AAC&U Announces 9 Pilot Sites for LEAP “Give Students a Compass” Project
AAC&U announced the nine institutions in California, Oregon, and Wisconsin who will model new approaches to general education designed to increase achievement of important learning outcomes. These pilot activities are part of the Give Students a Compass project that works with large state systems of higher education to advance student achievement and ensure that all students—including those historically underserved by higher education—get the educational practices proven to be effective. See the press release.
AAC&U Introduces New Summer 2009 Institute on Engaging Departments With support from the Teagle Foundation, AAC&U will offer a new summer institute in 2009 called Engaging Departments as part of its signature initiative, Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP). The institute will be held on the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia, July 8-12, 2009, and will provide teams of academic administrators, department chairs, and faculty with intensive, structured time to advance their plans to foster, assess, and improve student learning within departments and across institutions. Teams will focus on leadership for learning within and among departments and assessments for achieving and improving essential outcomes. For more information and application details, see the institute Web page.
University of Wisconsin System Conference Promotes Liberal Education
Teams from 14 University of Wisconsin System institutions met in Madison on Nov. 20-21, 2008, to discuss how best to educate students for 21st-century challenges. AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider was among the keynote speakers. The “Liberal Education: A Unifying Mission for the 21st Century University” conference featured “best practices” from across the UW System, as well as sessions that reflected a range of curricular and co-curricular initiatives that seek to ensure that students will learn the knowledge, skills, values, and habits of mind needed for effective citizenship in a rapidly changing and globally interdependent world. Click here for event press coverage.
The December issue of AAC&U News features community-based research at Keene State College; new information about international students in the United States; an opinion piece about how liberal education fared in the recent presidential election; and the latest news about AAC&U meetings, projects, and publications. Watch for the combined Jan./Feb. 2009 issue of AAC&U News in late January.
High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter
The latest report from AAC&U's LEAP initiative—defines a set of educational practices that research has demonstrated have a significant impact on student success. Author George Kuh presents data from the National Survey of Student Engagement about these practices and explains why they benefit all students, but also seem to benefit underserved students even more than their more advantaged peers.
A Measure of Equity: Women's Progress in Higher Education
This publication presents presents the only current comprehensive overview of data on women’s status in higher education. It documents areas of progress and identifies needed action to move even further down the path towards equity for women in higher education. This publication details specific areas of concern and actions that would advance gender equity in colleges and universities. The research examines women’s access to college, areas of study in undergraduate and post-graduate work, and women’s status as faculty, administrators, and college presidents.
