 2 p.m. ET, David C. Paris, executive director of the New Leadership Alliance for Student Learning and Accountability, and Sylvia Manning, president of the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association, will lead a one-hour webcast, "Focusing on the Quality of Student Learning in Higher Education: Initiatives by the New Leadership Alliance for Student Learning and Accountability." Paris and Manning will explain the guidelines set out in the New Leadership Alliance for Student Learning and Accountability’s new publication Committing to Quality. Endorsed by more than two dozen educational organizations including AAC&U, the publication provides a roadmap for discussing educational quality and taking action to improve it, and was recently highlighted in the New York Times article, "Trying to Find a Measure for How Well Colleges Do.” AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider serves on the board of the New Leadership Alliance, and AAC&U helped develop the statement of principles, "New Leadership for Student Learning and Accountability," (pdf) that guided the founding of the alliance. Learn more about how to register for this webcast online.
LEAP Leader Touts ‘Practical Liberal Education’ in Inaugural Address SUNY New Paltz recently inaugurated Donald Christian as the university’s eighth president. “The chancellor has challenged those of us in SUNY to re-imagine the land-grant ideal for the demands of a global twenty-first century,” said President Christian. “The Land-Grant Act explicitly promoted both liberal and practical education. A view that’s at the heart and soul of New Paltz and our future.”President Christian is known for his leadership in AAC&U’s LEAP initiative and has brought the vision of liberal education to his work at SUNY New Paltz. Prior to coming to New Paltz, Christian was a dean at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and hosted several of the very first LEAP States events there. In addition, he chaired the LEAP Wisconsin local committee when it was first formed. Read more about President Christian’s inauguration online and continuing work on LEAP in Wisconsin and other LEAP States.
PKAL Summer Leadership Institutes for STEM Faculty at the Baca Campus of Colorado College in Crestone, CO. Applications due April 6, 2012.
Institute I: July 17-22, 2012
Institute II: July 31-August 5, 2012
Featured Member News and Resources
The May issue of AAC&U News features the public service major at Rutgers University–Newark, data on the demographics and social views of college-age millennials, and the latest news about AAC&U meetings, projects, and publications. Watch in June for our next issue of AAC&U News.
This issue examines underemphasized dimensions of diversity, new research about the links between student outcomes and campus practices that promote diversity and civic-mindedness, and the historical development of the notion of "civic virtue." Also included are articles on quantitative literacy, on the place of the arts in a liberal education, on how the goals of the LEAP initiative look from the perspective of a for-profit university, and on evidence-based problem solving.
Campus leaders face a bewildering array of different assessment methods-standardized or locally designed tests and inventories, indirect methods focusing on student self-reports of engagement or gains in learning, portfolios, and other performance-based methods. This publication will help readers make sense of the broad assessment landscape. Part 1, by assessment expert Robert Sternberg and his colleagues, examines the psychological theories of learning and achievement that underlie these diverse methods and offers practical guidance on how to select among them. Part 2-five case studies-presents profiles of how different institutions are implementing comprehensive approaches to assessing student learning and the benefits of using multiple methods in combination.
