|
Meetings and Institutes
The Quality of US Degrees: Innovations, Efficiencies, and Disruptions—To What Ends?
AAC&U invites proposals for our 2013 Annual Meeting, “The Quality of US Degrees: Innovations, Efficiencies, and Disruptions—To What Ends?,” which will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, January 23-26, 2013. Annual Meeting sessions will address comprehensive efforts to ensure the integrity of college degrees. Participants will shape new frameworks for degrees that offer pathways along which all students will creatively engage complex, real-world challenges. Calls for innovation are pervasive—but are we losing our focus? Where are questions of quality being addressed in the higher education landscape? The Annual Meeting will also feature an E-Portfolio Forum, “Foundational Knowledge, Student Voices, and Best Practices,” all day on Wednesday, January 23. Proposals for the Annual Meeting can be submitted online through July 16, 2012. Please see the online call for proposals for complete information.
Fall 2012 Network for Academic Renewal Conferences to Focus on Equity and Diversity, STEM Learning
Modeling Equity, Engaging Difference: New Frameworks for Diversity and Learning
October 18–20, 2012—Baltimore, Maryland
For more information, or to register, please visit:
http://www.aacu.org/meetings/diversityandlearning/DL2012/index.cfm
Next Generation STEM Learning: Investigate, Innovate, Inspire
November 8–10, 2012—Kansas City, Missouri
For more information, or to register, please visit:
http://www.aacu.org/meetings/stem/12/index.cfm
Save the Date for Spring 2013 Network for Academic Renewal Conferences
General Education and Assessment
February 28– March 2, 2013—Boston, Massachusetts
Student Success
April 4-6, 2013—Miami, Florida
AAC&U Cosponsoring International General Education Conference in Hong Kong
AAC&U is cosponsoring “General Education and University Curriculum Reform: An International Conference,” hosted by the City University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong America Center, June 12–14. The conference, organized in part with assistance from AAC&U Senior Scholar and former Vice President Jerry Gaff, will feature discussion of the Hong Kong experience in general education curriculum reform and consider wider patterns of application. The conference will also address the emerging role of liberal and general education as a priority throughout Asia. AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider will give the keynote address and AAC&U Vice President Terrel Rhodes will also speak about general education and assessment trends in the US that may be relevant to Asian institutions. President Schneider’s address will be live-streamed and archived for viewing on the conference web page.
 |
 |
LEAP News |
Presidents’ Trust Members Gather in Washington, Discuss Leadership for Liberal Education
With funding provided by the Teagle Foundation, members of the LEAP Presidents’ Trust convened in Washington, DC, on April 30 for a conversation focused on leadership for liberal education at multiple levels—faculty, presidents, trustees. Richard Morrill, president of the Teagle Foundation joined the group for a discussion about ways to engage trustees with the meaning and value of liberal education. Several presidents also discussed the need to rethink governance structures to advance faculty leadership and practice in more engaged and integrative forms of liberal learning. The Trust also discussed plans to mobilize visible employer support for liberal education and practices that help students connect college and careers. Click through to learn more about LEAP and the LEAP Presidents’ Trust.
CLDE Network News
Summary of Civic Activities Following Publication of A Crucible Moment
On January 10, 2012, at a White House gathering, the National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement (CLDE) released A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy’s Future, representing recommendations by educators and civic leaders across many constituencies. Since then, AAC&U has been engaged in a number of civic learning projects and initiatives that draw on the recommendations outlined in A Crucible Moment, including the community college initiative Bridging Cultures to Form a Nation; a Bonner Foundation project integrating high-impact learning and community engagement; and forums and discussion on campuses across the nation. A summary of these activities is now available on AAC&U’s website. You can read the summary, and download a PDF copy of A Crucible Moment.
AAC&U to Host First Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement Action Collaborative in Chicago
AAC&U will host in Chicago the first of what it expects to be a national series of city-wide collaborative action forums to assist institutions in implementing the national call to action from A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy’s Future. Funded by the McCormick Foundation, an initial planning group, composed of five Chicago colleges and universities along with Illinois Campus Compact and the Interfaith Youth Corps, met in May to plan a two-part action collaborative involving teams from twelve to fifteen colleges and universities to advance civic learning and democratic engagement.
Campus to Community Coalition of Texas Passes Resolution on Civic Learning Inspired by A Crucible Moment
The Campus to Community Coalition of Texas recently passed a “Resolution on Importance of Civic Learning and Public Engagement as a Catalyst for Education Reform” that draws on the recommendations outlined in the report A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy’s Future. The signatories of the resolution, including the presidents of eleven colleges and universities in Texas, have pledged to create civic-minded campuses and to make “civic learning … an integral component of every level of education, from grade school to graduate school, across all fields of study.” A Crucible Moment was developed as part of the Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement initiative co-led by AAC&U and the Global Perspective Institute. It was released at a White House convening in January 2012 and AAC&U is coordinating a Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement (CLDE) Network of organizations working to advance the report’s recommendations. See AAC&U’s website to download a PDF copy of A Crucible Moment.
 |
|
PKAL News |
STEM Leaders from Thirty-Three Campuses to Attend Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) 2012 Summer Institutes
Project Kaleidoscope and AAC&U recently announced forty faculty leaders from thirty-three colleges and universities who will attend the 2012 PKAL Summer Leadership Institutes for early and mid-career STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) faculty. This marks the fourteenth year that PKAL has sponsored summer institutes at the Baca Campus of Colorado College in Crestone, Colorado. This year's two five-day institutes, held in July and August, will provide faculty participants with the theory and practice required to act as agents of change in their home institutions or professional societies. For a complete list of participating campuses, see the press release.
PKAL Perspective on Quantitative Literacy in the Latest Issue of Liberal Education
The PKAL Perspectives series in the latest issue of Liberal Education features an article by Nathan Grawe of Carleton College about the collaborative efforts of AAC&U, PKAL, SIGMAA-QL, and NNN to build a quantitatively literate citizenry.
PKAL Workshop at “Next Generation STEM Learning” Conference
Save the date for “Leadership for Change in STEM Education,” a PKAL Workshop, immediately following the AAC&U Network for Academic Renewal Conference, November 10, 2012, in Kansas City, Missouri. The workshop will help participants reflect on the conference and frame what they have learned in terms of leadership actions back on campus.
Project Highlights
Call for Reviewers—Pilot VALUE Rubric for Global Learning
AAC&U’s Shared Futures initiative is developing a global learning rubric for the VALUE project. The new rubric is designed to assess student learning outcomes along six dimensions of global learning across four progressively higher levels of achievement. AAC&U is currently seeking volunteers to test the pilot rubric against students’ work in the classroom. The rubric evaluation process will occur in stages in summer and fall of this year. For more information, please contact Chad Anderson at anderson@aacu.org by June 20, 2012.
Register to Now to Administer PSRI Campus Climate Survey in Spring 2013
AAC&U has partnered with the Research Institute for Studies in Education (RISE) at Iowa State University to make available to the higher education community the Personal and Social Responsibility Inventory (PSRI), a campus climate survey developed through AAC&U’s initiative, Core Commitments: Educating Students for Personal and Social Responsibility. Initially piloted and refined by the University of Michigan’s Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education, RISE (the new administrative home for the PSRI) is now recruiting campuses to administer the PSRI in spring 2013. The PSRI is designed to capture respondents’ impressions of the extent to which their campus is educating students around five key dimensions of personal and social responsibility: striving for excellence; cultivating academic integrity; contributing to a larger community; taking seriously the perspectives of others; and developing competence in ethical and moral reasoning and action. For more information about the PSRI or to register for the 2013 administration, please visit www.psri.hs.iastate.edu or e-mail psri@iastate.edu.
New Web Publication from Core Commitments Now Available
Promising Practices for Personal and Social Responsibility: Findings from a National Research Collaborative, a web-based publication from the Core Commitments project, is now available for download as a PDF. Drawing on meetings of a distinguished group of educational researchers, Promising Practices highlights select national/multi-institutional data and major themes along five dimensions of personal and social responsibility. Importantly, the report also offers a set of evidence-based recommendations for improving campus practice in relation to educating students for personal and social responsibility. Learn more about this publication online.
Other AAC&U News
Caryn McTighe Musil to Become New Director of Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement Initiatives
AAC&U Senior Vice President Caryn McTighe Musil will transition from her position as senior vice president to a new role as senior scholar and director of AAC&U Civic Learning and Democracy Initiatives, effective this November. In her new position, McTighe Musil will serve as AAC&U’s chief spokesperson for civic learning and democratic engagement and will work with all program offices to advance civic learning and democratic engagement across all parts of postsecondary education. Read more about her new role here.
Submit Nominations by October 1 for K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award
The K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award recognizes graduate students who show exemplary promise as future leaders of higher education, who demonstrate a commitment to developing academic and civic responsibility in themselves and others, and whose work reflects a strong emphasis on teaching and learning. All doctoral-level graduate students who are planning a career in higher education are eligible, regardless of academic department. Graduate students in fields where the master’s is the terminal degree, such as art or music, are also eligible. Nominees must hold student status in January 2013. Award recipients will attend and present at AAC&U’s Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, in January 2013. See the Cross Award Web page for a list of previous recipients. Information about how to submit a nomination for the 2013 award is available here.
Position Opening—Vice President for Integrative Liberal Learning and the Global Commons
AAC&U invites applications and nominations for the position of Vice President for the Office of Integrative Liberal Learning and the Global Commons to develop and lead national initiatives related to the improvement of students’ integrative liberal learning and achievement in college. The vice president will be part of AAC&U’s senior leadership and will report directly to the president. The primary mission of this educational affairs office at AAC&U is to advance a strategic goal related to “Integrative Liberal Learning and Social Responsibility.” See the full job description and learn how to apply here.
AAC&U Vice President Urges Using Technology to Double Down on Quality in New Educause Book
Game Changers, a new book published by Educause on how information technology is changing higher education, features a chapter by AAC&U Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs Debra Humphreys. Humphreys calls on leaders in higher education to prioritize quality in student learning in their decision-making, including about technology. She urges greater attention to promising uses of technology (e.g., in connecting students to peers around the world and in gathering their best work in e-portfolios) as a tool to increase the quality of instruction, rather than simply as a cost-cutting measure. She points to the success of the New York Times, whose strategy of using technology to “double down on quality” has helped the paper thrive in the digital age. You can download Game Changers as a free e-book.
VALUE Project to Be Featured at AAEEBL E-Portfolio Conference
AAC&U’s VALUE project will be prominently featured at the annual conference of the Association for Authentic, Experiential and Evidence-Based Learning’s (AAEEBL), July 17–19. AAC&U Vice President for Quality, Curriculum, and Assessment Terrel Rhodes and Senior Director of Assessment and Research Ashley Finley will present several sessions on how rubrics such as those developed through the VALUE project can be used with e-portfolios to assess student learning, as well as the ways different colleges and universities are adapting the VALUE rubrics to their institutional needs.
|
|
|
Modeling Equity, Engaging Difference: New Frameworks for Diversity and Learning
October 18–20, 2012
Baltimore, Maryland
Next Generation STEM Learning: Investigate, Innovate, Inspire
November 8–10, 2012
Kansas City, Missouri
2012 AAC&U Summer Institutes
Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success
Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, June 19–23, 2012
Institute on Integrative Learning and the Departments
The University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, July 11–15, 2012
PKAL Summer Leadership Institutes for STEM Faculty
The
Baca Campus of Colorado College in Crestone, CO
Institute I: July 17–22, 2012
Institute II: July 31–August 5, 2012
For more
information on meetings, visit www.aacu.org/meetings/index.cfm
|
