AAC&U 2004 Annual Meeting Sessions

Audio tapes of selected sessions are available for purchase at Audio Visual Education Network, Inc.

PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS

Wednesday, January 21, 2:00-5:00 p.m.

Rewiring Liberal Education
T. Mills Kelly asks in "Remaking Liberal Education: The Challenges of New Media" (Academe, Jan-Feb, 2003), "When new media are added to a course, do our students learn better, more, or differently? … Is there some sort of measurable beneficial outcome from all the time and money invested in introducing technology into a course?" This workshop will address these questions through a specific case study, which can be applied in virtually every disciplinary context. Participants will be challenged to apply the lessons learned to their own campuses and programs and will leave with new perspectives on the assessment of technology's benefits for liberal education.
T. Mills Kelly, Associate Director, Center for History and New Media, George Mason University

Making the Most of Your Resources
Administrators and faculty members bring ideas, energy, and commitment to curricular renewal, but fiscal uncertainty can have a dampening effect on curricular reform efforts. This workshop offers practical suggestions on how to cost out alternative strategies to achieve learning goals, measure faculty workload, and identify opportunities to reallocate resources – both time and money – to achieve both greater curricular effectiveness and efficiency. The workshop also will address how to evaluate whether curricular resources are being used optimally.
Ann S. Ferren, Professor of Educational Studies, Radford University, and Senior Fellow, AAC&U
NOTE: AAC&U's summer 2003 issue of Peer Review featured an article by Ann Ferren and Ashby Kinch on "The Dollars and Sense Behind General Education Reform."

Progressive Pedagogies in Support of Student Learning and Civic Engagement
This hands-on, activity-based workshop will feature both the evidence and the skills needed to strengthen knowledge and to connect knowledge and civic engagement. We will look at how various teaching strategies foster critical competencies, civic engagement, and student leadership. Through examples, we integrate a variety of pedagogies of engagements including problem-based learning, advocacy projects, case study analysis, service learning, community-based research and intercultural dialogues into courses in various disciplines.
Karen Kashmanian Oates, Professor of Integrative Studies and Biochemist, George Mason University, and Senior Science Fellow, AAC&U; John O'Connor, Senior Scholar, Organizing for Learning; and Project Director of Engaged Campus for a Diverse Democracy, American Association for Higher Education

Faculty-Friendly Assessment of General Education Programs
How do we monitor the effectiveness of our general education programs in ways that will likely lead to program improvement? How can curricular goals provide a framework for thinking about program effectiveness? How can we think most productively about assessment or evaluation of our general education programs? Can we put in place assessment programs that will not die under their own weight? These questions will frame our interaction over the course of this workshop. We'll try to demystify thinking about assessment and provide some user-friendly principles to consider in designing assessment strategies. We will try to generate lists of potential strategies so that participants can assess the effectiveness of their own institutions' general education programs.
Karen Maitland Schilling, Chair and Professor, Department of Psychology, Miami University

ACAD Workshop
Cultivating Academic Leadership: The Role of Associate Deans
Designed for both Deans and Associate/Assistant Deans, the workshop will focus on the relationship of the Dean and Associate Dean(s). Special attention will be given to roles and tasks, boundaries, navigating disagreements, and overall needs for mentoring and support. Participants will use case studies and small group work to share perspectives on the intersection of these positions.
Susan Gotsch, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty, Whittier College; Laura Armesto, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Chatham College

Wednesday, January 21, 7:00-8:30 p.m.

Moral and Civic Education: The Role of Higher Education?

Earlier this year in an article entitled “Aim Low: Confusing Democratic Values with Academic Ones Can Easily Damage the Quality of Education” (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/16/03), Stanley Fish argued, “My main objection to moral and civic education in our colleges and universities is not that it is a bad idea (which it surely is), but that it's an unworkable idea. … [D]emocratic values and academic values are not the same and . . . the confusion of the two can easily damage the quality of education.”

The Kellogg Forum, on the other hand, believes “The irreducible fact is that we exist to advance the common good. As a new millennium dawns, the fundamental challenge with which we struggle is how to reshape our historic agreement with the American people so that it fits the times that are emerging instead of the times that have passed."

Join us for a provocative public forum on the aims of liberal education.

Stanley Fish is Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Tony Chambers is Associate Director of the Kellogg Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good

Thursday, January 22, 8:45 a.m.

Opening Plenary:
Liberal Education and Professionals
Nicholas Lemann is Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. A noted author and journalist, Lemann was most recently the Washington correspondent for The New Yorker. Lemann's books include The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy, which helped spark a reform effort leading to a major overhaul of the SAT; and the award-winning The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How it Changed America.
Nicholas Lemann

Thursday, January 22, 10:30-11:45 am

FEATURED SESSION
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
For two years before she left Iran in 1997, Nafisi gathered seven young women -- all former students -- every Thursday morning to read and discuss forbidden works of Western literature. They were unaccustomed to being asked to speak their minds, but soon they began to speak more freely, not only about the novels they were reading but also about themselves. Nafisi's account flashes back to the early days of the revolution, when she first taught at the University of Tehran amid the swirl of protests, and when students took control of the university, expelled faculty members, and purged the curriculum. Her memoir offers a fascinating portrait of the Iran-Iraq war, gives us a rare glimpse of women's lives in revolutionary Iran, and demonstrates the transformative power of great literature and inspired teaching.
Azar Nafisi, Visiting Professor, The Johns Hopkins University, and author of Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books (Random House, 2003)

FEATURED SESSION
Undergraduate Reform Efforts in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
Significant reform efforts have energized the undergraduate learning environment for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), including a focus on developing students' civic skills. What programs and strategies work to enhance students’ abilities to identify, explore, and solve problems? How are communication and collaboration skills developed so that students recognize the interrelationships between ideas? Are we applying these same skills to our own reform efforts?
Jeanne L. Narum, Director, Project Kaleidoscope and The Independent Colleges Office; Jay Labov, Deputy Director, Center for Education, National Research Council; Karen Kashmanian Oates, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, The Harrisburg University for Science and Technology, and Co-Principal Investigator, SENCER

Presentation
Learning Reconsidered: A Campus-Wide Focus on the Student Experience
In 2003, The National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) and the American College Personnel Association (ACPA) created a new document, Learning Reconsidered, to explicate the work of student affairs as a partner in the broader campus curriculum, review new concepts of learning, describe how student affairs affects both developmental and learning outcomes, and argue for the integrated use of all campus resources in the education of the whole student. This session offers a discussion of the document and its vision of integrated learning and explores how Learning Reconsidered complements the work AAC&U has done in Greater Expectations.
Gwendolyn Jordan Dungy, Executive Director, the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators; Richard P. Keeling, MD, Senior Fellow, AAC&U, and Consultant to NASPA; and Susan R. Komives, Professor, Department of Counseling and Personnel Services, University of Maryland
This session is sponsored by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators

Research Session
From Assessment to Inquiry
The demand for accountability and assessment in higher education is ubiquitous. Yet, this pressure from external sources runs counter to liberal arts faculty culture and to faculty motivation for learning. This session will present examples and suggestions of how faculty, college administrators and regional accreditors can work together to support an approach to assessment that builds a culture of inquiry among faculty and enhances teaching and student learning.
Jill N. Reich, Dean of Faculty, Bates College; Lee Cuba, Dean of the College, Wellesley College; Robert Froh, Associate Director, New England Association of Schools & Colleges; Craig McEwen, Dean for Academic Affairs, Bowdoin College

Research Session
Working Toward a Shared Vision of Liberal Arts Education: Adding Value Through Student Engagement
This session highlights key findings from case studies of ten liberal arts institutions that engage students in effective educational practices and better-than-predicted graduation rates. Emphasis will be given to the promising practices employed at these institutions, including discussion with representatives from some of these schools about how their institutions developed cultures and policies that contribute to their overall strong performance.
George Kuh, Director and Chancellor's Professor of Higher Education, National Survey of Student Engagement; Charlie Blaich, Senior Research Fellow and Daniel F. Evans Associate Professor of Psychology, Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College; Jillian Kinzie, Assistant Director; Sara Hinkle, Project Associate, NSSE Institute

Panel Presentation
Integrating and Assessing Learning Community, Civic Engagement and Diversity Efforts
Can innovative learning strategies be integrated for increased impact? What programs help students engage in community and on live productively in a diverse democracy? How does assessment inform practice? Panelists will connect campus models and strategies with current theories and research and will address barriers to efforts to integrate promising practices.
Judy P. Patton, Director, University Studies, Portland State University; David Schoem, Faculty Director, Michigan University Scholars, University of Michigan; Nancy Shapiro, Associate Vice Chancellor, University System of Maryland; Marie D. Eaton, Professor of Humanities and Education, Fairhaven College, Western Washington University

Panel Presentation
Innovative Uses of Service Learning and Other Teaching Strategies to Promote Civic Engagement
The University of Maine at Farmington, in collaboration with two regional organizations (Coastal Enterprises, Inc. and the Western Mountains Alliance), offers a course in which students collect oral histories of successful Maine businesswomen. These histories are then made available to inspire others and to shape public policy. At Georgia College and State University a seminar on Utopia-Dystopia includes multidimensional service and learning opportunities with Habitat for Humanity. Faculty and student perspectives on both courses will foster an exploration of broader issues of course objectives and student outcomes at public liberal arts colleges.
Moderators: Allen Berger, University of Maine at Farmington, and Anne Gormly, Georgia College and State University
Presenters: Lee Sharkey, Assistant Professor of English, University of Maine at Farmington; Jocelyn Barrett, student, University of Maine at Farmington; Amanda Coffin, student, University of Maine at Farmington; Robert Viau, Assistant Director of Honors and Professor of English, Georgia College and State University; Micah Maner, Georgia College and State University; Nicole Campbell, Georgia College and State University; Iheanyi Maduka, Georgia College and State University; Jo Josephson, Director of Projects and Communications, Western Mountains Alliance, Maine
This session is sponsored by the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges

Panel and Roundtable Discussions
The Emerging Civic Mission of Private Universities: Challenges of Engagement
Private universities are increasingly exploring new civic missions that engage them deeply with local communities. Service learning, advocacy, and collaborative partnerships stretch the classic mission of the private institution and challenge its traditional purposes, pedagogies, epistemologies, and ethics. In this session, the experience of four dissimilar private universities (Baptist, Catholic, independent, and historically Black) who are at the forefront of this movement will guide participant discussion of these challenges and their implications for our educational practice.
Peter C. Brown, Director, Mercer Center for Community Development, Mercer University; C. David Lisman, Director, Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement, University of Denver; Rodney D. Green, Executive Director, Center for Urban Progress, Howard University; Richard T. Ferguson, Director, Raymond L. Fitz, S.M., Center for Leadership in Community, University of Dayton

Discussion Session
Beyond Technology as a Tool: Ways of Learning and Liberal Learning Outcomes
This session will include brief presentations and substantial discussion exploring how visual technologies maybe be changing liberal learning pedagogies and, possibly, liberal learning outcomes themselves. Presented in part by members of the Consortium for Innovative Learning Environments in conjunction with Apple Computer, Inc.
Edwin Clausen, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Daemen College; Frances Himes, Senior Director, Higher Education, Apple Corporation; Ted Pope, Professor of Art and Interdisciplinary Studies, Arizona International College of The University of Arizona; Thomas Poon, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Pitzer College

ACAD Session:
Navigating the Waters of Departmental Reviews without Capsizing: Some Successful Models from Public and Private Institutions
There are many different models for program review, but for all, the ultimate goal of program reviews should be to examine the degree to which program goals are being achieved and to identify possible changes that can improve the program. At the Deans’ Think Tank, convened by the New England Resource Center for Higher Education, participants focused on how deans might collaborate with chairs so that the review process could be used to improve programs, to start conversations about teaching and learning, and to further institutional goals. Representatives from the think tank will share their institutional perspectives and engage the audience in discussion.
Moderator: Laurie Crumpacker, Dean Arts and Sciences, Wheelock College
Albert DeCiccio, Dean, Rivier College; Robert Martin, Dean, Undergraduate Studies, Westfield State College; Karen Talentino, Dean Stonehill College

Thursday, January 22, 10:30 – 12:00 p.m.

Presidents Session:
Fulfilling the Civic Promise of the Landmark Michigan Decisions: Leaders Envision Next Steps on Diversity and Learning
Panelists: Troy Duster, Professor of Sociology; New York University and University of California-Berkeley; Rebecca Chopp, President, Colgate University; John Casteen, President, University of Virginia
Respondent: Nicholas Lemann, Henry R. Luce Professor and Dean, Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University

Thursday, January 22, FROM 1:30-2:30 p.m.


Featured Session:
The Livings Arts: Comparative and Historical Reflections on Liberal Education
In the spring of 2003, AAC&U published The Living Arts as part of its series on “The Academy n Transition.” The publication was partly based on an international conversation in which contemporary issues in liberal education were addressed from a comparative perspective. This session will explore how this perspective illuminates the current condition and future prospects of liberal education both in the United States and abroad.
Sheldon Rothblatt, Professor Emeritus of History, University of California, Berkeley, and author of The Living Arts: Comparative and Historical Reflections on Liberal Education (AAC&U, 2003); and Robert Orrill, Executive Director, National Council on Education and the Disciplines

Greater Expectations Session
The States, General Education, and Student Transfer
As part of the Greater Expectations for Student Transfer project, several states have worked on enhancing the coherence of general education for transfer students by developing articulation strategies based on course purposes rather than course content. The status of this work in leading states and the nation as a whole will be presented for comment.
Robert Shoenberg, Senior Fellow, AAC&U

Research Session
DEEPening Our Knowledge of Effective Practices at Special Mission Institutions
The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) Institute for Effective Educational Practice and the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) are nearing the end of a two-year study of 20 institutions with better-than-predicted student engagement scores and higher-than-predicted graduation rates. With support from Lumina Foundation for Education and the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College, the Documenting Effective Educational Practice (DEEP) project is discovering and documenting the programs, policies, and practices that successfully engage students in learning activities and lead to graduation. Among the 20 schools selected for case studies are seven "special mission" institutions. Representatives from the research team and from several speical mission colleges will discuss what these institutions do to promote high levels of student engagement and success.
Jillian Kinzie, Assistant Director, National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) Institute for Effective Educational Practice; George Kuh, Director and Chancellor's Professor of Higher Education, National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) Institute for Effective Educational Practice; Sara Hinkle, Project Associate, National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) Institute for Effective Educational Practice; Carla Morelon, Project Associate, National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) Institute for Effective Educational Practice

Discussion Session/Interactive
Linking Cooperative Learning to the Research on How Students Learn
Many people are increasingly aware of the research on the biological basis of learning and related international research on deep, rather than surface, learning. Research on cooperative learning—which is convergent—goes back for decades. This interactive session will explore some of that research, discuss its implications for teaching and learning, and link it to sound classroom practices.
Barbara June Millis, Director of Faculty Development, United States Air Force Academy

Panel Presentation/Interactive
Honors and Liberal Learning: Models of Success
How do honors programs foster the core values of AAC&U’s mission and engage institutions in transforming teaching and learning to achieve liberal learning at its best? Participants will discuss the successes and challenges of honors programs in developing pedagogies that promote and sustain liberal learning.
John Zubizarreta, Director of Honors and Faculty Development, Columbia College; Bernice Braid, Director of Honors, Long Island University, Brooklyn; Lawrence V. Clark, Director of Honors, Southeast Missouri State University

Research Session
Civic Engagement and Religious Diversity: Meeting a Liberal Education Challenge
How can the academy assist students in fostering a better undestanding of the self and the “other” through a greater awareness of differing religious world views? A narrow view of religious experience often leads the academy to marginalize the study of religion and fails to provide students with the capacity to engage constructively in a pluralistic society. Participants will explore how to infuse the curriculum with diverse religious perspectives and how to organize activities that foster cross-religious understanding.
Harlan Douglas Stelmach, Associate Professor, Humanities; Chair, Humanities, Dominican University of California

Debate/Discussion
Resolving Misalignment and Demotivation: Debating Curricular Reform
Successful implementation of curricular reforms must account for the motivational goals of a diverse faculty. Discussion will focus on (a) supporting professors with a high need for affiliation and teaching achievement who champion curricular reforms, but run the real risk of burnout; (b) cooptation strategies for professors with a high need for research achievement who oppose reform; and (c) “high leverage” curricular reforms which simultaneously advance learning, research and assessment.
Ellen Russell Beatty, Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs, Southern Connecticut State University; Robert A Page, Associate Professor of Management, Southern Connecticut State University; German Bermudez, Associate Executive Officer of Assessment and Learning, Connecticut State University

Panel Presentation
Service Learning, Diversity, and Social Justice: Challenges and Possibilities
Students have varying levels of commitment to social justice and civic responsibility. At the same time, students daily make choices about their contributions to their lives outside of the classroom, including the professional realm and community responsibilities. How can faculty encourage learning that thoroughly embraces ethical reflection in connection with all that students learn, and that adequately tends to the injustices present outside of the classroom?
Jennifer S. Simpson, Assistant Professor of Communication, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne; Julie A. Hatcher, Associate Director, Center for Service and Learning, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis; Michelle T. Verduzco, Director of Student Life and Diversity Programs, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis

Interactive Session
The Role of Democratic Dialogue on Campus
In a recent Change magazine (September/October 2003) Mallory and Thomas propose the creation of “intentionally designed, permanent ‘spaces’ on campus for identifying, studying, deliberating, and planning action regarding pressing issues with ethical or social implications.” Can such democratic dialogue strengthen student learning, institutional governance, and community-univeristy partnerships? This session will review several models of democratic dialogue, including various university dialogue programs, Study Circles, National Issues Forum, Public Conversations, and the Michigan Community Scholars Program.
David Schoem, Faculty Director, Michigan Community Scholars Program, University of Michigan; Bruce Mallory, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, University of New Hampshire; Nancy Thomas, Director, Democracy Project

ACAD Session
Leadership in an Environment of Change: Confrontation and Transformation
Institutions of higher education have been the focus of change, in response to both external and internal pressures. This session will address the importance of clarity, conscientiousness, and emotional competence as skills that deans use to help meet the challenges of adapting to change in their critical role as transformative leaders. Key attributes of the relationship of the dean with department chairs and division heads to help advance quality programs will be explored. A case study approach will be used to encourage small group discussion
Maureen Grasso, Dean of the Graduate School and Professor Textile Sciences, The University of Georgia; Hannah Kliger, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Communication and Jewish Studies, Penn State Abington

Thursday, January 22, 2:15 – 3:45 p.m.

Presidents Session
Reaching the Nation’s Unprepared Students: What Higher Education Can Do Now
Chair: Barbara Hill, Senior Fellow, AAC&U and Senior Consultant, Pathways to College Network
Panelists: Kati Haycock, Director, The Education Trust; Daniel Fogel, President, University of Vermont

* To view Kati Haycock's slides, please visit
Reaching the Nations Underprepared Students: What Higher Education Can Do Now (Microsoft PowerPoint required)

Thursday, January 22, 2:45-3:45 p.m.


Featured Session:
Educational Encounters in the Intersection: Student Intellectual, Intercultural, and Identity Development
Research literature is rich in the areas of student intellectual and identity development, with significant research emerging in the area of intercultural sensitivity. This session will explore recent research on the intersections of these three areas of student development: intellectual, identity formation, and intercultural sensitivity. A new model of “the multicultural self” will be presented along with student data. Suggestions will be offered for curricular and pedagogical transformation and for working in a more seamless manner with the curriculum and co-curriculum.
L. Lee Knefelkamp, Professor of Psychology and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University

Greater Expectations Session
Accreditation: Supportive Policies for Powerful Liberal Learning
A number of regional and specialized accrediting associations have recently revised standards and guidelines to emphasize clear learning outcomes and intentional practice to achieve them. Drawing on the work of the Project on Accreditation and Assessment, the conference will focus conversations about accreditation specifically on liberal learning outcomes.
John Nichols, Senior Fellow, AAC&U, and NEH Distinguished Teaching Professor, Saint Joseph's College

Panel Presentation/Interactive
Putting Civic Learning at the Core: Impediments and Promising Practices
AAC&U has established a new Center for Liberal Education and Civic Engagement, created in partnership with Campus Compact, to advance the multiple and profound connections between civic engagement and liberal learning. This session is designed as a structured forum to explore what poses impediments to putting civic learning at the academic core and to identify imaginative strategies, pedagogies, and programs that promise a new civic vision for the academy.
Grant H. Cornwell, Vice President of the University and Dean of Academic Affairs, St. Lawrence University; and representatives of colleges and universities in the Center’s “Journey Toward Democracy” project

Panel Presentation
Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE)
This session will acquaint meeting participants with current funding priorities and opportunities in higher education from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education in the U.S. Department of Education (FIPSE). A presentation will be made by Sylvia Crowder, FIPSE program coordinator, with an introduction by the agency's new director, Leonard L. Haynes III.

Panel Presentation
Curricular Renewal at Knox College
In 2001, Knox College renewed its commitment to connect the strengths of liberal learning to increasing public concerns about careers, costs, practical skills, and student satisfaction. The new plan, fully implemented this year, reorganizes the curriculum along four themes: Foundations, Specialization, Key Competencies, and Experiential Learning. Our presentation focuses on the substance of the new program as well as on ways it builds on long-established, but often implicit aspects of institutional culture and educational practice.
Lawrence B. Breitborde, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College; Professor of Anthropology, Knox College; Heather L. Hoffmann, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology, Knox College; Elizabeth Marzoni, undergraduate student, Knox College; Xavier E. Romano, Vice President for Student Development and Dean of Students, Knox College

Research Session/Interactive
In Service of the Public Good: The Use of Structured Dialogue in Higher Education and Public Policy
This interactive presentation will explore the ways in which structured dialogue between state legislators and higher education representatives can advance a vision toward a practical liberal education that cultivates ethical obligations and civic responsibilities. Data for this presentation comes from a roundtable that brought together college and university presidents and state legislators to engage in a meaningful dialogue on the role of higher education and the public good.
Xu Li, Graduate Research Assistant, University of Michigan; Magdalena Martinez, Graduate Research Assistant, University of Michigan; John C. Burkhardt, Professor of Higher Education, University of Michigan

Research Presentation
The Liberal Arts of Leadership
By sharing authority and creating a hospitable setting, leaders of successful liberal arts and research institutions practice the liberal arts in their own work while also fostering an environment in which students themselves obtain the practical skills and modes of thought that best prepare them for the world.. Examples from Colgate University's new student housing plan and Emory University's program to advance faculty scholarship illustrate how a commitment to the liberal arts in administrative offices is as important as it is in the classroom.
Susan H. Frost, Vice President for Strategic Development, Emory University; Rebecca S Chopp, President, Colgate University; Aimee L. Pozorski, Lecturer of English, Central Connecticut State University

Panel Presentation/Interactive
Advancing the Liberal Arts in Undergraduate and Graduate Education
This session highlights the work of three different but complementary institutes/centers committed to strengthening liberal arts education: the Institute for the Liberal Arts at Westmont College, the Center for Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College, and the Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts at Emory University. Participants will consider with us how liberal arts education is understood and practiced on their campuses and will have the opportunity to get involved with our programs.
Christian William Hoeckley, Administrative Director, Institute for the Liberal Arts, Westmont College; Ryan Hays, Student, Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts, Emory University; Charles Blaich, Director of Inquiries and Senior Fellow, Center for Inquiry in the Liberal Arts, Wabash College

Panel and Roundtable Discussions
Leadership for Liberal Education Today: A Status Report on the National Learning Communities Movement
More than 500 institutions—public and independent, residential and commuter, two-year and four-year—have adopted the learning community idea and adapted it to their own needs. What do learning communities contribute to promoting the quality of undergraduate education and systemic change, especially in two critical areas: developmental education and work with diverse student populations?
Gillies Malnarich, Co-Director, Washington Center for Improving Undergraduate Education, The Evergreen State College; Emily Decker Lardner, Co-Director, Washington Center for Improving Undergraduate Education, The Evergreen State College

ACAD Session:
Liberal Learning and the Scholarship of Teaching
The mission of liberal education is to develop persons who combine intellectual ability, curiosity, responsibility, and motivation for positive change. This session will identify key pedagogical issues in achieving effective liberal learning, examine how the scholarship of teaching can help address these issues, and suggest what deans can do to create a climate of serious intellectual attention to teaching and learning.
Elizabeth McKinsey, Professor of English and American Studies and former Dean of the
College, Carleton College; Pat Hutchings, Vice President, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Co-director, Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning; David Burrows, Dean of the College and Professor of Psychology, Beloit College

4:00 – 5:15 p.m.
Presidents’ Session

Sounding the CALL
Presidents and supporters will discuss the advocacy and policy priorities for a proposed AAC&U Leadership Council for Liberal Education, comprised of presidents, business and civic leaders, and school educators.
Chair: Donald Harward, President Emeritus, Bates College and Senior Fellow, AAC&U

Thursday, January 22, 4:00-5:30 p.m.


Featured Session:
Moral and Civic Dimensions of Liberal Education
Based on fieldwork reported in their book, Educating Citizens: Preparing America’s Undergraduates for Lives of Moral and Civic Responsibility, Anne Colby and Thomas Ehrlich will discuss the goals, strategies, and practices of the moral and civic dimensions of liberal education. They will highlight the work of institutions that make undergraduate moral and civic education a central priority, as evidenced in their curricula, extra-curricular programs, and campus culture.
Thomas Ehrlich, Senior Scholar, and Anne Colby, Senior Scholar, both at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and co-authors of Educating Citizens: Preparing America’s Undergraduates for Lives of Moral and Civic Responsibility (Jossey-Bass, 2003)

Greater Expectations Session
Purposeful Pathways for Learning
The Forum on Twenty-first Century Liberal Arts Education Practice will share findings from two years of work. Participants will share promising practices in inquiry-based learning, integrative learning, civic learning, and global learning to help faculty and campuses improve pedagogy and student achievement.
Barbara Hill, Senior Fellow, AAC&U; Robert Shoenberg, Senior Fellow, AAC&U; Debra Humphries, Vice President, Office of Communication and Public Affairs, AAC&U; Ross Miller, Director of Programs, Office of Education and Quality Initiatives, AAC&U; Caryn McTighe Musil, Vice President, Office of Diversity, Equity, and Global Initiatives, AAC&U

Panel Presentation
Advancing Liberal Education: The New Imperatives
The American Association of University Professors recently released a statement "On Liberal Learning". A diverse group of participants:--alums of Preparing Future faculty programs, the leadership of AAUP and AAC&U, and deans and faculty leaders, as well as doctoral students eager to teach in undergraduate institutions of all kinds—will discuss the report and imperatives for change. The report argues that for liberal learning to be the transformative agent required in our fast-paced, global society, it must be highly visible, diverse, embraced by faculty, inspirational for undergraduate students, socially responsible, and intellectually keen. It requires a supportive faculty, refinements in the faculty reward system, innovative learning pedagogies and curriculum and a more engaged student body.
Carol Simpson Stern, Professor and Chair of Performance Studies, Northwestern University; Mary A. Burgan, General Secretary, American Association of University Professors; Steven Galovich, Provost and Dean of Faculty, Lake Forest College; Orlando L. Taylor, Vice Provost for Research and Dean of the Graduate School, Howard University; Linda L. Carroll, Professor of Italian, Tulane University; Betty Donohue, Associate Professor of English, Bacone College

Panel Presentation
Learning Partnerships: Promoting Intentional Learning and Engaged Citizenship
Learning Partnerships actively engage learners in the modes of thought required by a complex world, while helping them develop belief and value systems that guide ethical and thoughtful citizenship. Discussion of components of these partnerships as well as outcomes of their use in multiple college settings will help attendees design their own learning partnerships that promote intentional learning and engaged citizenship.
Marcia B. Baxter Magolda, Professor of Educational Leadership, Miami University; Patricia M. King, Professor, Center for Study of Higher & Postsecondary Education, University of Michigan; Peter M. Magolda, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership, Miami University; Carolyn Haynes, Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies, Miami University

Panel Presentation
Civic Engagement through Project Pericles
Three institutions discuss their innovative and comprehensive approaches to education for citizenship and meaningful student empowerment developed as part of the Lang Foundation’s Project Pericles. Elon University’s Winter Program links the university with a non-profit organization—Heiffer international Project—and connects academic affairs and student life through global understanding and social responsibilty, Allegheny College’s Centers for Civic Engagement ensures that diverse curricular and co-curricular initiatives maximize cooperation and effectiveness, and Swarthmore College’s new Eugene M. Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility supports efforts to create community partnerships, orientation and training for community service, residential service programs, service dimensions to study abroad, and community-based curriculum.
Richard J. Cook, President, Allegheny College; Russell B. Gill, Professor of English; Mark R. Albertson, University Registrar; Matthew W. Clark, Associate Professor of Biology – all of Elon University; Jennie Keith, Director, Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility; Patricia James, Associate Director; Cynthia Jetter, Associate Director; Debra Kardon-Brown, Programs Coordinator – all of the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility, Swarthmore College


Discussion Session
Teaching Science, Exploring Controversy, Taking Action: Perspectives on Global Education
Scientific understanding is necessary to deal effectively and justly with many global crises, from clean water to the AIDS pandemic. Participants will share strategies for developing local and global contexts to enhance science learning, and for encouraging students to develop commitments to social justice and social action. This session will model small group learning techniques as participants discuss ways of connecting theory with practice and values with action in science courses.
Marion Field Fass, Associate Professor of Biology, Beloit College; Sherryl Broverman, Assistant Professor of Biology, Duke University; Dr John Mecham, Professor of Biology, Meredith College

ACAD Session:
The Dean and International Crises
What are the responsibilities of deans in helping to steer their campuses through international crises? Until recently, this is a question that deans may not have expected to be part of their job descriptions. However, as a result of international events that have had profound effects on their students and faculty—the terrorist attacks of September 11th, the war in Iraq, and the SARS outbreak, for example—deans have found unexpected challenges, duties, and responsibilities thrust upon them. The college or university campus is no longer (if it ever was) an island insulated from the ramifications of world events. A panel of deans will respond to the academic dean's role in campus crisis management.
Moderator: Paul Armstrong, Dean of the College, Brown University
Stephen C. Ainlay, Vice President for Academic Affairs, College of the Holy Cross; Laurie Crumpacker, Dean, Wheelock College; Thomas Falkner, Dean of the Faculty Emeritus, The College of Wooster; Robert Thompson, Dean of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, Duke University

Thursday, January 22, 4:00-5:30 p.m.


ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSONS ON CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Creating Opportunities for Service Learning: The Worcester Community Project Center Approach
Participants will discuss how colleges and universities can create service-learning project partnerships with public and private organizations in their communities. Central to WPI’s university's mission to educate "technological humanists" is an interdisciplinary project in which teams of students tackle problems posed by external agencies and organizations. These projects take place at "Project Centers," both locally and around the globe, at which students and faculty live and work fulltime addressing real-world problems. Topics for discussion will include framing faculty roles in formulating and advising projects; identifying and assessing service-learning educational outcomes; preparing students for field work; using technology as a tool for informing public policy; and building strong and sustainable partnerships with local organizations and policymakers.
Rick Vaz, Associate Dean, Interdisciplinary and Global Studies Division; and Rob Krueger, Director, Worcester Community Project Center – both of Worcester Polytechnic Institution

Engaging Students in Grassroots Democracy
The new Elizabethtown College Center for Civic Engagement has encouraged the development of student, faculty, and community partnerships in the neighboring cities of Lancaster and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Engaging students with grassroots community groups helps to motivate academic inquiry into the political process; deepen their understanding of social justice issues; encourage active student engagement as citizens in a democracy; and meet the needs of our majority white middle-class college students for experiential learning in richly diverse sites. Participants will discuss the student and faculty led initiatives that have resulted in more informed, involved and motivated learning on campus.
Vivian Horwitz Bergel, Associate Professor of Social Work, Elizabethtown College; Jill Sunday Bartoli, Associate Professor of Social Work and Education, Elizabethtown College; Gerald Kohn, Superintendent/CEO, Harrisburg (PA) City School System; Dr. James Birge, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Campus Compact; Dabeney A. Peters, Student, Elizabethtown College; Julie Bergstresser, Student, Elizabethtown College

Beyond Service Learning: The Social Action and Justice Colloquium
How can we combine deep knowledge and responsible social action in general education courses? Pepperdine University’s Social Action and Justice Colloquium is a four-course general education sequence that integrates academic skills and knowledge, reflection and preparation for vocation, and active community participation. Presenters describe key components of the program, report on assessment data, and provide copies of program materials.
Lee Ann Carroll, Professor of English; Jeff Banks, Visiting Professor of Business; and Lorie Goodman, Assistant Professor of English – all of Pepperdine University

Using Liberal Education to Create a Community Response to Troubled Families and Youth
Faculty members representing varied academic disciplines have established two institutes that support local agencies serving troubled families and youth in a rural region of Upstate New York. The Rural Justice Institute and the Lea Powell Institute for Children and Families. Practical experiences are sought to provide faculty with realistic situations from which they can draw examples for instruction and provide students with an opportunity to put critical thinking skills to use. Participants will discuss the consequences of such institutes on undergraduate education and graduate education; the impact on the administration's involvement, faculty education philosophy, and student preparedness; and the implications for a national strategy of educational reform.
William Hall, Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; John Cerio, Professor of School Psychology; Karen Porter, Professor of Sociology; and Joann Jankoski, Professor of Education – all of Alfred University

Senior Composition: Reframing Writing and Reading as Acts of Civic Engagement
How can we raise student awareness of the civic responsibilities that accompany the many benefits of their education? A recent revision of Longwood University’s General Education program took the two-semester freshman writing requirement and split its six credit hours between the freshman and senior years. The first-year course, focusing on academic reading, writing, and research, prepares students to enter academic discourse communities. The last-year course, focusing on civic literacy, prepares students to function effectively beyond those communities and to engage in reading and writing as acts of responsible citizenship. It functions as a General Education capstone, preparing students to mobilize their education in identifying and addressing public issues outside their disciplinary specialties. Members of the development team will discuss the development process and will engage participants in exploring the challenges, benefits, and opportunities that such a course presents.
Jená Burges, Associate Professor of English; Susan Booker, Assistant Professor of English; Pamela Tracy, Director of Women's Studies and Assistant Professor of Communication Studies; and Rhonda Brock-Servais, Asssistant Professor of English – all of Longwood University

Community-Based Learning at Santa Clara University: The Pursuit of Justice
The mission of Santa Clara University is deeply rooted in Ignatian spirituality, which has been foundational to the Jesuit approach to liberal education for over four centuries. The Arrupe Center for Community-Based Learning is one of four Centers of Distinction established as the foundations for different facets of liberal education on the SCU campus. It is based on a mutually beneficial partnership between the University and the community that fixes the concern for justice firmly within the University’s curriculum. The Arrupe Center facilitates the collaboration of the University, the community, and students in community-based learning grounded in the belief that those who live with the consequences of unjust social relations have a special knowledge of what needs to change. Through its core program, some 1,400 students per year work in community placements specially adapted to academic course requirements. The Arrupe Center sponsors ongoing faculty development opportunities, including bi-yearly weeklong workshops to train faculty in community-based learning. Participants will discuss the Center's seventeen-year record of work, including both its theoretical and practical aspects.
Catherine Wolff, Director, The Arrupe Center for Community-Based Learning; Gerdenio Manuel, Vice-Provost, Santa Clara University; Mary Novak, Program Director, The Bannan Center for Jesuit Education

Moving from Deeds to Commitment: Infusing Civic Engagement in Integrative Studies at Michigan State Unviersity
Rooted in the land grant tradition, Michigan State University has a long history in the service-learning movement. Courses within disciplines have long provided service and community-based learning opportunities intrinsic to course themes and intended outcomes of the corresponding academic majors. Since the mid-1990’s, the university has also advanced the field through the integration of course-related service opportunities linked to required general education classes in the first and second year curricula.
Participants will explore the models used at MSU and articulate best practices and inevitable challenges faced in utilizing “real world/real needs” settings in attempting to advance knowledge, instill commitment, and transform lives on many levels.
Karen McKnight Casey, Director, Service-Learning & Civic Engagement; John A. Dowell, Instructor, Department of Writing, Rhetoric & American Cultures
– both at Michigan State University

Friday, January 23, 8:45-10:15 a.m.


Featured Session:
Spirituality and Liberal Learning: Early Findings From a New National Project
UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute recently embarked on a large-scale national study of students' spiritual development during the undergraduate years under a major grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The project is predicated in part on the belief that the student's "inner life" – the realm of beliefs, values, meaning and purpose – should be a major focus of liberal learning. Alexander Astin will discuss some provocative preliminary findings from an initial longitudinal assessment carried out in Spring 2003 on 3,700 juniors attending 46 baccalaureate-granting colleges and universities.
Alexander W. Astin, Allan Murray Cartter Professor of Higher Education and Work and Director,
Higher Education Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles

Discussion Session
Building Equity: Gender Conscious Programs and Policies
Real and lasting change in the status of women requires moving beyond piecemeal initiatives. Panelists discuss collaborative efforts of the chief academic officer of a liberal arts college and the director of women's studies. Drawing on several decades of experience at two institutions, DePauw and Bryn Mawr, panelists will apply insights from feminist history plus administrative and pedagogical practice on behalf of women in science to explore some paradoxical lessons about intentions and outcomes.
Meryl Altman, Director of Women's Studies and Associate Professor of English, DePauw University; Neal Broadus Abraham, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty, DePauw University

Discussion Session
Hiring - Are We Asking the Right Questions at the Right Time? The Art of Hiring the Faculty We Need
Greater Expectations - A New Vision for Learning as a Nation Goes to College (AAC&U 2002) implies the need for faculty with qualifications different than the past. Faculty hiring is one opportunity to acquire the talent and values essential for institutional change. This session identifies and discusses the implicationsof Greater Expectations on hiring in five specific areas and makes suggestions concerning how these types of qualifications can be prioritized in the hiring process.
Lee F. Seidel, Director, Center for Teaching Excellence, University of New Hampshire

Discussion Session
Reenergizing Core Programs as Universities Mature
While bringing vision to practice generally means creating something new, it can also mean recreating or reenergizing core programs as universities mature. After presenting the context and results of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Objectives Project, the presenters will facilitate a focused discussion that addresses the linked challenges of losing institutional memory when faculty retire and revitalizing liberal education for new faculty.
David J. Sill, Associate Provost, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; John C. Navin, Associate Professor of Economics, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville; Ivy A. Cooper, Associate Professor of Art, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS ON GENERAL EDUCATION

The Academic Village: A Place for Practicing Liberal Education
Presenters will discuss the ways in which the University of Dayton has developed the connections between form and function in order to develop an academic village as a place for practicing liberal education. Discussion will include a description of a general education program that actualizes connections across disciplines, an overview of innovative uses of technology that strengthen community, and a description of the Humanities Fellows Program that teams faculty in the humanities with faculty in the professional schools to develop interdisciplinary and connected learning environments and experiences.
Patricia A. Johnson, Associate Dean for Connected Learning and Professor of Philosophy; and Paul J. Morman, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences – both of the University of Dayton

Creating New Communities of Learning at UCLA: The Freshman Cluster Program
This presentation deals with UCLA's five-year effort to offer first year students a series of yearlong general education courses called freshman clusters. These courses are devoted to complex, controversial topics and emphasize interdisciplinarity, best practices, the acquisition of intellectual skills, and the development of learning communities. A group comprised of cluster faculty, graduate students, and administrators will discuss the program's background, implementation, participant experiences, strengths, and ongoing challenges.
M. Gregory Kendrick, Freshman Cluster Program Coordinator; Sally Gibbons, Adjunct Professor of Philosophy; and Lucy Blackmar, Assistant Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Initiatives – all of UCLA

The Cluster Program: A Pedagogical Model for General Education
Presenters will discuss the cluster courses at William Paterson University, which consist of three separate courses grouped together as a unit so that elements of the three disciplines can be linked together. Cluster courses enable faculty to develop teaching models that emphasize the connections between disciplines. Students begin to make those connections, understanding where disciplines overlap; they also learn about the connections between academic disciplines and the real world. In addition to covering a significant amount of academic material, the cluster functions as a supportive environment for the transition from high school to college.
Miryam Z. Wahrman, Professor of Biology and Director of General Education; and Catarina Feldmann, Professor of English, Director of Cluster Program, both of William Paterson University of New Jersey

Establishing an Interdisciplinary General Education Program
Mars Hill College is implementing a new general education curriculum that is designed to help students develop the practical skills that will prepare them to make a living and make a life and that encourages them to reflect on character and responsible citizenship. The five course core, taken during the students' first three years, and a senior year capstone experience are the heart of the curriculum. The core courses, called the commons, are interdisciplinary in nature and explore the purpose of liberal learning, character, the relationship between science and religion, civic life and the nature of creativity. The capstone experience requires students to demonstrate advanced writing, speaking, research and critical thinking skills. Mars Hill College wishes to share its experiences in designing and implementing this curriculum with colleagues.
James Lenburg, Dean of General Education; Kathy Meacham, Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy; Stan Dotson, Director of LifeWorks; Laurie Pedersen, Associate Professor of Sociology – all of Mars Hill College

Assessing Liberal Learning: A Syllabus Audit Approach
A focus on assessment in higher education forces us to ask the question, to what extent do courses in the major and in the core curriculum meet the general education requirements? One approach is by asking faculty to analyze their courses through a course-audit process. In this interactive presentation, presenters will describe work-in-progress at Alvernia as well as applications for other institutions gleaned from this case, as participants discuss several key issues with regard to implementation and assessment of the technique.
Anne A Skleder, Provost and Associate Professor of Psychology; and Charles A. Perkins, Provost and Executive Vice President, Alvernia College – both of Alvernia College


Wye Faculty Seminar:
Leading Change in Academia
This “mini-seminar,” offered by The Aspen Institute’s and AAC&U’s Wye Faculty Seminar, will address such questions as what drives change in an academic institution? What barriers make change difficult? What are the essential components for bringing out effective change? What are the common mistakes in the attempt to lead change?
(Please note that participants were to have pre-registered with The Aspen Institute.)

Friday January 23, 10:30-11:45 a.m.

Featured Session:
Diversity and Democracy: The Unfinished Work
In June 2003, AAC&U wrote, and more than thirty higher education associations signed, "Diversity and Democracy: The Unfinished Work," a statement of rededication to "work with all means available to make knowledge a resource – both educational and civic – for achieving a racially inclusive democracy." This panel session will build upon that statement as we call upon higher education to embrace its important role in expanding racial inclusion, equal opportunity, and educational equity.
Gerald Torres, H.O. Head Centennial Professor in Real Property Law, University of Texas Law School, and co-author (with Lani Guinier) of The Miner's Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy; Kati Haycock, Director, The Education Trust; Anthony Carnevale, Vice President for Public Leadership, Educational Testing Service

Greater Expectations Session
Campus Leadership for Student Engagement, Inclusion, and Achievement: Mutually Supportive Outcomes
The Greater Expectations Summer Institute is designed to strengthen leaders’ competence to align institutional structures, policies, and practices to make possible the engagement, inclusion, and high achievement of all students. Two campus teams will discuss their experiences at the 2003 Institute and discuss the results of implementing the action plans they developed there. We will engage the audience in a conversation about how it might use this and other AAC&U institutes as venues for planning how to enact the Greater Expectations New Academy vision of engaged, inclusive, and academically challenging educational environments.
Moderator: Alma Clayton-Pedersen, Vice President for Education and Institutional Renewal, AAC&U
Richard Edward Farmer, Executive Vice President, Patricia Daly, Professor of Education, and Andrew Klein, Vice President for Student Development - all of Ohio Dominican University; Karen Thacker, Dean of Professional Programs; Victoria Williams, Director, Honors Program and Assistant Professor of Politics; and Anne A. Skleder, Vice Provost and Associate Professor of Psychology - all of Alvernia College

A National Forum on Health and Higher Education
Sponsored by AAC&U’s Program for Health and Higher Education (PHHE) and American Conference of Academic Deans (ACAD)
Facilitators: Peter A. Facione, Provost, Loyola University; Chicago; and Richard P. Keeling, Editor-in-Chief, Journal of American College Health and Senior Fellow, AAC&U

Panel Presentation
Collaboration between Presidents and Chief Academic Officers in Leading Institutional Change
Six college leaders from three colleges, two of which are in transition, discuss the roles and responsibilities of college presidents and chief academic officers as they work together as a team to put ideas into practice and to lead institutional change. This panel will share common themes and best practices and extrapolate examples illustrating how crucial a successful collaboration is between the president and chief academic officer if colleges are to move forward qualitatively.
Anne Ponder, President, Colby-Sawyer College; Jay Lemons, President, Susquehanna University; Saundra Tracy, President, Alma College; Judy Muyskens, Academic Vice President and Dean of Faculty, Colby-Sawyer College; Linda McMillin, Professor of History and Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs, Susquehanna University; Michael Selmon, Professor of English and Interim Provost, Alma College

Interactive Session
Practicing Respect for a Diverse World: "Infusion" and Connected Learning in the Wheaton Curriculum
This is an interactive presentation and discussion of a model of liberal education centered on connectedness among peoples, modes of learning, and the worlds of intellect and experience. By infusing attention to global, racial, ethnic and gender diversity throughout the Wheaton curriculum, and requiring students to take sets of courses that faculty have deliberately connected around common topics, the Wheaton curriculum seeks to encourage students in thoughtful engagement with larger issues and their practical and ethical implications. The Provost and current and former faculty chairs of Wheaton's Educational Policy Committee will invite members of AAC&U to think about how they can enhance connectedness in their own campus contexts
Susanne Woods, Provost, Wheaton College; William Goldbloom Bloch, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Wheaton College; Bianca Cody Murphy, Professor of Psychology, Wheaton College; Kersti Yllo, Professor of Sociology, Wheaton College

Panel Presentation
Advising and Mentoring in the Liberal Arts: Focusing on Who Students Are, Not What They Do
Two initiatives, a Mellon funded Associated Colleges of the Midwest project on "Engaging Today's Students in the Liberal Arts" and a Lilly grant on "Theological Exploration of Vocation," have begun to focus special attention on advising and mentoring at Grinnell College. This session will address the challenges we face as well as the interesting ways in which they intersect.
Helen G. Scott, Associate Dean of the College and Associate Professor of Russian, Grinnell College; Bradley W. Bateman, Professor of Economics, Grinnell College; Joyce Stern, Associate Dean and Director of Academic Advising, Student Affairs Office, Grinnell College

Presentations and Roundtable Discussions
The Integration of the Performing Arts and the Curriculum
Integrating the performing arts with the curriculum and with the community can improve the overall learning environment. Examples of such integration will be presented by the program of collaborative explorations at George Mason University and the Arts at Susquehanna program in Pennsylvania. A third example will be provided by Touchstone Theatre, a professional company that collaborates with the Hispanic community.
Laura Elizabeth Niesen de Abruna, Dean of the School of Arts, Humanities & Communications, Susquehanna University; William Reeder, Dean of the College of Visual & Performing Arts,
George Mason University; Mark McKenna, Artistic Director, Touchstone Theatre

Panel Presentation
"Greater Expectations" for Liberal Learning at Comprehensive Institutions
From their origins, comprehensive colleges and universities have combined practice/professional training with traditional liberal arts curricular goals. Misunderstood in the larger context of higher education, comprehensive institutions are neither research universities nor liberal arts colleges but rather hybrids of these two traditions. AAC&U's recent call for reform in higher education, Greater Expectations, asks colleges and universities to recast student learning to assure a blend of practical and ethical understanding and growth, what AAC&U calls "liberal education." This panel considers three comprehensive institutions that embrace the mission of "liberal education" but which, like other institutions of higher education, confront challenges in meeting that ideal. It also presents the work of the Associated New American Colleges, a consortium of comprehensive colleges that has for over a decade highlighted the important contribution of comprehensive colleges to liberal education.
Peter Bardaglio, Provost, Ithaca College; Jerry Greiner, Provost, Hamline University; Nancy Carrick (moderator), Vice President for Academic Affairs, University of Redlands; JoAnn Haysbert, Acting President and Provost, Hampton University
This session is sponsored by the Associated New American Colleges

ACAD Session
The Undergraduate Deans’ Dilemmas: Catalysts Without Colleges
Deans of undergraduate studies, and those with similar responsibilities, are often charged with overseeing major issues such as general education and assessment of student learning. These administrators must effect change but, unlike other deans, have no faculty and no college to direct. They are asked to lead without having structural tools, such as teaching assignments, promotion and tenure, merit increases, and hiring authority, yet their work is critical to the quality of undergraduate programs on their campuses. Panel members will present the creative strategies they pursue, share the challenges they face, and discuss what works and what does not.
Moderator: Martha Balshem, Associate Director, Western Association of Schools and Colleges
Geoffrey Chase, Dean of Undergraduate Studies, San Diego State University; Terrell Rhodes, Vice-Provost for Curriculum and Undergraduate Studies, Portland State University; and David Descutner, Interim Dean of the University College and Associate Provost for Undergraduate Studies, Ohio University

Friday, January 23, 10:30-11:45 am


ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS ON GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT

Reducing Student Apathy and the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014)
Higher education can provide students with the vision and skills to help create a better world. Participants will discuss higher education institutions' opportunities within the United Nations' upcoming Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. The presentation will include models and resources for integrating global environmental awareness, civic engagement, and social responsibility into teaching and other dimensions of higher education.
Debra Gayle Rowe, Professor of Behavioral Sciences and Renewable Energies, Oakland Community College; Don R. Bacon, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Denver; Wynn Calder, Associate Director, University Leaders for a Sustainable Future; Dave Newport, Director, Office of Sustainability, University of Florida

The Arts Of Democracy At Brooklyn College: A Report On Curricular Innovation And Campus-Wide Activities
Brooklyn College is in its second year of the AAC&U's project, "Liberal Education and Global Citizenship: The Arts of Democracy.” Participants in the project will report on how various programs at BC have modified existing courses and created new initiatives to 1) generate new knowledge about global studies; 2) spur greater civic engagement and social responsibility; 3) promote in faculty and students a deeper knowledge of, debate about, and practice of democracy; and 4) cultivate intercultural competencies
Michael Kent Menser, Assistant Professor of Philosophy; and Melanie Bush Assistant Professor of Sociology – both of Brooklyn College

Furthering U.S.-Middle East Dialogues: Developments during the Second Year of Dialogue between U.S. and Egyptian Students
Participants will discuss the second phase of a project that attempts to engage students from the American University in Cairo in a long-term dialogue with counterparts at U.S. universities. The dialogues address five specific issues: the role of mass media in public opinion, stereotypes, the perception and teaching of Islam at the USA, identities, and the role of the USA in the world. Now In its second phase, the project has witnessed an expansion in the number of U.S. counterparts, its institutional format, and the range of issues addressed through videoconferences. It also saw the project expand from an extra-curricular activity to two seminar courses, conceived jointly with U.S. counterparts. The project engages students in mutual exploration of each other's respective narrative and consequent examination of them towards a better understanding of their own selves and their counterparts.
Mike Lattanzi, Associate Professor of Political Science; Dina Khalifa Hussein, Project Coordinator - both of the American University in Cairo

Educating Students for Engaged Citizenship in a Changing Global Context
Interdisciplinary faculty members from Michigan State University will explore and prompt discussion on what liberal general education aimed at nurturing engaged citizenship in a changed global context should entail. Participants will explore tensions within competing visions of liberal education, asking in what communities we should presume student membership and in accord with what goals we should encourage engaged citizenship. Can education for engaged citizenship focus on more than raising cultural horizons, on developing knowledge bearing on action and re-direction of self?
Kenneth Waltzer, Professor of History, Director-Integrative Studies in Arts & Humanities; Elizabeth Heilman, Assistant Professor of Education; Assefa Mehretu, Professor of Geography, Director-Integrative Studies in Social Science; Duncan Sibley, Professor of Geology, Director-Integrative Studies in the Sciences – all of Michigan State University

Strengthening the Disciplines through Interdisciplinary Practice: Linking Local to Global in Experiential Learning
Participants from John Carroll University will discuss their work in AAC&U’s initiative, "Liberal Education and Global Citizenship: The Arts of Democracy." The project has encouraged JCU’s Departments of History, Political Science, and Religious Studies to think more intentionally about interdisciplinary and experiential education such that a global consciousness is inculcated in faculty and students alike. To prepare for these curricular innovations, faculty participated in seminars with scholars, engaged in informal conversations with practitioners, shared readings and resources, and attended lectures. These efforts engaged faculty members in conversations about the meanings and purposes of global, interdisciplinary, and experiential education to the extent that the curriculum beyond these particular courses is being transformed. This presentation will demonstrate that such grant support can leverage change throughout a campus by providing models of collaboration and innovation.
Lauren Bowen, Chair, Department of Political Science; and Robert J. Kolesar, Chair, Department of History – both of John Carroll University

Democracy and Civic Engagement through Cultural Participation
This discussion will explore how the practice of cultural participation leads to civic engagement. Examples from three diverse communities will illustrate the power of cultural tradition in democratic process: Trinidad and Tobago; the Salishan community in Tacoma, Washington; and Pacific Lutheran University. Examples will include the cultural festivals of Trinidad’s Carnival and Phagwa (the Hindu festival of color and spring); Calypso music; local ethnic celebrations, meetings, and meals; post-study abroad students living in a local immigrant community; and campus events that break down traditional institutional divisions between staff, students and faculty. Participants will develop strategies to enable students to transform relationships across ethnic and cultural differences, to instigate institutional movement toward valuing contributions from campus operations staff, and to stimulate faculty development.
Kathlyn A. Breazeale, Assistant Professor of Religion; Ione S. Crandall, Director, Center for Public Service; and Jeffrey A. Clapp, Assistant Professor of Theatre – all of Pacific Lutheran University

Friday, January 23, 1:30-2:30 p.m.


Featured Session
Revitalizing Humanities, Expanding the Vision of Liberal Education
Does study of the humanities somehow prepare students for deeper engagement with the central issues of living and working in a complex and interdependent world? What does the decline in the humanities market mean for the future of liberal education? What role will the humanities play in producing a deeper understanding of our “globalizing” times?
Pauline Yu, President, American Council of Learned Societies

Featured Session
How Higher Education is Failing America
“Our current record as ‘the best higher education system ever’ isn't good enough for the world we live in. We are employing an out-of-date educational model that ignores knowledge and resources already available to make many more learners successful. Doing more of the same - creating new campuses, growing our existing campuses, expanding degree programs - our stock in trade since WWII, is not sufficient to overcome the challenges we face. With fewer than 20% of all ninth graders currently graduating from college within 10 years, America is headed for social, civic, and economic disaster.
Excerpt from forthcoming book The Quiet Crisis: How Higher Education is Failing America (Anker Publishing)
Peter Smith, President, California State University, Monterey Bay

Discussion Session
Institutional Transformation: Recasting Fundamental Agreements for Learning
This session challenges the limitations of most frameworks through which we structure institutional change work. Presenters will ask participants to consider more far-reaching and holistic frameworks that recognize and therefore create appropriate academic environments, which can accommodate the full complexity of the learner's intellectual, emotional, cultural, and spiritual self.
Judith S. White, Assistant Vice President for Campus Services and Adjunct Professor of Women Studies, Duke University; Laura Rendon, Endowed Chair and Professor, California State University, Long Beach

Presentation
The New CAS Standards: Enhancing Learning and Citizenship
The Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) has promoted standards in student affairs, student services, and student development programs since 1979. These standards guide institutions in fostering and enhancing students' learning and achievement and in promoting good citizenship. Presenters will discuss CAS’s 2003 "Blue Book" of Standards and Guidelines and Self-Assessment Guides that respond to student needs, the requirements of sound pedagogy, and the effective management of thirty functional areas.
Phyllis Mable, Executive Director, Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education; and Richard P. Keeling, M.D., Senior Fellow, AAC&U and Consultant, CAS

NEH Funding Opportunities
This session will offer participants a review of current funding opportunities and priorities in higher education from the National Endowment for the Humanities, led by senior program officers from the agency.
Sonia Feigenbaum, Senior Program Officer, NEH Division of Education, and Frederick Winter, Senior Program Officer, NEH Office of Challenge Grants; and others

Panel Presentation
Moving Service Learning to the Next Stage: Social Engagement as a Practice
Three case studies suggest that enabling students to engage in service learning as a practice will help to overcome a number of problems endemic to this pedagogy. Each case will discuss what we mean by service learning as a practice, how we have embedded this concept in our own courses and how we have shaped the service learning programs in our different types of institutions to reflect this concept.
Charles R. Strain, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of Religious Studies, DePaul University; Joseph Favazza, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Director of Interdisciplinary Humanities and Coordinator of Service Learning, Rhodes College; Barbara A.B. Patterson, Lecturer in Religion and Director of Theory, Practice, Learning Program, Emory University

Panel and Roundtable Discussions
Creating a Culture of Responsibility on a Small Diverse Liberal Arts Campus
This session will provide strategies that foster responsible behavior in the areas of diversity, similarity, civic engagement, and overall campus culture. Starting with Olivet’s vision of “Education for Individual and Social Responsibility” and the Olivet College Compact, panelists will provide real examples of how Olivet has been able to make the concept of responsibility come alive.
Don Tuski, President, Olivet College; Saleef Kafajouffe, Vice President for Diversity and Dean of the College, Olivet College; Dizzy L. Warren, Executive Director, The National Resource Center for the Healing