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 of Racism; Richard Craig,
Director of Multicultural Education and Assistant Professor
of Communications, Olivet College
Panel Presentation/Interactive
Educating Students for Social Responsibility: A Model
for Collective Action and the Critical Reflection of Our Practice
A key objective of the Venture Consortium, a group of private
liberal arts colleges and universities dedicated to the development
of innovative programs to complement the liberal arts curriculum,
includes fostering social awareness and a sense of social
responsibility among students through experiential learning
while building mutually useful connections between institutions
of higher learning and the larger community. As we articulate
the value of a liberal education for social responsibility,
civic engagement, and the future lives of our students, and
given the important distinction between experience and knowledge,
how do we actually learn from experience? How do we support
new learning for our faculty and administrators working with
our engaged learning programs? How do we translate our individual
institutional successes into a collective body of knowledge
that can then be synthesized into something greater for the
purpose of student, faculty, and institutional development
– both for our consortium and for other institutions
of higher learning?
Peggy Chang, Executive Director, The Venture Consortium,
Brown University; William C. Meinhofer, Director, Donelan
Office of Community-Based Learning, College of the Holy Cross;
Kathleen Connolly, Senior Assistant Director, Swearer Center
for Public Service, Brown University; Sean Flaherty, Professor
of Economics & Director, Service Learning Program, Franklin
& Marshall College; Irene King, M.Div., Director, Community
Partnerships & Service Learning Program, Sarah Lawrence
College; Pamela Kirwin Heintz, Director, Center for Community
and Public Service, Syracuse University; Sam Speers, Director,
Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, Vassar College
Case Study
Liberal Education for Educators: Sensitivity in the
Classroom
A sensitive and supportive classroom environment is vital
to effective liberal education. American colleges and universities
can and should do more to achieve and maintain such an environment.
Ignoring student concerns about classroom hostility may risk
legal liability, as well as adversely affect enrollment. Over-reaction
to such concerns, by penalizing outspoken faculty, may have
equally disastrous effects. What we propose is a more systematic
approach to increased classroom sensitivity, using educational
rather than punitive measures.
Robert M. O'Neil, Professor of Law, University of Virginia
School of Law; Ann Franke, Esq., Vice President of Education
& Risk Management, United Educators
Research Session/Interactive
Teaching for Deep Learning: Research-based Strategies
That Work
A major flaw in attempting to move the standard classroom
from a faculty member reciting a well-rehearsed lecture to
one with significant contributions from and among class members,
is the failure to provide faculty with a research base of
collaborative/active learning and simple methodology for the
transformation. Faculty in a variety of disciplines are simply
not trained in human learning and memory, and lack the time
and resources to become experts in the field. An important
component in moving from lecture to more active/collaborative
classrooms, therefore, is a basic understanding of how students
learn and quick and easy methods faculty can employ.
Todd D Zakrajsek, Director, Faculty Center for Academic
Excellence, Central Michigan University
ACAD Session:
Translating Mission and Planning into Action: A Case Study
of Faculty/Administrative Collaboration
Why do high hopes for institutional transformation heralded
at the beginning of strategic planning processes so often
go unrealized? This session focuses on translation and the
role of academic administrators and faculty leaders in facilitating
communication and negotiation for collaborative planning.
Presenters outline their own success with combining accreditation
self-study and strategic planning to produce both a strategic
vision and an implementation plan. Audience members will be
led in a “translation exercise” that highlights
key moments of unlikely communication breakdown and suggests
strategies for keeping the process collaborative and successful.
Lucien T. Winegar, Dean, School of Natural and Social
Sciences; Linda McMillin, Interim Vice President of Academic
Affairs; and Tom Peeler, Associate Professor, Department of
Biology – all of Susquehanna University
Friday, January 23, 2:45-3:45
p.m.
Featured Session
Shakespeare, Einstein, and the Bottom Line: The Marketing
of Higher Education
Market forces lead some schools to forget that they are not
simply businesses, while turning others into stronger, better
places. Still, embedded in the very idea of the university—at
its truest and best—are values that the market does
not honor: the belief in a community of scholars and not a
confederacy of self-seekers; in the idea of openness and not
ownership; in the professor as pursuer of truth and not an
entrepreneur; in the student as an acolyte whose preferences
are to be formed, not a consumer whose preferences are to
be satisfied.
David L. Kirp, Professor of Public Policy, University
of California, Berkeley, and author of Shakespeare, Einstein,
and the Bottom Line: The Marketing of Higher Education (Harvard
University Press, 2003; www.hup.Harvard.edu/catalog/KIRSHA.html)
Presentation
Funding the Humanities: An Analysis of Trends in Nonfederal
Support
Challenge grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities
provide up to $1 million for campus construction and renovation
projects, large-scale acquisitions and equipment purchases,
and endowments. These grants must be matched with nonfederal
funds. This session will provide an analysis of the approximately
$1.25 billion in nonfederal matching monies reported to the
government in the NEH challenge grants program, revealing
important trends in nonfederal support for campus humanities
initiatives, including information relating to the sources
of support and the probability of success for different types
of initiatives.
Frederick Winter, Senior Program Officer, NEH Office of
Challenge Grants
Presentation
AAC&U and the Pathways to College Network
Pathways to College is a network of organizations and foundations
promoting college access at national, state, and local levels.
The mission of Pathways is to focus research-based knowledge
and resources on improving college preparation, access, and
success for under-served populations, including low-income,
underrepresented minority, and first-generation students.
Pathways seeks to change perceptions, practices, and policies
focused on academic preparation and college opportunity; eliminate
policy and programmatic barriers to college going; and make
readiness for college success a fundamental goal of public
education in the United States.
Barbara Hill, Senior Fellow, AAC&U
Panel Presentation
Two New York City College/High School Collaborations
for Civic Engagement
The Eugene Lang College of New School University, through
its Education Studies Concentration, is rooted in strategic
critiques that are anti-racist, feminist, and concerned with
social justice. It focuses on the philosophical underpinnings
of educational systems, especially in New York City. Stony
Brook University works directly with minority high school
students at its Manhattan campus, incorporating them into
classes that focus on medicine-related civic issues. This
interactive panel will include college and high school student
commentary.
Helen Rodnite Lemay, Distinguished Teaching Professor,
Stony Brook University; Mark Statman, Chair, Education Studies,
New School University; Michael Kang, Undergraduate Student,
Stony Brook University; Kristen Douthit, High School Student,
The Young Women's Leadership School of East Harlem
Leadership Studies and Liberal Education
Educating students for civic leadership enlivens liberal education
by bringing together the abstract and theoretical with the
concrete and practical. Since 1987, Marietta College has successfully
married leadership studies and liberal education through the
McDonough Center for Leadership and Business. Panelist will
describe the Center's rich curriculum featuring simulations,
cases studies, service learning, and problem-based learning.
The mission of the University of Richmond's Jepson School
of Leadership Studies is to develop students who understand
the moral responsibilities of leadership and are prepared
to exercise leadership in service to society. Panelists will
discuss a year-long student project, STRIVE (Strengthening
Teamwork, Responsibility, and Independence via Employment),
a community, school, non-profit sector partnership to provide
services to the homeless.
Stephen W. Schwartz, Visiting Senior Fellow, Policy Center
on the First Year of College and formerly Vice President for
Student Life and Leadership, Marietta College; and Gamaliel
Perruci, Dean & McCoy Professor of Leadership Studies,
Marietta College; Thomas J. Shields, Assistant Professor;
Jill Fasching, Student; Lauren Johanson, Student, and Jennifer
Stan, Student- all of the Jepson School of Leadership, University
of Richmond
Discussion and Roundtables
Rethinking Off-Campus Study in the Liberal Arts
This session stems from a multi-institutional, Mellon-funded
colloquium exploring the role of off-campus study in a liberal
arts education. We interrogate the assumption that off-campus
study is de facto a "good thing." Assuming that
off-campus study is a fundamental part of a liberal arts education,
we instead endeavor to relate the practice of off-campus study
to the educational goals commonly enshrined in the mission
statements of liberal arts institutions.
Andrew Law, Director of International & Off-Campus
Programs, Lawrence University; Susan Mennicke, Director of
Intercultural Education, Southwestern University; Patti Brown,
Associate Dean for International and Off-Campus Study, Franklin
& Marshall College; Amy Sunderland, Senior Vice-President,
Minnesota's Private College Council
Presentation and Discussion
Implementing a Civic Engagement Curriculum at The
University of Montana: An Honors Chemistry Example
How can we promote deep learning and civic engagement strategies
without sacrificing the traditional (and often strongly defended)
content breadth of introductory courses. This session concentrates
on one example at The University of Montana that has sought
these goals, a first-year chemistry course for non-majors.
We illustrate our attempts to incorporate AAC&U SENCER
Project ideals with class projects that target both local
and global service outcomes.
Garon C. Smith, Professor of Chemistry, The University
of Montana; Gerald A. Fetz, Acting Dean, College of Arts and
Sciences, The University of Montana; Lois Muir, Provost and
Vice President for Academic Affairs, The University of Montana
Presentation
Faculty Fellows Internship Program
The Faculty Fellows Internship Program in Washington,
DC - developed in cooperation with AAC&U - enables faculty
to broaden their professional, disciplinary, and personal
horizons, reinvigorating their work as scholars, teachers,
and educational leaders. Faculty are thus intellectually renewed
and challenged to develop avenues of planning, project management,
research, learning, writing, and “doing” that
are the essence of engaged pedagogies.
Mary Ryan; Executive Director, Institute for Experiential
Learning; Devonna Sue Morra, Professor of Biology, St. Francis
University; John Flohr, Professor of Music Education, Texas
Woman's University; and Bridget Puzon, Senior Editor, AAC&U
Presentations and Roundtable Discussions
The Learner-Centered Classroom: How Teaching with
Technology Transforms Theory into Practice
Teaching with technology drives faculty to move beyond the
now "safe" model of learner-centered teaching (peer
review, small-group discussions, group presentations, workshops,
etc.) in which faculty authority can easily remain largely
unchallenged into a more experimental model where they genuinely
surrender authority (and power) to their students. This collaboration
is valuable (for both students and faculty) not only in other
classrooms but also well beyond the confines of the campus.
Lesley Mary Smith, Assistant Professor, Computer-Mediated
Communication, George Mason University; Virginia Montecino,
Visiting Assistant Professor, Internet and New Media Studies,
George Mason University; Dr James Young, Librarian and Instructor,
George Mason University
Interactive Session
Connecting Vision, Practice, and Performance: Mapping
Diversity Assets in Higher Education
This interactive session seeks to align our conceptual understanding
of diversity with the best strategies for campus implementation
of diversity programs. Presenters will suggest a compelling
approach to the concept of diversity, and describe Portland
State University’s Presidential Diversity Initiative
as an example of sound practice. The main objective will be
to align the conceptual landscape of diversity with programmatic
implications in a manner that produces more powerful arguments
in support of the diversity enterprise.
Edgar F Beckham, Senior Fellow, AAC&U; Devorah Lieberman,
Vice Provost and Special Assistant to the President, Portland
State University
ACAD Session
Enhancing Departmental Performance Through Benchmarking
Over the past ten years, the Delaware Study of Instructional
Costs and Productivity has emerged as the tool of choice for
benchmarking data on faculty teaching loads, instructional
costs, externally funded scholarship, and measures of out-of-classroom
faculty activity—all at the academic discipline level
of analysis. Participants will learn about the types of benchmarking
available from the Delaware Study, as well as examples of
how institutions use them to enhance departmental performance.
Michael F. Middaugh, Assistant Vice President for Institutional
Research and Planning; and Heather K. Isaacs, Institutional
Research Analyst – both of the University of Delaware
Friday, January 23, 4:00-5:15
p.m.
Featured Session
College Rankings Exposed: The Art of Getting a Quality Education
in the 21st Century
In College Rankings Exposed, Paul Boyer defines a
quality college education and seeks to provide students and
parents with an understanding of what is really important
when searching for a college. “[C]olleges have done
a poor job of articulating the value of a strong liberal arts
education,” Boyer writes. “[They] have become
adept at marketing, but the results are superficial. …
A quality college is a place where students work closely with
faculty, where they have opportunities to learn both inside
and outside the classroom. It’s a place where strong
liberal arts courses are at the heart of the curriculum. It’s
a place where students not only earn a credential but also
master the skills they really need to succeed in their chosen
careers. It’s also a place where they gain confidence
and are challenged and tested in unexpected ways.”
Paul Boyer, President, Boyer Associates, author of College
Rankings Exposed: The Art of Getting a Quality Education in
the 21st Century (Peterson’s, 2003)
Panel Presentation
Lessons to be Learned from Adult Learners
Adult students returning for baccalaureate studies represent
one of the fastest growing populations in higher education.
The literature indicates that adult learners differ in marked
ways from their traditional-aged counterparts, creating the
need to re-think the design and focus of the general education
component of the undergraduate curriculum. At the same time,
strategies employed by continuing education units to respond
to the special needs of adult learners provide many valuable
innovations for the twenty-first century academy in general.
Lee Bash, Dean of Lifelong Learning, Baldwin-Wallace College;
and William Pepicello, Vice President, School of Advanced
Studies, the University of Phoenix
Panel Presentation
Making the Case: Retention, Tenure, Promotion and
the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
In recent years, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement
of Teaching, through the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship
of Teaching and Learning (CASTL), has championed rigorous
and systematic approaches to the scholarship of teaching,
supporting the work of committed individual scholars, campuses,
and disciplinary societies. In this forum, Carnegie Foundation
Senior Scholars and CASTL Carnegie Scholars present cases
of ongoing and successful bids for retention, tenure, and
promotion featuring the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Mary Huber, Carnegie Foundation Senior Scholar; Roberto
Corrada, 2000-2001 Carnegie Scholar and Professor of Law,
University of Denver; John Holcomb, 2000-2001 Carnegie Scholar
and Professor of Mathematics, Cleveland State University;
Heidi Elmendorf, 2003-2004 Carnegie Scholar and Assistant
Professor of Biology, Georgetown University
Panel Presentation
Innovative Curricula, Innovative Structures at Learning-Centered
Institutions
From Vision to Practice: California State University Monterey
Bay
This session combines two very different perspectives on creating
innovative institutional structures. California State University,
Monterey Bay was designed to put into practice an innovative
academic model that incorporates diversity, technology, social
justice, global responsibility, and civic engagement. Presenters
will describe the challenges and successes thus far. Brigham
Young University, on the other hand, previously lacked an
explicit focus on student learning. Presenters will describe
a very successful Freshman Academy learning community initiative
at BYU that has spawned coalitions across disciplinary and
organizational lines and consequently is producing an innovative
university-wise vision for learning.
Peter Smith, President, California State University Monterey
Bay; Gary Daynes, Associate Director, Freshman Academy, Brigham
Young University; Lauri Haddock, Adjunct Assistant Professor-
Humanities, Brigham Young University; Kris Kristensen, Institutional
Advancement and Analysis, Brigham Young University; Jared
Robinson, Peer Mentor, Freshman Academy, Brigham Young University
Panel Presentation
Rejuvenating Ethics in the Liberal Arts
Colleges and universities can demonstrate that ethics is a
rewarding necessity of any good life. This panel discusses
how ethics Centers at Georgia State Univeristy foster a cross-disciplinary
ethical literacy that helps students, faculty, and community
members to make key choices. Similarly, Envisioning Integrity,
an initiative launched by the Vice President for Student Affairs
at the University of Virginia, seeks to encourage undergraduates,
graduate students, faculty, staff, and alumni to continually
reflect and incorporate the concepts of ethics, honor, and
integrity into their everyday lives both inside and outside
the classroom.
Andrew I. Cohen, Managing Director, Jean Beer Blumenfeld
Center for Ethics, Georgia State University; George Rainbolt,
Associate Professor of Philosophy and Department Chair, Georgia
State University; Tim Renick, Associate Professor; Director
of Religious Studies Program; Associate Chair, Georgia State
University. Dave Wolcott, Doctoral Intern for University Relations,
University of Virginia; Nicole Eramo, Special Assistant to
the Honor Committee; Leanna Blevins, Special Assistant to
the President, University of Virginia
Panel and Roundtable Discussions
Building Bridges: Understanding and Practicing Democracy
Panel members (faculty, students, and administrators) from
the Consortium for Innovative Environments in Learning (CIEL)
will discuss curriculum geared toward civic engagement, and
successful partnerships between college and community organizations
and among the colleges participating in the consortium. Small
groups will discuss pedagogy that supports civic engagement,
models for successful partnerships with community organizations
and student response to the experience of civic engagement.
Rita A. Pougiales, Member of the Faculty in Anthropology
and Academic Dean, The Evergreen State College; Carol Brandt,
Vice President for International and Special Programs, Pitzer
College; Paul Burkhardt, Interim Director & Professor
of Cultural Studies, Arizona International College of The
University of Arizona; Mary Bombardier, Director of Community
Partnerships for Social Change, Hampshire College
Panel Presentation
Scholarship with a Civic Mission: Implementing a Research
Service-Learning Model
Scholarship with a Civic Mission is a new model for research
service-learning that Duke University is implementing with
support from the Department of Education’s FIPSE program.
It begins with gateway courses, continues through community-based
research, and culminates in capstone projects. Three faculty
members will share some of the challenges of moving from vision
to practice in promoting a pedagogy of civic engagement, while
a student and her mentor, Duke's Dean of Arts and Sciences,
will describe her evolving research on the needs of local
refugee children.
Elizabeth E. Kiss, Director, Kenan Institute for Ethics
and Assoc. of the Practice of Political Science and Philosophy,
Duke University; Alma Blount, Director, Hart Leadership Program
and Lecturer, Public Policy Studies, Duke University; Robert
J. Thompson, Dean of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences
and Professor of Psychology, Duke University; Victoria Hogan,
Undergraduate student, Duke University; Vicki Stocking, Research
Service-Learning Coordinator and Adjunct Assistant Professor
of Psychology and Education, Program in Education, Duke University
Panel Presentation
Liberal Education: Overcoming the Obstacles
Administrators from Prince George's Community College, Howard
Community College, College of Notre Dame of Maryland and St.
Mary's College of Maryland will share their journey from talking
about the importance of providing students with a strong liberal
education to providing it. The distance from talking to providing
is fraught with obstacles. The administrators will describe
current and emerging practices that reinforce liberal education
on their campuses.
Vera Zdravkovich, Vice President for Instruction, Prince
George's Community College; Suzanne Shipley, Dean of Faculty,
Vice President for Academic Affairs, College of Notre Dame
of Maryland; Ronald Roberson, Vice President of Academic Affairs,
Howard Community College; Larry Vote, Provost & Acting
President, St. Mary's College of Maryland
Panel Presentation
Integrative Teaching and Learning: An Evolution in
Global Knowing
Integrative learning in higher education can be approached
from a number of vantage points: the way we organize program
content; the way we structure our teaching; the way we think
about student outcomes. This session will explore the emergence
of integrative learning by looking at a history of the integrative
education movement in America and by presenting two higher
education models that integrate Eastern and Western traditions
relating to mind, body, and spirit. One model has been developed
in a consortium that includes Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke,
Smith, and University of Massachusetts (Amherst) and the other
is offered at the California Institute of Integral Studies.
Considered until recently at the edge of higher education,
integrative teaching and learning is moving to the mainstream
of American higher education as faculty and students seek
content and pedagogy that respond to the emerging needs of
a global society.
Joseph Subbiondo, President, California Institute of Integral
Studies; James Keen, Professor of Social and Global Studies,
Antioch College; David Scott, Professor of Physics and Former
Chancellor, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Judie G.
Wexler, Academic Vice President and Dean of Faculty, California
Institute of Integral Studies
ACAD Session:
The Deans’ Dilemmas – Open Mic
To celebrate its 60th meeting, ACAD brings back the popular
“open mic” session where deans can bring their
own dilemmas and receive counsel from a panel of deans as
well as other audience members.
Moderator: Virginia M. Coombs, Provost and Vice Chancellor
for Academic Affairs, University of Wisconsin-River Falls
Len Clark, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost,
Earlham College; Peter Facione, Provost, Loyola University;
Hannah Goldberg, Provost Emerita, Wheaton College; and Carol
Lucey, President, Western Nevada Community College
Saturday January 24, 7:30-9:00
a.m.
Breakfast Roundtable Discussions
Implementation of Successful Multicultural Scholars
Programs Across Campus
Presenters will discuss the campus-wide expansion of a Multicultural
Scholars Program (MSP) that provides scholarships and faculty
mentoring for students of color in eight university units.
The presentation includes the mandatory components that resulted
in 85% retention and 95% placement rates, high group gpa's
across majors, and completion of graduate programs by alumni.
Renate Rosemarie Mai-Dalton, Associate Professor of Organizational
Behavior; Director of Multicultural Scholars Programs; Christina
Renae Turk, Multicultural Business Scholar; Becky Marie Candelario,
Multicultural Business Scholar – all of the University
of Kansas
Operationalizing the Mission: Social Engagement through
Experiential Learning at DePaul University
Mhan 3,000 students annually participate in experiential education
courses run through DePaul’s university internship,
community-based service learning, and study abroad programs.
By examining the university mission, strategic planning, and
qualitative assessment processes that unite these programs,
we will frame a discussion of how others might work to strengthen
institutional initiatives that promote student engagement
with society.
Caryn Chaden, Associate Dean, Liberal Arts & Sciences;
Lynne Copp, Faculty Director, University Internship Program;
Laurie Worrall, Executive Director, Stearns Center for Community-based
Service Learning – all of DePaul University
AIR: A Teaching Tool for Thinking About How to Cultivate
Ethical Inquiry
Today’s students are increasingly challenged with addressing
ethical concerns in the face of competing demands in the classroom,
life, and work. Northeastern University has developed the
AIR (Awareness, Investigation,
and Responding) model of ethical inquiry to assist faculty
and students in meeting these challenges.
Perrin Cohen, NUCASE Director/Professor; and Donna Qualters,
Professor/Director of CEUT – both of Northeastern University
Connecting the Academy to Society - The Faculty Fellows
Internship Program
The Institute for Experiential Learning in Washington, DC,
in conjunction with AAC&U, sponsors the Faculty Fellows
Internship Program. Faculty internships enhance liberal learning,
interdisciplinary learning, and the connections between the
academic and non-academic work environments. We invite you
to learn more about many and varied internship opportunities
for faculty.
Mary Ryan, Executive Director, Institute for Experiential
Learning; Devonna Sue Morra, Professor of Biology, St. Francis
University and former Faculty Fellow
A Campus Symposium on Greater Expectations: A New
Vision for Learning
This session will present a three-part symposium series based
on AAC&U’s Greater Expectations: A New Vision for
Learning as a Nation Goes to College. Using the Greater Expectations
report to promote candid dialogue on crucial campus issues,
the original series involved over 40 faculty members and administrators
in small-group discussions guided by focused questions and
selected readings. Handouts available.
Brigadier General David A. Wagie, Dean of the Faculty;
Rolf C. Enger, Director of Education; and Barbara June Millis,
Director of Faculty Development - all of the United States
Air Force Academy
For readings, please see <http://www.usafa.af.mil/dfe/symposium.htm>
From Vision to Justice: Using a "Civil
Rights Journey" to Promote Liberal Learning
Participants will explore the use of a "Civil Rights
Journey" (CRJ) to promote diversity and racial reconciliation
on a college campus. Students and faculty mentors participated
on a week-long sojourn of learning and reflection to key southern
sites of the American civil rights movement. A summary of
the CRJ will be presented, including highlights of the journey
Deborale Richardson-Bouie, Associate Dean of Multicultural
Programs; and Jon C. Stuckey, Assistant Professor of Sociology
– both of Messiah College
Integrating Learning Throughout the First Year Experience
at Elon University
Presenters will discuss Elon University’s First Year
Experience (Student Life, Academics, Admissions, Academic
Advising, and Administration) will explore Elon’s model
for integrating teaching and learning in the first year, including
the impact it has made on students and faculty.
Stephen Earl Braye, Director, General Studies; Mary Wise,
Assistant Vice President of Academic Affairs; Rexford A Waters,
Assistant Dean of Students; Rebecca Annette Olive-Taylor,
Associate Director of Academic Advising – all of Elon
University
From Emergency Relief to Tranformative Learning:
Lessons in International Service from the Bucknell Brigade
to Nicaragua
What began as student-initiated humanitarian assistance to
those displaced by 1998's Hurricane Mitch has grown into a
multi-faceted service-learning project. Two delegations of
university volunteers travel each spring to Nicaragua, providing
medicines, health care, labor, funding, and material aid to
help bring long-term change to an impoverished resettlement
community of 15,000. Sharing perspectives of students, faculty,
and service providers, this presentation explores important
lessons we've discovered about teaching, learning, and practicing
social justice.
Janice R. Butler, Director of Service-Learning; Josh Fisher,
Student - both of Bucknell University
Engaging Faculty in Assessment: A Discussion of What
Works
Participants will discuss ways to engage faculty in the assessment
of student learning outcomes within the context of program
assessment and accreditation. In response to particular challenges
identified by participants, a range of strategies will be
proposed and evaluated.
Catherine A Riordan, Interim Vice Provost, Central Michigan
University
The Homeless, the Students and the University: Encounters,
Community Service and Teachable Moments
Participants will explore an urban university's efforts to
combine community service to the homeless and student learning
in a project which invites homeless women into the university
for educational activities. We will explore student outcomes,
implications for deepening commitments to social justice,
and consequences for the university of bridging this gap between
campus and community. Discussion will be invited on creating
contexts in which commitments to social justice can be awakened
and nurtured.
Mary Lou Finley, Core Faculty, BA Completion Program;
and Candace Harris, Core Faculty, BA Completion Program –
both of Antioch University Seattle
An Interdisciplinary Core Curriculum at a Small Public
Liberal Arts College: Student and Faculty Perceptions
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) implemented an
interdisciplinary Core Curriculum in Fall 2001 that focuses
on different modes of learning to replace a distributive general
education model. Student perceptions of the Core have been
analyzed, and data shared with faculty during assessment sessions.
Participants will discuss the structure of the Core Curriculum,
implementation process, survey findings, and current campus
discussions of revision.
Nancy L Ovitsky, Chair, Department of Business Administration
& Economics; and Albert D Hyers, Professor of Geography
– both of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
Students Managing Their Academic Path to Success:
New Approaches to Curriculum Reform in Business and Economics
Participants will explore the potential benefits of an individualized
approach to undergraduate education in business and economics
characterized by interdisciplinarity and intensive mentoring.
Roundtable leaders will engage participants actively in imagining
what curriculum can be developed that allows students to play
a major role in designing their own academic experience, that
helps students to recognize vocation and to translate their
life goals into practice and career.
Priscilla Ruth Danheiser, Associate Provost, Director
of the Center for Teaching and Learning, and Vice President
for Student Life; Dr. Mary Jo Vaughan, Associate Professor
of Management – both of Mercer University
Promoting Social Responsibility in a Career-Focused
Academic Climate
Participants will be introduced to Saint Francis University's
new interdisciplinary Social Responsibility Minor. The roundtable
will provide information about the multi-year process of program
development, course-based strategies and successes, the politics
of interdisciplinary and cross-discipline connections, strategies
for cultivating student and faculty interest, co-curricular
structures, and administrative procedures.
Sara King, Professor of Psychology; Deirdre M. Moloney,
Associate Professor of History; and JoAnn DeFiore, Assistant
Professor of Sociology – all of Saint Francis University
Building Learning Bridges: The Link between Institutional
Culture and Innovative Curricular and Co-Curricular Programming
A panel of faculty and administrators from Baldwin-Wallace
College will share how a variety of initiatives designed to
fulfill our mission of assisting students to become “contributing,
compassionate citizens of an increasingly global society”
have contributed to a fundamental change in the college’s
institutional culture. Emphasis will be placed on how each
of these individual initiatives has reinforced the others,
demonstrating the maxim that “the whole is greater than
the sum of the parts.
Barbara S. Rolleston, Professor of Economics; Connie S.
Evans, Associate Professor of History; Jennifer L. Perry,
Assistant Professor of Psychology; Margaret Brooks Terry,
Professor of Sociology and Director of Explorations and Study
Abroad Center; Judy B. Krutky, Professor of Political Science
and Chair of Committee Supervising the International Studies
Major; and Mary Lou Higgerson, Vice President and Academic
Dean of the College – all of Baldwin Wallace College
Innovating the Liberal Arts Core: A Student-Centered
Approach toward Social Justice
Participants will learn about the new, liberal arts core at
Metropolitan College of New York. Through a brief presentation,
discussion, small group activities, and take home resources,
you will be introduced to our abilities-driven, interdisciplinary,
liberal arts curriculum. We hope to establish an ongoing forum
with colleagues who are interested in innovations in the core
curriculum.
Clyde Griffin, Jr., Professor of Language and Humanities;
and Anne Lopes, Professor of Political Science and Gender
Studies – both of Metropolitan College of New York
From Classroom to Commons: Growing the Co-Curriculum
How effective is a residential commons program as a means
of integrating academic and campus life? Using Willamette
University's experience in developing residential commons
as a beginning point, we will present fact sheets for discussion
around the following topic areas: genesis, goals and challenges;
learning from other institutions; involving faculty; student
goals; how academic and campus life will change.
Carol S. Long, Interim Dean, College of Liberal Arts;
Robert E. Hawkinson, Dean of Campus Life; Jamie McBride, Area
Coordinator & Special Assistant – all of Willamette
University
Practicing What We Preach
Presenters will discuss George Mason University’s Doctor
of Arts in Community College Education program, which focuses
on applying educational theory and best practices to academic
disciplines in the arts and sciences. The program's mission
is to prepare doctoral students to be leaders in undergraduate
education.
Gail B. Kettlewell, Director, Doctor of Arts in Community
College Education; and Victoria N. Salmon, Academic Coordinator,
Doctor of Arts in Community College Education - both of George
Mason University
Values in Integrative Learning: Beyond the Classroom
How can projects outside the classroom contribute to integrative
learning and help students appreciate values implicit in the
liberal arts? Instructors and their students will explain
how these projects: 1) provide active, experiential learning
in the “real world”; 2) relate course subjects
to other fields, placing the subject in context, and 3) teach
intellectual and social values of the liberal arts.
Lawrence Hetrick, Associate Professor of English and Editor
of The Chattahoochee Review; Cheryl Young, Instructor of Geology;
Janet Hollier, Associate Professor of Communications and Theater;
and Tommy Barber, Associate Professor of History, Geography,
and Political Science – all of Georgia Perimeter College
Measuring the Effectiveness of Retention Measures
Across a University System
This roundtable describes a methodology developed to analyze
the effects of “families” of individual retention
interventions on retention outcomes. These data were combined
with information in the student database to create groups
of comparable students who have and have not experienced the
intervention. Group outcomes were compared using indicators
such as first-semester GPA, retention to subsequent semesters.
Results from several interventions will be provided. An evaluation
of usefulness of this analysis will be provided.
Scott Evenbeck, Dean, University College, IUPUI; and Mary
Anne Baker, Director, Institutional Research & Assessment,
Indiana University Southeast
From Campus to Castle: A Museum- Community College
Teaching and Learning Partnership
Presenters will discuss NEH challenge grants, building partnerships
between community colleges and Smithsonian affiliates, and
revitalized curricula and new courses at Montgomery College
as a result of a faculty fellows seminar that incorporates
the museum experience and resources into course syllabi.
Judith Jeffrey Howard, Senior Program Office, Division
of Education, National Endowment for the Humanities; Manjula
Kumar, Center for Education and Museum Studies, Smithsonian
Institution; Myrna Goldenberg, Founding Director, , Paul Peck
Humanities Institute; Judith Gaines, Director, Paul Peck Humanities
Institute; and Percy North, Professor of Art History, Montgomery
College
Crossing The Lawn with C.P. Snow: a “Course-Intersection”
Approach to Teaching the Relationship of Science and Public
Policy
In a collaborative exercise over a three week period, we have
brought together an advanced course in analytical chemistry
and an introductory course in urban studies, to study the
science and policy making related to lead poisoning. Participants
will discuss this effort, which bridges the traditional gap
between science and social science, enables us to extend the
reach of both fields, and allows educators and students to
explore ways to foster civic responsibility in a democratic
society.
Christopher Jacoby Smart, Associate Professor and Chair
of Chemistry; Pinar Batur, Associate Professor of Sociology
and Director of the Urban Studies Program; Stuart Louis Belli,
Associate Professor of Chemistry and Director of Environmental
Sciences; Christopher Roellke, Associate Professor of Education
– all of Vassar College
Liberal Studies and a New Mission for the Arts and
Sciences at Bentley College
Bentley College – where 95% of the students major in
business – proposes an alternative to the traditional
general education/arts and sciences curriculum. We propose
to revalue liberal education by folding general education
into a Liberal Studies major with a number of innovative,
interdisciplinary concentrations. Every business major will
graduate with a double major in Business and Liberal Stu!
dies. Our roundtable discusses the rationale for the program
and the outlines of the liberal studies major.
Maureen Goldman, Director, Interdisciplinary Studies,
Professor of English; Ivan Marquez, Assistant Professor, Philosophy;
Lucia Kimball, Associate Professor, Math; Marylee Crofts,
Project Director and Senoir. Lecturer inHistory – all
of Bentley College
Practitioners on Campus: Learning Associates from
the "Real World"
How should we connect liberal arts education to the "real
world?" This roundtable introduces an innovative practice:
“Learning
Associates" who bring special expertise to enhance
student learning. Novelists, lawyers, farmers, artists, architects,
and other "real world" practitioners, with the help
of the Mellon Foundation, have joined the faculty at Bates
College. Presenters will describe this experiment and lead
discussion about using the model at other institutions.
Elizabeth H. Tobin, Associate Dean of Faculty and Professor
of History; Pamela J. Baker, Associate Dean of Faculty and
Professor of Biology; and Judith H. Robbins, Director, Mellon
Learning Associates Program in the Humanities– all of
Bates College
An Interim Report of the Effectiveness of a Bridge
Program for Incoming Science, Mathematics, Engineering and
Technology Students of Average Achievement at a Historically
Black University
Clark Atlanta University has just completed the fourth year
of a Bridge Program for Incoming Science, Mathematics, Engineering
and Technology students. We will describe the program itself,
known as the Academic Preseason, as well as present a report
of an ongoing evaluation of the program’s effectiveness,
discussing and inviting comment successes in the program as
well as the areas in which we need improvement.
Paul McGeady, Assistant Professor; and Shirley Adams –
both of Clark Atlanta University
Scholar Communities: A Summer Undergraduate Research
Program on a Budget
To accommodate undergraduate research within curriculum and
budgeting parameters, Belmont University developed a summer
“Scholar Communities” program. “Scholar
Communities” are research teams composed of one faculty
member and three to five students funded through a tuition
based budget model parallel to the summer school model. Students
gather weekly to discuss their research and share their results
with the university community at a celebratory dinner.
Glenn Acree, Director, Academic Outreach and Undergraduate
Research, College of Arts and Sciences, Belmont University
Saturday, January 24, 9:15-10:15
a.m.
Greater Expecations Session
The Assessment and Accountability Implications of the Greater
Expectations Vision
External stakeholders are calling for clearer demonstration
of college success and greater accountability. While the New
Academy is built on sophisticated transferable learning that
prepares students for the complexities of livelihood and life,
the accountability movement stresses standardized testing
and factual recall. The pull of these conflicting forces will
form the basis for discussion and potential action.
Panel Presentation
From Tragedy to Legacy: Knowledge, Justice, and Action
at Kent State
Kent State University continues to explore the implications
of the tragedy of May 4, 1970, as it colors its character
and initiatives. The panel will discuss three institutes dealing
respectively with issues of violence, conflict management,
and traumatic stress, and a pursuit of the university's legacy
through a commitment to "deepening knowledge, pursuing
justice, taking action."
Laura Davis, Associate Provost, Assoc Prof English, Kent
State University; Gayle Ormiston, Professor of Philosophy
and Associate Provost, Kent State University; Paul L. Gaston,
Provost, Kent State University
Presentation
SENCER: Science Education for New Civic Engagements
and Responsibilities
This session is for faculty and administrators interested
in learning more about AAC&U's new curriculum reform initiative,
SENCER. SENCER (Science Education for New Civic Engagements
and Responsibilities) aims to both improve undergraduate science
education and foster civic engagement by teaching "to"
basic science "through" complex, capacious, and
unsolved public issues, such as water quality, HIV disease,
and the Human Genome Project.
Wm. David Burns, Senior Policy Director, AAC&U
Case Study/Discussion
Major Curriculum Revision in a Time of Fiscal Constraints
How can faculty and administrators dare to make major curricular
revisions when they are in the midst of severe budget shortfalls?
Participants will discuss a case study, suggest ways to restructure
a curriculum by revising educational delivery systems and
support services, and leave with a set of guidelines that
they can use to pursue the vision of the Greater Expectations
report.
Raymond Joseph Rodrigues, Director of Assessment; Gordon
Ross Thompson, Associate Professor of Music; Michael F. Arnush,
Associate Professor of Classics; Charles M. Joseph, Dean of
the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs; and Sarah
Goodwin, Associate Dean of the Faculty – all of Skidmore
College
For more information please see
http://www.skidmore.edu/administration/assessment/.
Panel and Roundtable Discussions
Cornerstones of a Practical Liberal Arts Education:
Service Learning as Research in Action
Intellectual problems often call learners to combine different
kinds of engaged learning, such as community service, internships
or research. Such problems or questions erase the boundaries
within academic culture, as well as those that too often have
separated the academy from the world. This presentation will
discuss boundary-crossing experiences that link research and
civic engagement in the sciences, social sciences, humanities,
arts, education and business.
Robert L. Davis, Associate Professor of Writing Studies,
Eastern Oregon University; Jackie Shaw, Community Service
Learning Project Coordinator, Eastern Oregon University; Sarah
E. Witte, Associate Professor of Film and Literature, Eastern
Oregon University; Bill Grigsby, Assistant Professor of Sociology,
Eastern Oregon University
Panel Presentation
Digital Culture and the Future of Liberal Education
In meetings held Autumn 2003, participants tackled the question
of how technology is changing liberal arts education. Participants
agreed that, because of the ‘information explosion,”
the traditional goals of liberal arts education are even more
important, in order to critically analyze information and
make connections across a multitude of disciplines. However,
technology also means that we will have to change the way
we focus teaching and learning in liberal arts education in
order to explicitly develop the core intellectual skills of
the liberal arts, rather than emphasizing factual subject
area expertise. Panel members will discuss these conclusions,
findings, and recommendations.
John Ottenhoff, Professor of English (and Research Fellow,
Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College),
Alma College; Charles Blaich, Director of Inquiries, Center
of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts, Wabash College; Mary Marcy,
Co-Director and Senior Administrator, Project on the Future
of Higher Education, Antioch University; David Bogen Executive
Director, Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary
Studies, Emerson College; Michael D. Roy, Director of Academic
Computing Services, Wesleyan University
Panel Presentation
Supporting Recently Tenured Faculty: The Coordinated
Plans of Three Colleges
What is good practice in contemporary faculty development?
What can we do to support the careers and lives of those who
have just earned tenure -- and thereby enhance the future
of our institutions? Faculty teams from three colleges spent
a year talking together about the status and needs of recently
tenured faculty. From research on faculty opinions about professional
life to shared and divergent plans, this session reports on
the Mellon-sponsored planning of the Central Pennsylvania
Consortium
Daniel R. DeNicola, Provost, Gettysburg College; Bruce
Pipes, Provost, Franklin & Marshall College; Neil Weissman,
Provost, Dickinson College; Martha Arterberry, Assistant Provost,
Gettysburg College
For more information please see: http://www.gettysburg.edu/academics/provost/AACU.htm
Discussion and Roundtables
Local Practices: Learning Communities that Enhance
Undergraduate Education
Learning Communities were instituted at three institutions—Stonehill
College, Holyoke Community College, and Bridgewater State
College— for very different reasons: to accomplish General
Education goals, to improve retention rates, to provide curricular
integration, to experiment with service learning, and to enhance
faculty collaboration and commitment to shared educational
ideals. Yet each campus has yielded outcomes far beyond expectations.
Presenters will offer three case studies to reflect clusters
of the challenges facing their institutional types.
Katie Conboy, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Stonehill
College; Susan Mooney, Dean of General Education, Stonehill
College; Howard London, Dean of Arts and Sciences, Bridgewater
State College; Jack Mino, Professor of Psychology, Holyoke
Community College
Saturday, January 24, 10:30-11:30
a.m.
Greater Expectations Session
High School/College Alignment
Success in college rests heavily on readiness for intellectually
demanding study. Individuals from Greater Expectations institutions
will highlight projects and programs designed to align learning
outcomes, curricula, and pedagogy in more effective ways across
the high school/college boundary.
Discussion Session/Interactive
Convergence and Connections: Activating Students in
the 21st Century
In 1998 the faculty of Hobart and William Smith Colleges adopted
a curriculum that replaced specific requirements with broader
goals. The new curriculum includes work that is both discipline-based
and interdisciplinary to reflect the Colleges’ goal
of helping students see the world in its complexity, while
acquiring the essential critical skills of a specific area
of inquiry. The curriculum and co-curriculum that the Colleges
have developed to meet these ambitious goals may be represented
in terms of two axes: Theoretical - Practical and Local-Global.
Presenters will introduce the philosophy behind this program
and lead discussion about strategies for creating interdisciplinary
liberal arts curricula.
Patrick M. Collins, Professor of Education; Jack D. Harris,
Professor of Sociology; Steven P. Lee, Professor of Philosophy;
Lee Quimby, Professor of English; and Craig Rimmerman, Professor
of Political Science; Introduction by: Patricia Stranahan,
Provost and Dean of Faculty – all of Hobart and William
Smith Colleges
Panel Presentation
Liberating Research in the Humanities and the Arts
Can we develop a "liberated" definition of research
that fully recognizes the importance of knowledge-making partnerships
with communities? Is there a definition of research that "names
and claims" the value of public scholarship and public
practice in the arts, humanities, and design? This session
will discuss models of research that link learning and creativity,
democracy building, and the public good.
Julie Ellison, Director, Imagining American: Artists and
Scholars; David Berry, Director, Community College Humanities
Association; Tim Eatman, University of Michigan, School of
Education; Orlando O. Taylor, Dean of the Graduate School,
Howard University
Panel Presentation
International/Global Education: A World Citizenship
Approach
The concept of World Citizenship provides a powerful foundation
for programs of international/global education. An emphasis
on learning for citizenship defines a comprehensive approach,
involves students and faculty from a broad range of disciplines,
connects reflective thought with effective action, and demonstrates
the value of liberal education for the twenty-first century.
In this session, we discuss the idea of World Citizenship
and present ideas for infusing the teaching of citizenship
across the disciplines.
David Burrows, Dean of the College; Elizabeth Brewer,
Director of International Education; Natalie Gummer, Assistant
Professor of Religious Studies; Carl Mendelson, Professor
of Geology; Diane Lichtenstein, Associate Dean of the College
and Professor of English - all of Beloit College
Research Session
Building on Expectations of Faculty at Church Related
Colleges
Chief Academic Officers at over 250 church related colleges
have a perspective on the importance of faculty fostering
the development of students, including the exploration of
vocation. Participants will learn of the key research findings
of the project, “Fostering Student Development through
Faculty Development” and engage in a discussion of the
project’s findings for faculty roles, responsibilities,
and development.
Larry A. Braskamp, Professor of Higher Education, Loyola
University Chicago
Presentation and Discussion
Outcomes from the Undergraduate Research Summit Meeting
In the summer of 2003, a summit meeting supported by the Chemistry
Division of the National Science Foundation examined the issues
involved in undertaking and sustaining chemistry research
at predominantly undergraduate institutions (PUIs). A report
on the outcomes of the summit is to be published in Autumn
2003. Issues addressed at the summit – and in this session
– include: How can faculty members continue to generate
cutting-edge ideas for research? How is undergraduate research
idefined? What should the outcomes of undergraduate research
be? How do PUIs respond to the changing student and faculty
demographics? How can the growth and development of faculty
members be promoted over an entire career? How can faculty
members at PUIs foster collaborations so that they can contribute
to the complex scientific topics under investigation today?
How can we develop curricula that support undergraduate research?
What is the appropriate infrastructure for support of research
at PUIs? And how (and by whom) should undergraduate research
be assessed?
Thomas J. Wenzel, Professor of Chemistry, Bates College
Panel Presentation/Interactive
Linking Civic Engagement Opportunities with Campus
Curriculum, Programs, and Strategic Planning
While few doubt the value of programs that foster civic engagement,
linking opportunities for community engagement with academic
programs and institutional strategic planning remains a challenge.
Innovative programs at Butler University and Pacific Lutheran
University have intentionally connected civic engagement opportunities
with academic programs, including study abroad. In both cases,
programming for civic engagement has also been part of the
strategic planning process.
Margaret Brabant, Director, Center for Citizenship and
Community, Butler University; Ione Crandall, Director, Center
for Public Service, Pacific Lutheran University; Susan Traverso
(Moderator), Director, ANAC Academy, North Central College
This session is sponsored by the Associated New American Colleges
Foundations of Excellence™ in the First College
Year
Presenters will discuss a project designed to influence the
success of first-year students by developing a research-based
model for enhancing student learning and retention. A partnership
between the Policy Center on the First Year of College and
the Pennsylvania State University Center for the Study of
Higher Education, the project will serve two functions: 1)
allow institutions to measure their achievements in the first
college year; and 2) provide an aspirational model for a coherent,
integrated, coordinated year. This model will replace consideration
of the first year as a handful of programs and best practices
with a reconceptualization of the entire first-year based
on aspirational standards that have not previously existed.
Stephen W. Schwartz, Visiting Senior Fellow, Policy Center
on the First Year of College; Robert Reason, Assistant Professor
of Higher Education, Pennsylvania State University
ACAD Session:
Changing Faculty Workload Without New Resources: The Creative
Use of Curricular Planning
How can deans meet the needs of faculty for time for research,
as well as time with their students, without new resources?
How can deans encourage faculty to introduce greater curricular
planning without an open revolt? This panel explores the strategy
of curricular planning as a tool allowing better use of faculty
resources. The deans of Bates College offer as a case study
their own experiences of offering an adjusted faculty-teaching
load to departments developing a three-year curricular plan.
Audience discussion will focus on the applicability of this
strategy at other institutions and alternate strategies tried
elsewhere.
Jill Reich, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean
of Faculty; Elizabeth Tobin, Associate Dean of Faculty; and
Pamela Baker, Associate Dean of Faculty – all of Bates
College
Back to top
If you have questions, please e-mail us at meetings@aacu.org.
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2004 Annual Meeting |
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About the 2004 Meeting:
Overview
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