Demanding Excellence:
Liberal Education in an Era of Global Competition,
Anti-Intellectualism, and Disinvestment

FINAL PROGRAM

Thursday, January 26

7:00-8:30 a.m.

Women’s Networking Breakfast
Demanding Excellence in the Sciences

Presidents' Breakfast and Discussion
Academic Freedom and Educational Responsibility

8:45-10:15 a.m.

Opening Plenary
Welcoming Remarks

Ronald A. Crutcher, President, Wheaton College (MA) and Chair, AAC&U Board of Directors
Virginia Coombs, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, University of Wisconsin - River Falls, and Chair, ACAD Board of Directors

Introduction of recipients of the K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Awards

Derek Cabrera, Education, Cornell University
Michael Coyle, Justice Studies, Arizona State University
Emily Fairchild, Sociology, Indiana University
Molly Beth Kerby, Educational Administration, Educational Leadership, and Organizational Development, University of Louisville
Diane Nutbrown, Inorganic Chemistry, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Regina Praetorius, Human Resource Education, Louisiana State University
Victor Raymond, Sociology, Iowa State University
Joan Shin, Language, Literacy, and Culture, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Ian Stewart, Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley

President’s Welcome
Carol Geary Schneider, President, AAC&U 

Featured Address
Meeting New Challenges at Home and Abroad: Liberal Education’s New Premium
Roberts T. Jones, President of Education and Workforce Policy, LLC
Wisconsin Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton

The global economy is changing. The world is becoming more interdependent. The challenges Americans face both at home and abroad demand new levels of engagement, commitment, and creative problem-solving. In this turbulent age, an empowering liberal education has become more important—for all students—than ever before. Responding to these far-reaching changes, AAC&U has launched Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP) to connect the public dialogue about college with these societal and economic shifts, and to make the aims and practices of a 21st century liberal education central to the compact between the academy and society. In this opening session, Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton and Roberts T. Jones, President of Education and Workforce Policy, LLC—both members of the LEAP National Leadership Council—will explore these issues from the perspectives of employers, citizens, and policymakers. They will also address the connected challenges of making excellence inclusive while also raising expectations for all students’ preparation and achievement.

10:30-11:45 a.m.

Featured and Concurrent Sessions

Featured Session
Collaborating for Excellence: Student Affairs, Academic Affairs, and the Challenge of Transformative Learning
Constitution B

Intentional partnerships between Student Affairs and Academic Affairs can create more comprehensive learning experiences than occur in either sphere separately. Because transformative learning always happens in the context of students’ lives, collaborative campuses can serve as laboratories for helping students develop the knowledge, skills, and values they need to fully contribute to society. The result is a deeper, more engaged, more integrated educational experience.  This session will explore a variety of ways to create partnerships that support student learning and success and that maximize the whole learning community.
Susan E. Borrego, Vice President Student Affairs, and Marsha Moroh, Interim Provost—both of California State University Monterey Bay; and Cynthia Forrest, Dean of Students Emeriti, Framingham State College

Research Session
How Colleges Develop Students Purposefully
Independence B/C

Based on a three-year project of ten church-related colleges, faculty and colleagues guide students to foster student development holistically, including faith development. These colleges create environments that stress three characteristics: college mission is reality, learning and development is integrated, and community is one of support and challenge. The session will open with an overview of the findings, followed by audience discussion of other campus initiatives that illustrate these characteristics.
Larry Braskamp, Professor Emeritus, Loyola University Chicago; Lois Trautvetter, Associate Director of Higher Education, Northwestern University; Kelly Ward, Associate Professor, Washington State University; Lee Knefelkamp, Professor of Psychology and Education and Senior Fellow, AAC&U, Teacher's College, Columbia University

Panel Presentation
Undergraduate Research Experiences: Integrating Discovery into Liberal Learning
Independence F/G

Undergraduate research experiences provide students with a conceptual understanding of their disciplines, while cultivating critical thinking and problem-solving skills that transcend disciplinary learning.   Truman State University, Defiance College, and Murray State University have each developed programs involving students in undergraduate research.  The three campuses represent different approaches to the process of providing excellence in liberal education.
Michael Tannenbaum, President, Council on Undergraduate Research and Dean of Science, Marist College; Barbara Dixon, President, Truman State University; Gerald Wood, President, Defiance College; John Mateja, Director, Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Activity (URSA) Office, Murray State University

Panel Presentation
Globalizing Liberal Learning: Perspectives from Three Innovative Liberal Arts Colleges
Conference Theatre

This panel explores challenges to liberal arts colleges of constructing a core emphasis with a global focus in the context of a continuing Eurocentric intellectual tradition.  Institutional collaborations among featured programs at three innovative institutions – Pitzer, Hampshire, and Daemen colleges – have been central to developing and legitimizing a shift toward a global perspective.  Lessons learned, and emerging questions, will help audience members articulate needed processes and outcomes for a robust global emphasis.
Karen Spear, Executive Director, Consortium for Innovative Environments in Learning; Carol Brandt, Vice President International Programs, Pitzer College; Steven Weisler, Dean of Academic Development, Hampshire College; Edwin Clausen, Vice President Academic Affairs and Dean of the College, Daemen College

Panel Presentation
Ohio’s Statewide Framework for Higher Learning Accountability and Productivity
Wilson/Roosevelt

Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor and Vice Chancellor and two university administrators describe the context in which a governor’s commission, regents’ policy, institutional need, public demand, and legislative interest converged to encourage statewide approaches to higher learning accountability and performance.  Session presenters will discuss functioning statewide frameworks and facilitate participants' review of proposed structures for institutional Student Success Plans.
Elizabeth Stroble, Senior Vice President and Provost, The University of Akron; Roderick Chu, Chancellor, Ohio Board of Regents; Garry Walters, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Economic Advancement, Ohio Board of Regents; Stephen Kopp, President, Marshall University

Panel Presentation
Academic Excellence In and for Democracy : What Are the Conflicts, Challenges, and Possibilities in Today's World?
Cabin John/Arlington

Are academic excellence and inclusive democratic principles and practices mutually contradictory? Or are they interdependent for a liberal education that lives up to its public mission and responsibilities in a would-be democracy?  Through panel presentations and participant discussion, we will explore whether what we are actually doing as educators supports, undermines, or is irrelevant to inclusive democratic aspirations in a fraught, highly diverse but economically and politically globalizing world.
Jennifer Simpson, Assistant Professor, Indiana University--Purdue University Fort Wayne; Elizabeth Minnich, Senior Fellow, Association of American Colleges and Universities; Joseph Jordan, Director, Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Panel Presentation
Implications of Technology for Outcomes, Structure of Liberal Education
Franklin Square

Computers and the Web have implications both for what all students should learn (e.g., skills of inquiry involving the use of computer tools) and also implications for how people learn (e.g., motivating and shaping student learning by posting some of it online).  Using examples from the speakers and from the audience, this session will discuss implications of technology for liberal education for the 21st century and how institutions and AAC&U might advance this program of work.
Stephen Ehrmann, Vice President, The TLT Group; David Starrett, Director, Center for Scholarship in Teaching and Learning, Southeast Missouri State University

Panel Presentation
Stepping Stones to Sustainable Institutional Change Efforts
Constitution A

The road to institutional excellence is littered with failed and faltering interventions in part because too little thought was given to where the resources or energy would come from to sustain the efforts beyond a first or second round.  The session will feature lessons from the change literature, high performing colleges and universities, and institutional leaders who have been able to effectively launch and sustain initiatives that promote liberal learning and student success. 
George Kuh, Chancellor's Professor and Director, and Jillian Kinzie, Associate Director – both of  Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research; Gerald Francis, Provost, Elon University; William Craft, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty, Luther College

Panel Presentation
Perspectives of Professional School Deans: Expanding Our Vision of Undergraduate Learning
Independence D/E

A pernicious dualism that divides baccalaureate higher education into either liberal arts colleges or research universities limits our understanding of liberal and professional education.  In fact, “third way” Carnegie masters institutions are more numerous than the two combined and are fertile settings for excellent liberal arts and professional programs.  Panelists will examine the academic and cultural traditions, philosophical underpinnings, and educational outcomes in several professional program disciplines and ways these programs relate to liberal learning.
Moderator:  Nancy Carrick, Vice President for Academic Affairs, University of Redlands
Panelists: Jerry Platt, Dean, School of Business, University of Redlands; Janet Brown, Dean, School of Nursing, Valparaiso University; Thomas Kail, Associate Provost, College of Continuing and Professional Studies, Mercer University

This session is sponsored by the Associated New American Colleges

ACAD SESSION
Knowledge in the Service of Society: Connecting Liberal Education, Research, and Civic Engagement
Constitution CDE 

Undergraduate deans at research universities must demonstrate to students, and to the larger society, that a liberal education is not an irrelevant luxury, but a form of education that empowers students to make a positive difference through the development of essential dispositions, ways of thinking, and skills.  Deans can make the case by fostering educational experiences that link the university culture of research to civic engagement, including through field-based research and service learning opportunities.  Discussion will focus on examples of such civic engagement opportunities and outcomes.
Knowledge in the Service of Society (PowerPoint)
Robert J. Thompson, Jr., Dean of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, Duke University; Rita C. Kean, Dean of Undergraduate Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Presidents’ Forum
Making Excellence Inclusive:Writing a New Educational Compact Between the Academy and Society
Lafayette Park/Farragut Square 

Through Liberal Education and America’s Promise, AAC&U seeks to create a broad public dialogue about the learning graduates need.  In this session, presidents and foundation officers will debate the content of a public statement on “Principles of Excellence for Student Learning in College.”  We also will explore ways to connect these Principles with public and policy concerns about economic competition, scientific literacy, and weak student achievement in school.
Ronald A. Crutcher, President, Wheaton College; Elisabeth Zinser, President, Southern Oregon University

11:45 a.m. – 1:15 p.m.

Box Lunch Roundtables
Independence A

Topics being discussed include:

- AAC&U’s Statement on Academic Freedom and Educational Responsibility

- How is technology transforming teaching and learning?

- What new ideas and campus innovations connect liberal education to civic responsibility?

- What is the relationship between liberal education and the spiritual lives of students?

- How can we promote strategic integration of academic affairs and student affairs?

- What are the most effective strategies for integrative and culminating learning?

- How do we cultivate diverse faculty and academic leaders for a diverse world?

- What are the most pressing agenda items for women in higher education that AAC&U should be addressing?

- How are new models for learning communities enhancing the undergraduate curriculum?

- How are institutions linking excellence and inclusion?

- What approaches really work in assessing the success of our students? The success of our institutions?

- How will “global education” and “education for a sustainable future” transform liberal education?

12:15 – 2:00 p.m.                                                                                                         

Luncheon for Presidents and Foundation Officers 
Rich Rewards; Deepening Divides:The New Economic Evidence on Liberal Education Outcomes
Anthony Carnevale, Senior Fellow, National Center on Education and the Economy
Dr. Carnevale's Luncheon Presentation

1:30-2:30 p.m.

Featured and Concurrent Sessions

Featured Session
The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent
Constitution B

 In The Flight of the Creative Class, the follow-up to The Rise of the Creative Class, Richard Florida paints a picture of a global giant on the verge of one of the toughest economic battles of its life. To stay at the cutting edge, the United States will have to find ways to mitigate gross inequality, harness the creativity of all human beings, take on political polarization, retain the traditional openness of American society to international influence, and revamp K-12 and post-secondary education. Beyond just the U.S., Florida looks at how regions and nations around the world are adapting to the global creative economy.  By weaving together such issues, he asks every business, political, and cultural leader to reevaluate the world from an alternate perspective.
Richard Florida is the Hirst Professor in the School of Public Policy at George Mason University, and a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution

Technology Session
Developing and Implementing an Effective Performance-Based Assessment System: 10 Steps to Success
Conference Theatre

For the past five years, LiveText has assisted hundreds of universities and colleges in developing and implementing an effective performance-based assessment system. In this session, join Robert Budnik, co-founder of LiveText, as he shares his experiences, knowledge, and dynamic approaches in developing and implementing an effective performance-based assessment system.
Robert Budnik, Co-Founder, LiveText

Panel Presentation
Building a Principle-Based Culture of Excellence to Integrate the Intellectual and Pragmatic Needs of a Global Society
Independence B/C

How do we create a climate for excellence in learning that prepares our students to intellectually engage in the local and global tensions that shape our lives? How do we resolve the tension between the intellectual demands required by these tensions and the very practical needs of our students?  One way is to look at the intellectual and the practical not as separate entities, but rather as an integrative pair of powerful forces that can work together to build a culture of excellence. 
Sharon Hamilton, Associate Dean of the Faculties for Integrating Learning, and Scott Evenbeck, Dean of University College – both of Indiana University Purdue University-Indianapolis

Discussion Session
Who's the Fairest of Them All: Perceptions of Fairness in the College Classroom
Constitution A

The perception of being treated fairly or not influences how people behave, whether in the workplace or classroom. In this interactive session, a conceptualization of fairness developed by management scholars will be applied to teaching.  Participants will discuss how the conceptualization can be applied to teaching and the implications thereof for teacher behavior.  The results of a focus group study involving undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty will also be presented.
David Kravitz, Associate Professor of Management, and Laurie Fathe, Associate Provost for Educational Improvement and Innovation – both of George Mason University

Promising Practice/Campus Innovation
Personal Agency, Civic Engagement, and the Intentional Enchantment of Campus Life
Franklin Square

What can a college or university do intentionally to engage the largest number of students most intensely in civic life?  The University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) has developed a provocative answer that focuses on the campus itself as a dynamic civic community created by its members.  This session will explore new ideas about the philosophy and practice of student engagement, including UMBC’s “Intentional Enchantment” model and its applicability to other campuses.
David Hoffman, Coordinator for Leadership and Engagement Initiatives; Diane Lee, Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education, Patty Perillo, Director, Office of Student Life; and Jordan Hadfield, President, Student Government Association – all of the University of Maryland Baltimore County 

Promising Practice/Campus Innovation
Search and Employ:  Strategies for Attracting Diversity Candidates to Your Search
Independence F/G

This session is designed for faculty and administrators who will be leading academic searches for faculty or administrative positions.  Participants will learn to develop specific strategies for increasing the number of qualified applicants from traditionally underrepresented groups in order to diversify the candidate pool.  Topics considered will include forming the search committee, detailing the position description, recruiting candidates through advertising, screening resumes, and extending hospitality to the new hire.
Lauren Vicker, Professor, Chair of Communication/Journalism, St. John Fisher College; Harriette Royer, Associate Director of Career Services, William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration

Lauren Vicker and Harriette Royer are the authors of "The Complete Academic Search Manual: A Systematic Approach to Successful And Inclusive Hiring" (Stylus, 2005).

Promising Practice/Campus Innovation
Assessment at the Margins: Identifying, Understanding, and Working with Outlying Students in American Higher Education
Independence D/E

Most assessment in higher education aims to describe the common characteristics of the students, programs, or institutions under evaluation.  Such assessments, though, overlook students whose characteristics place them on the margins.  This presentation describes how to design and support assessments that help educators identify, understand, and work with outlying students – those students who often have the greatest needs and potential.
Gary Daynes, Associate Director--Freshman Academy; Patricia Esplin, Director, Freshman Academy; and Justin White, peer mentor – all of Brigham Young University

Case Study
Creating Synergy Through Successful Global Partnerships: A Model for the Future
Wilson/Roosevelt

In January 2005, the Deans of Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering and Effat College signed a cooperative agreement to develop the first engineering programs for women in Saudi Arabia. This partnership is governed by a philosophy of cooperative globalization, maintaining that both partners have a greater social responsibility extending beyond the export of a successful educational model.  This session will describe the characteristics of successful partnerships and propose a promising model for the future.
Haifa Jamalallail, Dean, and Kerry Laufer, Assistant to the Dean for Institutional Development & Quality Control, -- both of Effat College; Marianne Risley, Assistant Dean, New Initiatives, Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University

Promising Practice/Campus Innovation
The Integration of a Liberal Education and the Values of a Global Workforce
Cabin John/Arlington

Political discussions of higher education often focus on workforce readiness for high-wage/high-skill jobs, rather than the importance of liberal studies.  This presentation and discussion will focus on liberal arts course requirements for the AA and AS degrees, articulations between Florida’s community colleges and universities, the role of workforce program advisory councils, and strategies for infusing a liberal education into workforce programs of study.
Margo Martin, Dean of Instruction & Student Success; Nancy Yurko, Dean of Liberal Arts; and Judy Batson, Dean of Liberal Arts – all of Florida Community College at Jacksonville

ACAD SESSION
Realizing and Enhancing Our Paideia:  The Development, Implementation, and Initial Assessment of a New Program to Enhance Liberal Education
Constitution CDE

Paideia (ancient Greek) means the sum of one’s educational experiences. Southwestern University seeks to instill a "paideia" approach to learning through the metaphorical interweaving of five strands: academics, intercultural experiences, service-learning, leadership, and collaborative research. Students discuss, reflect, and develop e-portfolios in faculty-facilitated seminars, remaining within the same seminar cohort for three years. This interactive session will focus on the development, implementation, and assessment of this program and will explore similar work on other campuses.
The Paideia Program
SU Magazine
Stephanie L. Fabritius, Associate Provost and Director of the Paideia Program; Professor of Biology; James W. Hunt, Provost and Dean of the Faculty and Professor of Education – both of Southwestern University

2:15 – 4:00 p.m.

Presidents’ Forum
Making Excellence Inclusive: What are We Learning from Campus Efforts to Enhance Student Success?

Making excellence inclusive calls for broad systemic efforts to integrate diversity and quality initiatives on campus, so that diversity becomes an integral aspect of all students’ learning, while the educational program tests new strategies to identify and reduce achievement gaps.  In this session, we will explore lessons learned from institutions and initiatives that have been pace-setters in new efforts to advance inclusive excellence.
Joanne Creighton, President, Mount Holyoke College; Lester Monts, Senior Vice Provost, University of Michigan; Blenda Wilson, President, Nellie Mae Foundation

2:45-4:00 p.m.

 Featured and Concurrent Sessions

Featured Session
The Challenge of Bologna
Constitution B

The "Bologna Process" represents an effort to create a European Higher Education Area with common parameters for bachelor's and master's degrees, a modular transfer credit system (ECTS) and diploma supplement to accompany them, and a transnational accountability framework that seeks evidence of the effectiveness of reforms in the employability of graduates. As the mobility of students accelerates worldwide, what are the implications of the "Bologna Process" for Higher Education in the United States generally, and liberal education outcomes specifically?
Clifford Adelman, Senior Research Analyst, United States Department of Education

Research Session
American Freshmen: New Findings on Commitment to Social Responsibility and General Education Goals
Constitution A

New findings from 2005 entering freshmen, obtained from the CIRP annual survey, reveal a renewed commitment to social and civic responsibility compared with previous cohorts. Gender differences are also evident in these commitments as well reasons to go to college that reflect general education goals. Trends and implications will be discussed at the session.
John Pryor, Director of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, and Sylvia Hurtado, Director of the Higher Education Research Institute -- both of UCLA

Panel Presentation
The Role of the Liberal Arts in STEM-Intensive Research Universities
Wilson/Roosevelt

Increasingly, the liberal arts, especially the humanities, social sciences, and fine arts, seem to be on the defensive in public research universities.  Disciplines in these areas have been claiming a smaller share of full-time tenure-stream positions, salary dollars, and general funding relative to science, engineering, and professional schools.  Curiously, liberal arts faculty continue to serve in central administrative positions even as the relative prestige of their home disciplines continues to decline. Three Graduate Deans at research universities – also liberal arts faculty members – will discuss challenges that confront undergraduate and graduate programs in the liberal arts at such institutions.
Philip Cohen, Dean of the Graduate School, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, and Professor of English, University of Texas-Arlington; John Contreni, Dean of the Graduate School and Professor of History, Purdue University; Charles Ambler, Professor of History, University of Texas-El Paso

Case Study
Administrative and Faculty Perspectives on Minority Recruitment Programs: The Maryland duPont Visiting Scholars Program
Independence H/I

Minority recruitment programs are important strategies for building faculty diversity.  This session will assess the efficacy of such programs by presenting the Maryland duPont Visiting Scholars Program, a collaborative project from Goucher College, McDaniel College, and Washington College.  This session will include administrators and faculty appointed through the program and will provide an opportunity to compare their different perspectives on the strengths and weaknesses, successes and shortcomings of such programs.
Thomas Falkner, Provost and Dean of the Faculty, McDaniel College; Michael Curry, Vice President and Academic Dean, Goucher College; Lesley Brown, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Goucher College; Debora Johnson-Ross, Assistant Professor of Political Science, McDaniel College; Susan Vowels, Assistant Professor of Business Management, Washington College

Panel Presentation
Developing Momentum for Liberal Learning:  Strategies and Structures for First Year Student Engagement
Independence B/C

This panel presents curricular, co-curricular, and non-curricular programs and projects at Cabrini College, Appalachian State University, and Wofford College that help students develop momentum for full engagement with liberal learning either prior to or just after their matriculation.  More than simply complementing the work of the First Year Experience, these initiatives assist students in developing the inclination and capacity for developing habits of inquiry, intellectual judgment, and aesthetic appreciation.
Charlie McCormick, Dean for Academic Affairs, and Chad May, Coordinator of Institutional Research – both of Cabrini College; Dan Friedman, Director, Freshman Seminar and Summer Preview, Appalachian State University; Deno Trakas, Professor of English, Wofford College

Panel Presentation
Crossing the Boundaries, Making the Connections:  Curricular Pathways Found in the Northeast
Independence D/E

Encouraging students to cross curricular boundaries and make connections requires innovative learning experiences and integrative curricular structures.  This panel will present the curricular pathways forged at five institutions in the Northeast to encourage students to make connections across disciplines, within the general education program, and within the major.  While each pathway has slightly different twists and turns, each has the same goal in mind: providing a life-enhancing, liberal – and liberating – education.
DonnaJean Fredeen, Dean, School of Arts and Sciences, Southern Connecticut State University; Sara Varhus, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, State University of New York College at Oswego; Claire Paolini, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Sacred Heart University; Anita Shea, Dean, School of Arts and Sciences, Salem State College; Carmen Cid, Dean, School of Arts and Sciences, Eastern Connecticut State University

Promising Practice/Campus Innovation
Liberal Education and America's Promise:  The Wisconsin Pilot
Franklin Square

The University of Wisconsin System is partnering with AAC&U through its initiative, “The Currency of the Liberal Arts and Sciences,” which seeks to raise public awareness of the value of the liberal arts and sciences and of liberal education outcomes in developing citizens for the 21st-century.  This session will describe Wisconsin’s efforts to put AAC&U’s LEAP Campaign into action and will provide time for sharing challenges and strategies from other institutions working towards the same goals.
Debra Humphreys, Vice President  for Communications and Public Affairs, AAC&U; Rebecca Karoff, Academic Planner, University of Wisconsin; Lance Grahn, Dean of Letters and Science, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point; Donald Christian, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire

Panel Presentation
Is Community Engagement a Crucial Responsibility and Opportunity for Higher Education?
Independence F/G

Although over 950 college and university presidents have endorsed the civic purposes of higher education through Campus Compact, community engagement has not yet become a defining characteristic of higher education’s mission. This panel session will share the experiences of three diverse institutions in moving to a strong commitment to community engagement and will involve participants in identifying the barriers to and next steps toward embracing a transforming public purpose for American higher education.
Peter Brown, Associate Vice President for Service-Learning and Community Development, Mercer University; Barbara Medley, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; Kenneth Stapleton, Director, University Park Alliance, The University of Akron

Promising Practice/Campus Innovation
General Education for Global Learning
Cabin John/Arlington

This session will raise questions about the process of using the general education program at an urban, historically black institution to foster interest in and understanding of the local, national, and international environment.  Because we see globalization as empowering individuals, especially those who are non-western and non-white, discussion will focus on the role of general education in propelling minority individuals into acquiring the skills and knowledge which enable them to collaborate and compete globally.  
Annette Palmer, Chairperson, Dept. of History and Geography; Burney Hollis, Dean, College of Liberal Arts; Dolan Hubbard, Chairperson, Department of English and Language Arts; and Janice McLane, Interim Chairperson, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies – all of Morgan State University
 

Discussion Session
Writing for Change
Washington Board Room

Magazines addressed to a wide range of people interested in higher education are of a different genre than scholarly journals.  A good magazine article compels attention to an important matter. It shows a mind at work, one that reaches judgments and takes a stance. It is credible:  it knows its subject and the context. And it is concrete, naming people, places, dates, and events. Come discuss with the editors of Change magazine how to write for it.
Heldref Publications
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
Margaret Miller, Director, Center for the Student of Higher Education, University of Virginia and Editor, Change magazine; Peter Ewell, Vice President, National Center for Higher Education Management Systems

ACAD SESSION
Articulating the Meaning(s) of Liberal Education
Constitution CDE

How do liberal educators understand their work? Since few have formal training in their profession’s traditions or history, this question is central to valuing and fostering the culture of liberal education. This session recaps a workshop run for the last two years at Grinnell College in which faculty have engaged texts ranging from Seneca’s letter on liberal education to Bill Reading’s The University in Ruins. Panelists will explain the workshop’s genesis and the unexpected ways in which it has engaged faculty in a dialogue on the meaning(s) of liberal education.
Bradley Bateman, Associate Dean of the College, Professor of Economics; Daniel Reynolds, Associate Professor of German – both of Grinnell College

4:15-5:45 p.m.

Featured and Concurrent Sessions

Featured Session
Advancing Sustainability in Curriculum, Research, Campus Operations, and the Community 
Independence D/E 

Sustainability is an important focus of teaching, research, operations and outreach at hundreds of colleges and universities worldwide. Panel members will describe how specific higher education institutions are graduating students who are engaged in creating healthier communities, ecosystems, and stronger economies.  Discussion will focus on having sustainability become a significant focus of the curriculum—general education, all majors, diversity, global learning, and civic engagement—as well as in operations, planning, student life, and community partnerships.
BSU - Sustainability
BSU - Council on the Environment
BSU - Green Committee
BSU - Cluster
BSU - Freshman Connections
BSU - Greening of the Campus
Jean-Lou Chameau, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, Georgia Institute of Technology; Terry Link, Director, Office of Campus Sustainability, Michigan State University; Robert Koester, Professor of Architecture and Director of the Center for Energy Research, Education and Service, Ball State University; and Anthony D. Cortese, President, Second Nature, and Co-Founder, Education for Sustainability Western Network

Research Session
Investing in Learning: Building the Teaching Commons
Wilson/Roosevelt

This interactive session focuses on the emergence of a “teaching commons”—a conceptual space in which educators around the world committed to pedagogical inquiry and innovation come together to exchange ideas about teaching and learning, and use them to meet the challenges of liberal education today.  The presenters will describe the growth of this commons, and invite audience suggestions about what it will take to build and sustain it as a vital, open, and productive resource for the advancement of teaching and learning. 
Pat Hutchings, Vice President, and Mary Huber, Senior Scholar – both of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
 

Panel Presentation
Alternative Approaches to Global Studies: The Politics of Interdisciplinary Engagement
Constitution A

This interactive session will address two sets of issues: the structure of the global studies curriculum and the special pedagogical challenges of the topic. Questions to be addressed include language requirements, study abroad, service learning, area concentrations, disciplinary or topical core courses, and the inclusion of the United States.  Participants will also discuss pedagogical challenges and debates associated with global studies. Is there an inherent political commitment in the subject matter?  Can or should faculty try to maintain political neutrality in the classroom? How can students learn what is involved in global citizenship without examining their geopolitical positions in the world?
Eve Stoddard, Professor of Global Studies, St. Lawrence University; Kathryn Poethig, Assistant Professor of Global Studies, California State University, Monterey Bay; Katharine Bjork, Assistant Professor of History and Global Studies, Hamline University; Jon Shefner, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Tennessee
 

Discussion Session
Religion and Public Life: Engaging Higher Education
Constitution B

This discussion will focus on a draft statement, “Religion and Public Life: Engaging Higher Education.” The statement emerged from a July 2005 Wingspread gathering of scholars, representing multiple disciplines and perspectives, who considered the current state of American religion and public life, the scope of religious studies, the tensions between intellectual inquiry and religiously motivated beliefs, and the spiritual interests of students.  Participants will review and critique the statement and have an opportunity to express their own views.
Wingspread Declaration on Religion and Public Life
Nancy Thomas, Director, Democracy Project, Society for Values in Higher Education; William Sullivan, Senior Scholar, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; Tony Chambers, Associate Vice Provost, University of Toronto
 
This session is sponsored by the Society for Values in Higher Education

Panel Presentation
Establishing Credibility: Accreditation, Excellence, and a Skeptical World
Cabin John/Arlington

This session addresses the alliances institutions and regional accreditors can forge to define, promote, assess, and defend liberal education at a time when such values are being misperceived and threatened, both internally and externally. It is relevant to both publicly-supported and faith-based institutions.
Richard Winn, Associate Director, and Barbara Wright, Associate Director – both of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges; Geoffrey Chase, Dean, Undergraduate Studies, San Diego State University

Panel Presentation
Where is Community Studies in Higher Education? Institutionalizing a Scholarship of Engagement
Franklin Square

This panel addresses how community studies – which links rigorous academic coursework with immersive and consequential community-based learning – can serve as the curricular architecture necessary to support students’ authentic engagement with real-world issues of diversity, equity, and social justice. Community studies offers faculty a legitimate academic home for disciplinary and interdisciplinary scholarship in and of communities.
Community Studies
Dan Butin, Assistant Professor of Education, Gettysburg College; Adenrele Awotona, Dean and Professor, College of Public and Community Service, University of Massachusetts, Boston; Mary Beth Pudup, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Community Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz; Andrew Mott, Executive Director, Community Learning Project; Katherine Kravetz, American University—Washington Semester Program

Panel Presentation
Building on BEST Principles: Designing Programs that Support the Success of All Students
Independence B/C
Building on BEST Principles PowerPoint

Over the last decade, a series of reports have focused on the need to strengthen the U.S. scientific workforce. Higher education plays a key role in addressing this need, but institutions must address a variety of issues to do so effectively. The new AAAS Center and the STEM organizations represented in the Disciplinary Society-Education Association (DSEA) Alliance, organized by Project Kaleidoscope, provide expertise and resources that can help institutions, programs, and individuals in all disciplines plan and implement activities that will support the success of all students. This session will highlight some key design principles for building such a foundation, including complementary activities of disciplinary societies.
Jodi Wesemann, Assistant Director for Higher Education, American Chemical Society; Daryl Chubin, Director, Center for Advancing Science and Engineering Capacity, American Association for the Advancement of Science; Jeanne Narum, Director, Project Kaleidoscope; Wanda Ward, Deputy Assistant Director, Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences, National Science Foundation

Promising Practice/Campus Innovation
General Education Reform:  More Difficult Than Moving a Graveyard
Independence F/G

Butler University and North Carolina A&T State University have both undertaken a transformation of their core curriculum. North Carolina A&T began their work in 2002 and presenters will address processes implemented to promote transparency, encourage participation, minimize political challenges, and maintain a focus on improving student learning.  Butler University adopted its blueprint for general education curriculum in 2005, emphasizing interdisciplinarity, experiential education, world cultures and diversity, and the Butler faculty is now engaged in a three-year period of course design.  Those working on general education curricular reform can benefit from the experiences of these institutions and presenters; faculty and administrators are invited to join the discussion and share their insights.
Bill Berry, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Steven Roberson, Associate Dean--College of Fine Arts—both of Butler University; and Joseph Graves, Dean of University Studies, and Sanjiv Sarin, Associate Dean of Engineering – both of  North Carolina A&T State University
 

Promising Practice/Campus Innovation
Challenging Boundaries:  The Early College as an Agent for Change
Independence H/I

Early College has flourished at Simon's Rock, a private liberal arts college in Massachusetts, for 40 years. Beginning in 2002, The Gates Foundation funded the extension of early college to public community and senior colleges in rural and inner city locations across the country to serve a very different population of students.  This session will explore the range of boundaries challenged by academic and institutional innovation.
Maryann Tebben, Faculty in Languages and Literature, Joan DelPlato, Faculty in the Arts, and John Weinstein, Faculty in Languages and Literature – all of Simon's Rock College of Bard; and Nancy Hoffman, Vice President, Youth Transitions Cluster, Jobs for the Future; Roberta Matthews, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, Brooklyn College; and Cecilia Cunningham, Director, Middle College Consortium, LaGuardia Community College

ACAD SESSION
Liberal Education: The Dean’s Leadership Role
Constitution CDE

Academic leadership, as much as program design, is central to furthering an institutional commitment to liberal education.  Deans from three comprehensive private institutions will discuss their efforts to create a culture of liberal education across a range of academic offerings and across multiple areas on campus, such as Student Life, Admissions, and Marketing. 
Moderator:  Jim Pence, Provost, Pacific Lutheran University
Panelists: Susan Traverso, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Redlands; Charles Taylor, Dean of the College, Drury University; Valerie Martin, Dean, Arts, Humanities and Communications, Susquehanna University

Presidents’ Forum
Making Excellence Possible: What Works in Reversing the Slide in Science and Math Achievement?

Top business and higher education leaders are issuing urgent new warnings about the United States’ waning competitive advantage in sectors that require science, engineering, and technical training. Yet many colleges and universities have been working to promote student engagement in STEM fields for years. This session will turn a spotlight on "what works" and will explore ways that the academy can provide even stronger leadership for students’ preparation and strong achievement in these key areas of liberal education
Daniel Sullivan, President, St. Lawrence University

5:45-7:00 p.m.

AAC&U Welcoming Reception
Independence A

Friday, January 27

7:30 - 8:30 am

Networking Breakfast for Faculty and Administrators of Color
Independence D/E

Spiraling Through the Glass Ceiling

Ronald A. Crutcher is President of Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts.  Prior to joining Wheaton in 2004, President Crutcher was Provost, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Professor of Music at Miami University, and he currently serves as Chair of AAC&U’s Board of Directors.  President Crutcher is also a member of the Klemperer Trio, which performs regularly in this country and Europe.  He made his Carnegie Hall debut in March 1985 and, in 1979, was the first cellist to receive the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale. 

Welcome and Introduction:  Heather J. Knight, Associate Provost for Faculty Development, Diversity and Special Programs, University of the Pacific 
 

ACAD Members’ Breakfast
Constitution DE

Networking Breakfast for Colleagues at Research Universities
Latrobe

Networking Breakfast for Colleagues at Community Colleges
Burnham

8:45-10:15 a.m.

AAC&U’s Members’ Meeting 
Principles of Excellence for Student Learning in College
Lafayette Park/Farragut Square

AAC&U’s new national advocacy initiative, Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP), will release—for public discussion—“Principles of Excellence” describing the most important aims of a 21st century college education, and recommending needed changes in policy and practice to ensure that all college students benefit from an empowering and public-spirited liberal education.  Directly engaging the accountability and quality debates, the Principles will build from the work of AAC&U’s Greater Expectations initiative.  AAC&U members are invited to respond to a draft of the Principles of Excellence and to help make it a useful resource for their own interactions with trustees, state commissions, legislators, business and civic leaders, and other higher education stakeholders.
 

Concurrent Sessions

Discussion Session
Deliberative Dialogue in the New Academy:  Diversity, Discourse, and the Challenge of Religion
Constitution A

This session will draw from the “lessons learned” in campus study circles on diversity and explore ways to apply those lessons to matters of religion in higher education.  The session will provide concrete guidance on framing critical questions relative to the role of religion in the New Academy and connect participants with resources they will need to organize and sustain those dialogues on their campuses.
Bruce Mallory, Provost and Executive Vice President, University of New Hampshire; Nancy Thomas, Director, Democracy Project; Edgar Beckham, Senior Scholar, Association of American Colleges and Universities

Discussion Session
Assessing Assessment:   Have Campus Assessment Efforts Made A Difference?
Independence F/G

Discussion will be focused on asking participants to reflect on where we stand in terms of the rigor and meaningfulness of current assessment activities.  Have assessment efforts improved the quality of faculty teaching?  Has assessment made a difference in the quality of student's learning?  Are faculty members actively engaged in the shaping and developing of assessment programs? Or has assessment been co-opted by the test makers?
Karl Schilling, Adjunct Professor of Psychology, and Karen Schilling, Professor and Chair of Psychology – both of Miami University
 

Discussion Session
Multi-Dimensional Advising As A Tool For Furthering The Goals Of Liberal Education
Wilson/Roosevelt

Panelists will lead a discussion on how advising and mentoring are at the heart of the mission of liberal education, emphasizing the need to strengthen faculty-based academic advising systems and the ‘Advising as Learning’ paradigm.  Areas of focus include helping students of diverse backgrounds make a successful transition to the college environment; and promoting the development of a shared sense of intellectual growth and social responsibility.
Shila Garg, Dean of the Faculty & Professor of Physics, The College of Wooster; Julie Stockenberg, Director of First-Year and Sophomore Studies and Advising, Colorado College; Bradley Bateman, Gertrude B. Austin Professor of Economics & Associate Dean, Grinnell College; Marnie McInnes, Dean of Academic Life and Associate Professor of English and Women's Studies, DePauw University
 

Discussion Session
Strengthening Leadership for Liberal Education: Development for Department Chairs
Cabin John/Arlington

Department chairpeople and their faculty colleagues are the curricular architects and stewards of the core values of liberal education.  Leadership development of chairs is a salient component to successfully promoting liberal education, yet faculty often assume these roles without preparation and development opportunities for chairs remain meager. This session is applicable for deans and faculty of comprehensive and small colleges, using case studies and participant examples to highlight critical components of chair leadership.
Janet Reohr, Associate Dean, School of Humanities & Sciences, and Susanne Morgan, Associate Professor of Sociology and Director for the Center for Faculty Excellence – both of Ithaca College;
Sally Lawrence, Vice President for Academic Affairs, The Sage Colleges
 

Discussion Session
Tensile Strength: Change and Sustainability in STEM Higher Education
Independence B/C

What is required to foster change within institutions of higher education?  Participants in this interactive session will engage in a guided dialogue focused on institutional change across different types of institutions, define the types of evidence that demonstrate the presence of change, and tackle the question of what is required to ensure that teaching and pedagogical scholarship becomes part of an institution’s faculty culture.
Nancy Shapiro, Associate Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs, University System of Maryland; Donald Langenberg, Professor of Physics, University of Maryland, and Chancellor Emeritus, University System of Maryland; Patricia Maloney, Project Manager, University System of Maryland; James Hamos, Program Officer, National Science Foundation; Spencer Benson, Director, Center for Teaching Excellence, University of Maryland
 

Discussion Session
Rewarding Enhancements in Student Learning through Collaboration Rather than Rewarding Individual Faculty Performance
Independence H/I

In an environment that currently rewards individual faculty performance and the portability of such faculty, the ability to improve student learning becomes increasingly difficult.  This interactive workshop will propose questions for consideration within realistic institutional boundaries.  Participants will explore solutions for moving internal and external rewards structures toward conversations that create ones which are more collaboratively designed and ones that are structured to reward improvements in student learning.
Marilee Bresciani, Assistant Vice President for Institutional Assessment, Texas A&M University; Cyd Jenefsky, Professor of Social Ecology, John F Kennedy University; Ralph Wolff, Executive Director, Western Association of Schools and Colleges

ACAD SESSION
How, Then, Shall We Live?  Let the Liberal Arts Speak
Constitution B

The liberal arts offer a rich dialogue in answer to the classic question at the heart of education: how, then, shall we live?  In small groups, participants will examine how the various disciplines—individually and together—can help students construct meaningful answers to this question and choose responsible ways of living.  Using a case study, participants will explore how the leadership of a dean can support the faculty in engaging and responding to this timeless question in their teaching.
William Craft, Vice President and Dean of the College, Luther College; Jane Jakoubek, Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs, Hanover College

10:30-11:45 a.m.

Featured and Concurrent Sessions

Featured Session
Mapping the Future of Inclusion and Excellence
Constitution B

Given the rapid changes we are experiencing in the economy, in the U.S. college-going population, and in global geopolitics, scholars have argued that diversity, as a component of academic excellence, is essential to higher education’s continuing relevance in the twenty-first century. At the same time, our “post-Michigan” educational environment calls for campuses to connect their educational quality and inclusion efforts more fundamentally and comprehensively than ever before. Join our speakers as they discuss this next generation of diversity and excellence work: What will it look like? How will both our thinking and our actions need to shift? Who will need to be involved? How will we know we are accomplishing our goals?
Alma. R. Clayton-Pedersen, Vice President, Office of Education and Institutional Renewal, and Caryn McTighe Musil, Senior Vice President and Vice President, Office of Diversity, Equity, and Global Initiatives – both of AAC&U; and Jeffrey Milem, Associate Professor, Department of Education Policy and Leadership, University of Maryland

 
Research Session
Deep Learning, Liberal Education, and Institutional Practice: Emerging Findings, Provocative Lessons
Independence H/I

Many campuses are shifting from a passive, instructor-dominated pedagogy to active, learner-centered activities to achieve the goals of liberal education. This session summarizes key findings from several national studies about the relationships between deep learning, educational outcomes, and institutional practices.  As expected, students who engage more frequently in deep learning behaviors earn higher grades and gain more from college.  Presenters and participants will explore the implications of these findings for institutional policy and practice.
George Kuh, Chancellor's Professor and Director, Jillian Kinzie, Associate Director, and Thomas Nelson Laird, Assistant Professor – all of the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research; John Tagg, Associate Professor of English, Palomar College

ANAC Session
Presidential Perspectives: Improving Higher Education Responsiveness in the Face of Local to Global Challenges
Constitution A

Efforts to strengthen liberal education in the midst of a turbulent world and shifting educational values must address three challenges: 1) reconciliation of higher education’s “public good” mission and the priority placed on its “private benefits”; 2) integration of theoretical and practical knowledge in a revitalized vision of essential student learning outcomes; and 3) development of institutional models and structures with the capacity to address these issues meaningfully. Panelists will analyze these challenges, discuss good practices, and present ways that their colleges and universities are responding to the local, national, and global challenges of the contemporary world.
Moderator:  Stephen C. Jennings, President, University of Evansville
Panelists:  Richard Guarasci, President, Wagner College; L. Jay Lemons, President, Susquehanna University; William R. Harvey, President, Hampton University; Linda Hanson, President, Hamline University

This session is sponsored by the Associated New American Colleges

Case Study
Neutrality's Just Another Word:  Advocacy and Academic Freedom in the Classroom
Independence D/E

Lewiston-Auburn College of the University of Southern Maine, recently approved a curriculum defined as “an extended inquiry into democracy, sustainability, justice, and difference.”  We invite attendees to grapple with the political implications of such a curriculum.  Do current threats to the university mean that faculty should be more cautious than ever about anything that seems other than “objective”?  Does the obligation to protect free and open debate demand a stance of neutrality?  Or does it call us to model the passionate commitments and thoughtful engagement we hope to foster in our students?
Rosemary Cleary, Associate Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences; Robert Schaible, Professor of Arts and Humanities; and Eve Raimon, Associate Professor of Arts and Humanities – all of the University of Southern Maine

Panel Presentation
Community Alliance for School Transformation
Lafayette Park

In line with the goals of AAC&U’s vision of a New Academy that extends the promise of a liberal education to all students, Towson University is developing initiatives to expand access to higher education as well as partner with communities to enhance student learning in K-12 and improve life in Baltimore’s neighborhoods.  The vision of “Community Alliance for School Transformation: Creating Zones for Learning and Living” (CAST), is to bring together the resources of all the stakeholders to work together toward school and community development. This session will discuss the process of developing collaborations, finding funding sources and will report on the progress to date.
Irena Makarushka, Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts; Raymond Lorion, Dean, College of Education; and Charlotte Exner, Dean, College of Health Professions – all of Towson University; David Costello, Director, Mayor's Office of Community Investment, City of Baltimore; and Bishop Willard E. Saunders, Created For So Much More Worship Center, Cherry Hill Community

Discussion Session
The Creative Campus
Independence B/C

This session will engage the audience in a discussion about the importance of creative teaching and learning, addressing questions such as:  What does the latest research on creativity tell us about the importance of innovative teaching and learning?  What techniques are available for identifying whether the teaching and learning on your campus is creative?  How can faculty and students who have worked together in a privileged creative space sustain the creative strategies they have embraced once they return to a campus where education persists as usual?
Tori-Haring Smith, President, Washington and Jefferson College; Steven Tepper, Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy, Vanderbilt University; and Joe Trimmer, Virginia Ball Center for Creative Inquiry, Ball State University

Panel Presentation
Liberal Learning and Student Identity:  Making the Vital Connection
Independence F/G

AAC&U has made clear the challenges facing the academy.  We propose to discuss a concept that has proven effective in addressing them:  the concept of vocation.  Vocation, as Ellen Lageman has written, “implies  … knowing who one is, what one believes, what one values.”  Vocation provides a way to “help students forge identities grounded in the pursuit of excellence, integrity, and responsibility.”  In a wider context, it becomes a campus-wide force.
Micael Clarke, Associate Professor of English, Loyola University of Chicago; Larry Braskamp, Professor of Education, Loyola University Chicago; John Haughey, S.J., Resident Senior Fellow, Woodstock Theological Center; Timothy Austin, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Creighton University

Panel Presentation
Assessing Information Literacy:  Measuring Cognitive and Technical Skills
Conference Theatre

The California State University (a system of 23 campuses) is experimenting with a new method of assessing students’ information-seeking and information–using skills.  Developed jointly by CSU, Educational Testing Service (ETS), and seven other universities, this assessment is a two-hour, online, scenario-based simulation that asks students to perform real-life information tasks. The ICT (Information and Communication Technology) Literacy Assessment was administered to 3,300 students on all 23 CSU campuses, with results available in fall 2005. This session will describe this new assessment – distinctive in both content and form.
Public Higher Education in California (Power Point)
Useful Websites
Sample Student Score Report
Lorie Roth, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Academic Programs, California State University; Ross LaBaugh, Coordinator of Library Instruction, California State University, Fresno; Suellen Cox, Head of Instruction and Information Services, California State University, Fullerton

Discussion Session
The Worldwide Quest for New Universities
Wilson/Roosevelt

As the international demand for quality higher education increases, we see American models being emulated in new ways.  In some cases, there is a direct transfer of educational technology and even of institutions.  In others, private groups are looking to the model of American teaching methods and the American liberal arts college.  This panel will discuss the essence of the American educational enterprise that is valued and transferable; and we will consider whether, while other systems are vigorously seeking to accommodate their universities to new global realities, American universities are doing the same.
Tamar March, Director, Arden Seminars Shakespeare and Company; Amy Lezburg, Consultant; Jacob Maas, Vice President, Coordinating Council for International Universities; Marcia Grant, Director of Academic Planning, Aga Khan University

Research Session
Integration by Design: AAC&U's Integrative Learning Project on Two Campuses
Cabin John/Arlington

The Integrative Learning Project, sponsored by AAC&U and the Carnegie Foundation, is designed to develop ten model programs of integration in the liberal arts at a variety of campuses across the country.  Two of the institutions involved, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and Salve Regina University, have collaborated on two important initiatives – assessment and core capstone development – in an effort to share ideas and resources in cultivating intentional integration.  This session will highlight points of collaboration between the two campuses as well as demonstrating the different and unique outcomes the faculties have reasoned to.
Stephen Trainor, Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Salve Regina University; Adrienne Wootters, Professor of Physics, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
 

ACAD SESSION
Science Education in the 21st Century: Are We Preparing our Students?
Constitution CDE

This session will focus on the shape of post-secondary science education in the 21st century. Discussion will focus on a set of questions initially posed by NSF as part of a 2005 national conversation on the theme, ”What does it mean to be liberally educated in the 21st Century?”  Science education will be discussed in terms curriculum for non-science majors, including the relevance of quantitative literacy as well as undergraduate science majors in the STEM areas.  Participants will share successful models for science education as a part of liberal learning at the undergraduate level, and strategies for increasing the numbers of students entering post-secondary study of science disciplines.
Virginia M. Coombs, Provost; Terry Brown, Interim Dean, College of Arts and Sciences; Brad Caskey, Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Psychology—all of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls

11:45-1:15 p.m.

ACAD Luncheon
Valuing our Values: Taking Liberal Education to the Next Level
Independence A 

W. Robert Connor 

W. Robert Connor is President of the Teagle Foundation, which places a special emphasis on seeing that today’s students have a challenging, wide ranging and enriching college education, best achieved when colleges develop broad and intellectually stimulating curricula, engage their students in active learning, set clear goals, and systematically measure progress toward those goals.  Prior to joining the Teagle Foundation, Dr. Connor was President and Director of National Humanities Center in North Carolina, an independent center for advanced study in literature, history, philosophy, and all other humanistic fields.  He retired from Princeton University in 1989 as the Andrew Fleming West Professor of Classics. 

1:30-2:30 p.m.

Featured and Concurrent Sessions

Featured Session
From Athens and Berlin to L. A.:  Faculty Work in the New Academy
Constitution B

The faculty role in American colleges and universities has been profoundly shaped by visions of excellence emerging from ancient Athens and late 19th century Berlin.  We are still living with the power and persuasiveness of variations on the teacher/scholar theme framed by that rich legacy; for Max Weber, the moral obligation of the teacher is to “ask inconvenient questions” of a privileged elite.  The new academy is asking much more—under radically different conditions—and is even suggesting that the faculty role be “unbundled.”  If L.A. is more our future—with its diversity, size, global perspective, technical base, and market priorities—new, more capacious visions of scholarly excellence will be required.  What will the work of faculty look like and what will be its attractions and rewards?
R. Eugene Rice, Senior Scholar, AAC&U, and Senior Scholar, Program in Leadership and Change, Antioch University
 

Panel Presentation
Feedback for Administrators: Adding Value to the Evaluation/Development Process
Independence H/I

Many campuses struggle with providing useful feedback to chairs, deans, and other administrators. This panel will discuss how The IDEA Feedback Systems have been used at the individual and the institutional level to add value to the evaluation and development process of campus leaders. After a brief description of the instruments, two individuals will describe their experiences using the instruments on their campus.
Amy Gross, Associate Director, The IDEA Center; Christine Licata, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Rochester Institute of Technology/NTID; Sam Minner, Dean of Education, Truman State University

Promising Practice/Campus Innovation
Transforming Institutional Structures: The Reinvention of Higher Education at CUNY
Independence F/G

What, in this age, is due to students in General Education?  Given the shift from full-time to part-time faculty teaching General Education courses at public universities across America, how can we engage both tenured and adjunct faculty in reinventing education in the large, urban, commuter university?  These questions entail nothing less than a critical revision of institutional structures. The experiment CUNY is undertaking now is the Coordinated Undergraduate Education (CUE) project: an initiative that sees the components of a student’s education—including developmental or remedial education, general education, the majors and professional education, and academic support programs—as a whole that must be synchronized from the student’s perspective as well as from the institutional perspective.
Crys Benedicks, Director for Undergraduate Education; Selma Botman, Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs; Judith Summerfield, University Dean for Undergraduate Education; Timothy Stevens, University Faculty Fellow – all of the City University of New York

Discussion Session
NEH Funding Opportunities
Wilson/Roosevelt

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.
Frederick Winter, Senior Program Officer, NEH Office of Challenge Grants

Discussion Session
High School Outreach:  A Means to Enhance Liberal Education and Counterbalance Anti-Intellectualism
Lafayette Park

Throughout the United States, colleges and universities face a climate of anti-intellectualism and public disinvestment, and students graduate from high school often unprepared for a challenging, enriching, and professionally relevant liberal arts education.  This session highlights the efforts of two Montana universities addressing these problems by reaching out to high schools across the state, including discussion of the potential and efficacy of such programs.
Gerald Fetz, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Jill Bergman, Associate Professor of English, Karen Adams, Assistant Professor of Political Science, and Garon Smith, Professor of Chemistry – all of the University of Montana; Gregory Young, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, Montana State University

Information Session
Faculty Fellows Internship Program
Washington Board Room

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, President, Washington Internship Institute

Promising Practice/Campus Innovation
The Engaged Urban University:  San Francisco State University’s Integration of Social Justice and Social Responsibility as Core Values in Higher Education
Farragut Square

SFSU seeks to integrate social responsibility and social justice as core values throughout the University.  This session will present the strategic planning that led to that goal; provide examples of current activities that carry out that goal, organized under the rubrics of teaching, scholarship, service, and student work; and survey administrative support for such activities.  Participants will discuss these activities with SFSU administrators, faculty, and students and develop their own “take-home” messages.
Robert Corrigan, President; John Gemello, Provost – all of San Francisco State University; Mary Beth Love, Professor and Chair, Health Education; Robert Williams, Associate Professor of Counseling; Susan Alunan, Director, San Francisco Urban Institute – all of San Francisco State University

Promising Practice/Campus Innovation
The Posse Program: A Model for Developing Diverse Leadership
Independence B/C

As the nation becomes increasingly diverse, it becomes more critical for this diversity to be reflected in the leadership positions in the workforce.  Beginning at the high school level, the Posse Program finds outstanding young leaders and connects them to the selective institutions that can offer them the best opportunity for professional advancement.  This presentation will discuss the concept of a “posse,” which is rooted in the belief that a small diverse group of talented students – a Posse – carefully selected and trained, can serve as a catalyst for increased individual and community development.
Deborah Bial, President and Founder, and Shirley Ramirez, National Director of Operations – both of  The Posse Foundation

Promising Practice/Campus Innovation
Teaching with Your Mouth Shut
Cabin John/Arlington

The session will consist of a short segment of a conceptual workshop and a discussion of workshop design and use in a variety of disciplinary contexts and educational settings. Discussion will be invited on the ways that the rather ecumenical notion of “critical thinking” can be better defined and understood as something that happens in a specific time and place, in the company of, and under the influence of others. How can we design intellectual activity that allows students to practice finding and using evidence, critical thinking, and creativity?
Sarah Ryan, Faculty, The Evergreen State College

Research Session
Does it Matter Where You Go to College?
Constitution A

Forty years of research says once you account for admissions selectivity, it does not!  But, new data from the Collegiate Learning Assessment project (CLA) show that it does matter.  Going to college, any college, increases learning but we find that colleges and universities provide differing levels of “value-added” in terms of critical thinking, analytical reasoning, and writing. This session will offer examples of CLA measures, lessons we have learned from the more than 100 campuses that have used the CLA measures to date, and questions that may be answered by the 125 campuses assessing students this year.
Richard Hersh, Senior Fellow, Council for Aid To Education; Roger Benjamin, President, Council for Aid to Education

Panel Presentation
Orienting New and Prospective Students to the Values of Liberal Education and Civic Engagement
Constitution CDE

How do we orient students personally, socially, and intellectually for an experience of engaged learning with the values of liberal education? What can we do to help students approach college ready to be both academically successful and active participants and leaders in a diverse democratic society? This session will feature two faculty who have recently published books that help orient students to the values of liberal education.
David Schoem, Faculty Director, Michigan Community Scholars Program, University of Michigan and author of College Knowledge: 101 Tips for the College-Bound Student (University of Michigan Press); Robert Shoenberg, Senior Fellow, AAC&U and author of Why Do I Have to Take This Course? A Student Guide to Making Smart Educational Choices (AAC&U)

Discussion Session
Assessment and the Art of Craft
Independence D/E

The demand for excellence is nowhere more evident than in the teaching and learning of the arts; and no aspect of liberal education is more central to developing critical skills, cultural understanding, and reflective practice.  Yet accomplishment in the arts is hard to quantify, and assessment of student learning is too often subjective.  What might authentic assessment look like, how might it be accomplished, and where might it lead students, teachers, and liberal education?
Richard Gale, Senior Scholar, and Lloyd Bond, Senior Scholar – both of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

2:45-4:00 p.m.

Featured and Concurrent Sessions

Featured Session
Why Read: Can Great Books Change People’s Lives?
Constitution B

In Why Read?, Mark Edmundson dramatizes what the recent identity crisis of the humanities has effectively obscured: that reading can change your life for the better. His Harper's Magazine article "On the Uses of the Liberal Arts" is reported to be the most photocopied essay on college campuses over the last five years. Ruminating on his essay and the intense reaction to it, Mark Edmundson exposes universities' ever-growing consumerism at the expense of a challenging, life-altering liberal arts education.
Mark Edmundson is the Daniels Family Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Virginia

Discussion Session
Faculty of the Future: Voices from the Next Generation: A Conversation with the K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders
Lafayette Park/Farragut Square

Since 1996, K. Patricia Cross, a distinguished scholar in American higher education, has sponsored the K. Patricia Cross Future Leader Awards.  This year, nine recipients were selected for this honor for their outstanding work in undergraduate teaching, their excellence in research, their active engagement in civic and university programs, and their commitment to a career in higher education.  The Cross Future Leaders will join in an interactive session designed to have them explore with the audience issues such as teaching and learning at the undergraduate level, the role of their disciplines, their views of today’s college students, and their views of the changing American academy.

Moderators:  L. Lee Knefelkamp, Professor of Psychology and Education, Teacher’s College, Columbia University, and Senior Fellow, AAC&U; and Jerry Gaff, Senior Fellow, AAC&U

Recipients of the 2006 K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award: 

Derek Cabrera, Education, Cornell University; Michael Coyle, Justice Studies, Arizona State University; Emily Fairchild, Sociology, Indiana University; Molly Beth Kerby, Educational Administration, Educational Leadership, and Organizational Development, University of Louisville; Diane Nutbrown, Inorganic Chemistry, University of Wisconsin – Madison; Regina Praetorius, Human Resource Education, Louisiana State University; Victor Raymond, Sociology, Iowa State University; Joan Shin, Language, Literacy, and Culture, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Ian Stewart, Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley

Discussion Session
Fundraising in the Aftermath:  Lessons Learned from 9/11 and Projections in the Wake of Katrina
Wilson/Roosevelt

Major disasters have implications for higher education philanthropy on both local and national scales.  Increases in donations that respond specifically to a disaster can result in reduced giving in other areas. Post-disaster economic downturns can have a dramatic affect on the stock market which in turn determines endowment earnings, a critical factor in both individual and foundation giving.  Patterns in fund raising that emerged following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, suggest what might occur in the aftermath of the 2005 hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma.
Moderator: Frederick A. Winter, Senior Program Officer, Office of Challenge Grants, National Endowment for the Humanities
Speakers:  Stacy Palmer, Editor, The Chronicle of Philanthropy; Stephen Ross, Director, Office of Challenge Grants, National Endowment for the Humanities

Discussion Session
The Essence of Liberal Learning:  Advancing Human Dignity
Independence D/E

Religion, philosophy, economics, hunger, nutrition, environment, human rights – are all topics that often divide us. There are certain questions that clearly deserve the attention of higher education in such a climate; namely, “How can we prepare our nation’s students to address these issues?  And how can we find a common language of values that will cross the cultural divides?”  Nothing less than global dignity is the natural and logical end of liberal education. This must clearly be recognized and powerfully acknowledged throughout our programs, our curricula, our research, and our wider interaction with colleagues throughout the world.
Moderator:  Tamar March, Director, Arden Seminars Shakespeare and Company
Joseph Subbiondo, President, California Institute of Integral Studies; G. David Pollick, President, Birmingham Southern College; Beverly Tatum, President, Spelman College

Promising Practice/Campus Innovation
Sustainable Design and Higher Education: Going Platinum at Ithaca College
Independence H/I

This session will examine the challenges that Ithaca College faces as it seeks to build the first ever LEED™ Platinum facility for a business school.  What are the sources of resistance?  What factors have contributed to the project’s success?  How has the planning and design process generated changes that will improve the college’s ability to innovate?  How will the new building create opportunities for students to explore corporate social responsibility, strategic management, and environmental stewardship?
Peter Bardaglio, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and David Saiia, Assistant Professor of Strategic Management – both of Ithaca College; Pamela Lippe, President, e4, Inc.; Graham Wyatt, Partner, Robert A.M. Stern Architects

Research Session
Rethinking Academic Work and Workplaces
Independence B/C

The nature of the faculty career is changing and both faculty and administrators must rethink the academic workplace and academic work if they are to respond strategically to these changes. The presenters will offer a framework for reconceptualizing key elements of faculty work, and discussion will focus on strategies or good practices for enhancing the academic working environment.
Andrea Trice, Independent Consultant/Adjunct Professor, and Judith Gappa, Professor of Higher Education – both of Purdue University; Ann Austin, Professor of Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education, Michigan State University

Promising Practice/Campus Innovation
Globalization of Undergraduate Science and Engineering Courses
Independence F/G

The East Asia Science and Technology (EAST) Project at the University of Maryland introduces East Asian themes into science and engineering courses.  This major effort at globalizing STEM courses has resulted in significant changes to the curriculum: modules for existing courses, new courses, and global courses designed to be taught simultaneously in both the United States and China.  The creation of interdisciplinary and cross-cultural courses has required the use of innovative pedagogical approaches and new teaching materials, and course evaluations show a major impact on how students look at science and engineering in different cultural and social contexts.
Spencer Benson, Director, Center for Teaching Excellence, Robert Yuan, Professor, Cell Biology & Molecular Genetics, and Shenglin Chang, Assistant Professor, Natural Sciences and Landscape Agriculture – all of the University of Maryland College Park

Discussion Session
Creating an Environment for Discussion and Debate: The Question of Leadership
Constitution A

Establishing as a campus value the importance of debating "hot" issues from all sides requires leadership from the top.  The focus of this panel discussion will be on the challenges associated with maintaining a climate of discourse on our campuses that is reflective of the ideals of liberal education. Panelists will describe issues and situations associated with controversial discussions and events on their campuses and provide insight on how they managed to champion the values of open and balanced discourse.
Moderator:  Elisabeth Zinser, President, Southern Oregon University
Panelists:  Dorothy Leland, President, Georgia College; Thomas L. "Les" Purce, President, The Evergreen State College; and Christopher Dahl, President, The State University of New York at Geneseo

This session is sponsored by the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges

Panel Presentation
Engaging the World at Our Doorstep: Valuing Place in Liberal Education
Farragut Square

This panel reflects on experiences of several institutions in dealing with problems or opportunities presented by their locations. Beginning with descriptions of initiatives at each campus, we proceed to interactive discussion of ways in which attention to place enlivens liberal education and promotes civic engagement. Discussion includes Grinnell College’s initiative to promote place-based studies, the University of Michigan–Flint’s efforts to improve a troubled school district, and Luther College’s attempts to develop an environmental emphasis.
Jonathan Chenette, Professor of Music and Associate Dean of the College, Grinnell College; Dale Trela, Dean of Arts and Sciences, University of Michigan-Flint; Patricia Sharpe, Elizabeth Blodgett Hall Chair in Literature, Simon's Rock College of Bard; Jon Jensen, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Environmental Studies, Luther College; Rew Godow, Jr., Dean, North Campus, College of Charleston

ACAD SESSION
Can Value-Added Assessment Improve Liberal Arts Education?
Constitution CDE

The Teagle Foundation has granted $2 million to 13 collaborative projects aimed at developing assessment programs tailored for liberal arts colleges, primarily to strengthen traditional liberal learning but also to demonstrate the value of such an education to external constituencies.  Presenters will summarize the tools and processes for the grant, which deals with assessing writing, critical thinking, and civic engagement, discussion will focus on the challenges and successes that other campuses have faced and realized.
Jeff Abernathy, Dean of Faculty, Augustana College; Janet McNew, Provost and Dean of the Faculty, Illinois Wesleyan University; William Craft, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College, Luther College; Ross Miller, Director of Programs, Office of Education and Quality Initiatives, AAC&U

4:15-5:30 p.m. 

Concurrent Sessions

Discussion Session
The Road Less Taken : New Pathways to Tenure
Independence B/C

Research, teaching, and service are no longer the only criteria for tenure at some universities.  New pathways are being implemented that recognize the other types of faculty contributions that are so vital to the effective functioning of today’s institutions.  This session will present four different tenure tracks that exist at a major research university and will engage participants in envisioning building and implementing alternative models at their own institutions.
Laurie Fathe, Associate Provost for Educational Improvement and Innovation; Shelley Reid, Director of Composition; and Guiseppina Kysar, Faculty member, Environmental Science and Program for Innovative Education – all of George Mason University

CASE STUDY
A Campus-wide Approach to Enhancing Students' Emotional Intelligence
Independence F/G

Through the efforts of First-Year Experience programs, colleges and universities increasingly recognize that Emotional Intelligence is a significant and reliable indicator of which students will succeed and which students are at risk. This case study will report on the experience at Gallaudet University, where a wide range of faculty and staff who work with first-year students participated in training related to the BarOn EQ-i assessment tool. We established a research design to determine the effectiveness of classroom activities and campus-wide initiatives in improving students' emotional intelligence competencies. Results will be presented.
Catherine Andersen, Director of First Year Experience; William Moses, Professor of Art and Theater; and Judith Termini, Faculty Coordinator, First Year Experience – all of Gallaudet University


Panel Presentation
Liberal Education and Science: Preparing Future Scientists and Citizens
Independence D/E

Many undergraduate science programs are making critical contributions to liberal education. Incorporating liberal arts and professional education, they revitalize traditional lecture and laboratory curricula with curricular innovations that embrace interdisciplinarity, undergraduate research, study abroad, service learning, internships, and concepts from fields such as ethics, women’s studies, and sustainable development. In the process, these programs are preparing professionally competent future scientists with insights central to the resolution of civic and cultural issues.
Moderator: Cheryl Ney, ANAC Provost-in-Residence and Professor of Chemistry, Capital University
Panelists: Nyenty Arrey, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Capital University; Joe Kirsch, Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Professor of Chemistry, Butler University; Gary Morris, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Valparaiso University; Barbara Murray, Director, Center for Science and Mathematics and Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of Redlands; and Darlene Panvini, Assistant Professor of Biology, Belmont University

This session is sponsored by the Associated New American Colleges

DISCUSSION SESSION
Principles for Good Practice to Encourage Authenticity and Spirituality in Higher Education
Constitution A

Responding to religious diversity and student concerns about spiritual issues and their own spiritual growth have become key issues for higher education. This session shares ten principles from Encouraging Authenticity and Spirituality, accompanied by an Institutional Self Assessment Inventory. After an opening presentation, participants will complete the Inventory and then discuss the implications for their institutions.
Inventory for Assessing the Moral and Spiritual Growth Initiatives
Arthur Chickering, Special Assistant to the President, Goddard College
Encouraging Authenticity and Spirituality in Higher Education is by Arthur W. Chickering, Jon C. Dalton, Liesa Stamm (Jossey-Bass, 2005)

PANEL PRESENTATION
Legislative Attacks on Academic Freedom: The Latest Threats and Ways to Counter Them
Constitution B

Many state and federal legislators today have a strong interest in creating mandates for curriculum, faculty hiring, and other traditional academic prerogatives. How do initiatives such as the Academic Bill of Rights square with constitutional free speech principles? What is happening in state legislatures? Presented by two higher education law experts, the session will provide historical context, a lively discussion of today's legislative threats, and an opportunity to discuss developments in state legislatures around the country.
The Academic Bill of Rights
Joan Wallach Scott - Testimony on Academic Bill of Rights
Academic Bill of Rights Handout
Pennsylvania House Resolution 177 on Academic Bill of Rights
Ann Franke, JD, Attorney; Lawrence White, President, Lawrence White Consulting

PROMISING PRACTICE/CAMPUS INNOVATION
The Coordinate College Structure: Enhancing the Link Between Academic Affairs and Student Affairs
Independence H/I

This session will address ways in which linking academic affairs and student affairs can strengthen effective liberal learning. Using the model of the coordinate residential colleges at the University of Richmond, we will engage the audience in a discussion of ways in which the student affairs/academic affairs connection can foster liberal learning that is both traditional and functional through programs and processes that bring together faculty, students, and staff members; that focus on the co-curricular intellectual development of students; and that cultivate students’ holistic education.
Steve Bisese, Dean, Richmond College; Juliette Landphair, Dean, Westhampton College, Danielle Torain, Student (Class of 2006); Hunter Allen, Student (Class of 2006) – all of the University of Richmond

DISCUSSION SESSION
Community Colleges: Role Models and Partners
Cabin John/Arlington

The programs offered at community colleges and the faculty who teach in them have a wealth of experience that can help increase the accessibility of higher education. This session will explore the similarities and differences between two- and four-year programs and describe efforts that disciplinary societies and federal agencies have made to encourage partnerships among community colleges, four-year institutions and industry.
Community Colleges Handout
Community Colleges PowerPoint Presentation
Community Colleges: Role Models and Partners website
Jodi Wesemann, Assistant Director for Higher Education, American Chemical Society; Richard Foust, Jr., Program Officer, National Science Foundation; Kathy Frame, Vice President for Educational Programs, Biotechnology Institute; Jack Hehn, Education, Director, American Institute of Physics

ACAD SESSION
Open Mic Session
Constitution CDE

The "open mic" session provides a forum within which deans can bring their own dilemmas and receive counsel from a panel of deans as well as other audience members. This session features a trio of veteran deans from different types of schools sharing brief comments on key trouble spots for deanships, and then encouraging questions and comments from all in attendance, on these and any other themes attendees want to address.
Len Clark, Provost and Academic Dean at Earlham College; Pearl Bartelt, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania; Robert Thompson, Jr., Dean of Trinity College and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at Duke University

5:30-7:00 p.m.

Hosted Receptions

Reception: The Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College
Burnham Room
The Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College welcomes colleagues interested in discussion of liberal arts education. Representatives of centers, institutes, and schools that emphasize or foster liberal arts education are especially welcome.

Reception: Council on Undergraduate Research
Latrobe Room
The Council on Undergraduate Research welcomes presidents, deans, and faculty from colleges and universities dedicated to the advancement of undergraduate research

Reception: Phi Beta Kappa and ACAD
Franklin Square/McPherson Square
Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) and the American Conference of Academic Deans (ACAD) welcome all friends and colleagues.


Reception: For Alumni of the Harvard Institutes for Higher Education
(by invitation)
Farragut Square

Reception: Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges
Independence I

Reception: Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
Lafayette Park
The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation welcomes presidents and deans of colleges and universities participating in the Visiting Fellows Program, friends, and former Fellows.

Saturday, January 28, 7:30-9:00 a.m.

Breakfast Roundtable Discussions – Do’s & Doughnuts

Constitution A/B

Table 1
Pathways to College Network: Mobilizing the Entire Campus for All Students’ Success
The Pathways to College Network is a collaborative of organizations and foundations whose mission is to focus research and resources on improving college preparation, access, and success for underserved populations, including low-income, first-generation, and underrepresented minority students. Participants will learn about AAC&U’s role as the lead partner of the Pathways College Success working group. The working group is currently developing web-based tools designed to help campus leaders mobilize the entire campus for underserved student success. Discussion will focus on tools that are currently being developed to help leaders better use existing institutional data in these efforts.
Nancy O’Neill, Director of Programs, Office of Education and Institutional Renewal, AAC&U

Table 2
Greater Expectations Institute: Developing Campus Leadership for Student Engagement, Inclusion, and High Achievement
The Institute is a five-day, intensive program designed to strengthen campus leaders’ skill in aligning institutional purposes, structures, and practices and in elevating and assessing the kinds of practical liberal education outcomes outlined in AAC&U’s Greater Expectations report, including critical inquiry, intercultural competence, and integrative learning. Participants will learn how the Institute can be used as a vehicle for advancing an institution’s specific educational change project and for connecting the project to the New Academy vision of an engaged, inclusive, and academically challenging educational environment.
Alma R. Clayton-Pedersen, Vice President, Office of Education and Institutional Renewal, AAC&U

Table 3
Integrating Learning Through Internships
Connecting the academy to the larger society through applied learning is the goal of the practical liberal arts. The Washington Internship Institute (WII) in Washington, DC, sponsors a rigorous internship program for students to enhance liberal learning in an applied setting. In cooperation with AAC&U, a Faculty Fellows Internship Program was also developed. We invite you to learn more about the many and varied internship opportunities offered by IEL.
Mary Ryan, President, Washington Internship Institute; Cynthia Forrest, Dean of Students Emeriti, Framingham State College

Table 4
General Education Reform at North Carolina A&T State University
This roundtable will address the transformation of the general education curriculum at North Carolina A&T State University. Under development since 2002, the new curriculum - University Studies - will be fully implemented in fall, 2006. The University Studies curriculum seeks to develop in students an understanding of the interdisciplinary nature of knowledge, encourages cross-disciplinary dialogue, and promotes the development of intentional learners who take responsibility for their learning. Roundtable leaders will share their experiences developing this new curriculum and the opportunities it provides for increased student learning and faculty development.
Carolyn Meyers, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Robert Davis, Department Chair of Sociology and Social Work, and Scott Simkins, Director of the Academy for Teaching and Learning and Associate Professor of Economics – all of North Carolina A&T State University

Table 5
Inclusive Teaching & Learning: Linking Diversity and Teaching Excellence
This roundtable will describe the creation and five-year evolution of an intensive week-long faculty development program at Georgetown University focused on inclusive teaching strategies, refined in part by increasing reliance on internal resources and campus leadership.
Barbara Craig, Director of Assessment & Diversity, Center for New Designs in Learning & Scholarship (CNDLS); Shelly Habel, Assessment Associate, CNDLS; Edilma Yearwood, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing & Health Studies; Susan Coleman, RN, MPH, Adjunct Instructor, Nursing & Health Studies – all of Georgetown University

Table 6
The Student Affairs Assessment Initiative at DePaul University
Since January 2003, the Student Affairs Division has engaged the university community in a process to define and shape the “DePaul Student Experience.” As a result, the division developed a long-range strategic plan that includes goals and strategies to support and enhance a successful student experience at DePaul. Participants will gain a practical understanding of how to integrate strategic management principles with outcome assessment.
Lance Kennedy-Phillips, Research Associate Office of Institutional Planning and Research, and Ellen Meents-Decaigny, Coordinator of Student Affairs Assessment and Research – both of DePaul University

Table 7
Revolution Sparks Evolution: General Education Moves into the 21st Century
This discussion will address the issue regarding how institutions need to change to compete, yet “preserve the core values of liberal education.” Fundamental outcomes such as written and verbal communication, mathematical skills, and critical thinking still must be emphasized, but we also need to consider the roles that technology and civic responsibility play in a global economy.
Barb Thompson, Professor, Communication Skills; Elizabeth Daugherty, Chairperson, Computer Information Technology; Mokie Steiskal, Professor, Hospitality Management; Karen Muir, Chairperson of Social & Behavioral Sciences – all of Columbus State Community College

Table 8
Art, Environmental Science and Politics: Integrative Learning for Informed Citizenship
Community Mosaic: Art, Politics, and the Environment is a learning community comprised of three existing courses linked via a one-hour weekly linking seminar. The seminar provides students and faculty the opportunity to explore the inter-relatedness of the separate disciplines by fostering a discussion-based atmosphere where students and instructors can make connections more explicit. It also encourages students to apply learning to real world environmental issues.
George Waller, Assistant Professor of Political Science, and Judith Baker, Associate Professor of Art – both of the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley

Table 9 - CANCELLED
Please refer to their website: AAC&U Roundtable Presentation
How a Very Rural University can use IP Technology to Access the Global Community and to Advance a Commitment to Diversity
Small rural institutions must move beyond their isolated local hegemony in order to remain relevant in the expanding global community. How does the small rural institution overcome the barriers? One way is through technology. This presentation describes how a rural institution uses IP/Video to access the global community and to advance a commitment to diversity.
Carl Ellis, Dean of Continuing and Professional Studies, Abe Harraf, Provost, and Ean Harker, Instructional Designer – all of Southern Utah University

Table 10
Service Learning for Social Justice: A Pedagogy of Engagement
This roundtable will provide an overview of a four year old, dynamic and highly successful faculty development program that engages faculty in social justice issues, the pedagogy of service-learning, and an international study tour. Participants will learn how the Service-Learning for Social Justice Program works and envision such a program for their own campus.
Laura Behling, Associate Professor of English; Elizabeth Baer, Sponberg Chair of Ethics and Professor of English; and Noreen Buhmann, Director, Service Learning and Community Service – all of Gustavus Adolphus College; Kuoth Bayak, Coordinator, Southern Minnesota Sudanese Community, c/o Community Service Center

Table 11
Modeling Institutional Agility: The Short Term at Elon University
Elon University has transformed the old concept of an interim term into a strong program of general and interdisciplinary education. This short term has become a center of engaged learning that models ways of translating ideals into strong practices throughout the year-long curriculum. This presentation concentrates on specific initiatives that encourage global responsibility as well as institutional agility.
Russell Gill, Professor of English, and Mark Albertson, University Registrar – both of Elon University

Table 12
From Disengagement to Engagement
This roundtable will focus on ways to address student apathy. Some may be due to lack of understanding of, or commitment to, the purpose of liberal learning; some may be due to a growing population of first-generation and academically-underprepared students. Presenters will use examples of “disengaged” students to demonstrate how the Center for Engaged Learning, a partnership between Academic Affairs and Student Affairs, encouraged student engagement and success.
Vivia Fowler, Director of the Center for Engaged Learning; Tamara Burk, Associate Director of the Center for Engaged Learning; BK Bowman, Student Engagement Mentor (STEM); Christy Wall, Student Engagement Mentor (STEM) – all of Columbia College

Table 13
Value-Added Assessment at La Salle University: The Core Curriculum, the Major, and a Minor in Civic Education
This roundtable will focus on the complexities institutions face while attempting to measure the success of large and university-wide programs as well as the success of smaller programs, each presenting special, and different, challenges. How can we successfully transfer and integrate institution-wide goals into program-specific goals? How can we successfully implement “value added” assessment into programs of different sizes and structures? Assessment materials will be available.
Margot Soven, Professor of English & Core Director; Thomas Keagy, Dean, School of Arts and Sciences; Louise Giugliano, Co-Director, Leadership and Global Understanding Minor; Marjorie Allen, Co-Director, Leadership and Global Understanding Minor – all of La Salle University

Table 14
University Level Faculty Mentors
Participants will discuss an innovative program that provides faculty mentoring and consultations services for all faculty from the most accomplished of their peers. The program augments the normal interdepartmental mentoring that should occur in a strong campus community. It provides career advising and peer support from colleagues outside the department. The relationship is formative, confidential, and aimed at supporting faculty to advance their careers in research, teaching and service at all ranks.
Maryse Richards, Associate Director of the CFPD and Professor of Psychology, Loyola University Chicago

Table 15
Elixir for the Engagement Deficit: Building a Most Engaging Freshman Year
Participants will discuss innovative campus strategies for easing the transition into college, increasing the likelihood of student success and improving freshman-sophomore retention. Discussion will focus on WOU’s effort to engage freshmen through an innovative and multi-faceted effort that includes a year-long global literacy component as well as an extensive freshman portfolio.
Jem Spectar, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Katherine Schmidt, Assistant Professor of English and Director, Writing Center – both of Western Oregon University

Table 16
Globalization and the Role of University Teaching Centers
Given the range of issues globalization poses for higher education today, what are the responsibilities of university faculty development centers and teaching and learning centers? With a comparative international lens, a study by Northwestern University’s Searle Center for Teaching Excellence is investigating how a selection of U.S. and foreign faculty development centers are responding to globalization.
Bernharrd Streitwieser, Associate Director, Kara Godwin, Researcher, and Gregory Light, Director – all of the Searle Center for Teaching Excellence, Northwestern University

Table 17
Career Architecture™: Villa Julie College’s Example of a Promising Practice for the New Academy
VJC’s Career Architecture™ process is student centered, requiring the student to seek self-knowledge, use the core curriculum to facilitate this knowledge, and “imagine” their futures both as professionals and socially engaged individuals. What makes VJC’s Career Architecture™ a promising practice is its fluid application across disciplines and student activities. An overview of Career Architecture™ and three interpretations (from Science, Family Studies and Visual Communication Design) will be presented.
Lori Rubeling, Associate Professor of Art & Chair of Art Department; Susan Gorman, Division Director, Science and Math Division; Ellen Yerman, Executive Director of Career Services and Cooperative Education; Gigi Franyo-Ehlers, Program Coordinator Family and Community Services and Associate Professor – all of Villa Julie College

Table 18
Liberal Studies and Law School Collaborations
We invite discussion on collaborations between liberal education units and law schools in order to foreground our common values and share strategies for overcoming institutional barriers to such collaborations. These collaborations enable liberal arts and law students to experience the interdependency of their disciplines in addressing our most urgent challenges. Furthermore, in an era of disinvestment, they provide a concrete representation to administrators, legislators, and donors of the worth of liberal education in cooperation with professional education.
Christine Krueger, Director of Core Curriculum and Associate Professor of English, and Shirley Wiegand, Professor of Law – both of Marquette University

Table 19
The Stockton Way
From its inception as a state college in the 1960's, The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey has built a distinctive General Studies program that promotes the fundamental goals of liberal education. The philosophy and structure of the General Studies program will be examined from the administrator, faculty and student's perspectives.
Denise Gallaro, Research Associate; Patricia Feldbauer, Alumna/Employee; Cristina Friel, Student Worker; and Anu Vedantham, Interim Associate Provost – all of The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey

Table 20
Community Based Learning in the First Year Seminar: Foundations for Civic Engagement
How does a liberal arts institution help students make the connection between academic learning and daily life in ways that foster social responsibility and civic engagement? Trinity University designed a community-based learning (CBL) component for our required First Year Seminar. This discussion will focus on best practices for CBL-related curricula, including how CBL can foster collaborative learning, respect for diversity, and willingness to address difficult issues.
Cynthia Chance, Director of First Year Seminar Program; Jamey Piland, Chair of Women's Studies Program; Barbara McCrabb, Director of Campus Ministry; and Taheshia Kornegay, student – all of Trinity University

Table 21
Shaping the Future of Sustainable Education through the Lens of Interdisciplinary Studies, Business Education, and Community Partnerships
Community Sustainability Partners of Grand Rapids Michigan is developing a community vision to address issues of education for sustainability and the triple bottom line for our civic, business, and educational community. Discussion will focus on transformation of K-16 education for a sustainable future.
Wendy Wenner, Dean, College of Interdisciplinary Studies; H. Williams, Dean, Seidman College of Business; and Norman Christopher, Director of the Sustainability Initiative – all of Grand Valley State University

Table 22
Investing in Global Leadership: The Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence at Trinity
In 2004, Trinity University was awarded a federal grant to establish the Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence (ICCAE), which promotes liberal arts values through a rigorous curriculum that prepares students to excel in fields related to the work of the intelligence community. This roundtable will focus on the future of higher education funding; designing curricula to prepare students for global work and citizenship; and strengthening educational opportunities for traditionally underserved populations.
Kathleen McGinnis, Professor of Political Science, Trinity University; Lenora Peters-Gant, Director, Intelligence Community Centers of Academic Excellence, Office of the Director of National Intelligence

Table 23
Practical Wisdom: The Liberal Arts in the Career Center
The ancient Greco-Roman understanding of practical wisdom, the attainment of knowledge and wisdom as the key to all success, informing all of the considered actions of a good citizen, is a fundamental principle in a liberal arts education. Recent pressure on higher learning to ensure future student employment has resulted in a post-modern definition of practical wisdom that focuses on knowledge that advances only the career. When Career Centers are driven by a Liberal Arts philosophy, however, we can see that a re-envisioning of ancient practical wisdom is the key to resolving the apparent conflicts between preparing students for a career and preparing them to function as good people.
Lynn Morton, Associate Professor of English, and Karen Reynolds, Director, Career and Internship Center – both of Queens University of Charlotte

Table 24
Pacific Mentor Program: Connecting Liberal Learning and Citizenship
Pacific’s Mentor Seminar Program is a three semester sequence required of all freshmen. The decade-old program has undergone an extensive review, resulting in a new connecting theme – “What is a Good Society?” A fundamental aspect of this theme is the role of the liberal arts in developing effective citizenship, which better addresses one of the most important university priorities: the development of engaged citizens. Discussion will focus on the significant redesign and assessment of the Mentor Seminars.
Lou Matz, Associate Dean of General Education; Gary Miller, Dean; Douglas Tedards, Assistant Dean; and Dave Chase, Assistant Dean, Conservatory of Music – all of the College of the Pacific, University of the Pacific

Table 25
The Undergraduate Research Scholar Program
Saint Anselm College established the Undergraduate Research Scholar Program (URSP) to encourage students from any major to apply to Ph.D. programs to fulfill their goals toward life long learning. Each summer, three URSP teams (student, undergraduate mentor, graduate mentor) engage in research, and, upon returning for their senior year, they continue to work with their mentors to complete their independent research for presentation at a research symposium to the community. Over 75% of our past URSP students are now attending graduate school.
Kathleen Flannery, Professor of Psychology, and Timothy Koeltzow, Assistant Professor of Psychology – both of Saint Anselm College

9:15-10:30 a.m.

FEATURED AND CONCURRENT SESSIONS

FEATURED SESSION
Liberal Education Outcomes: A Preliminary Report on Student Achievement in College
Lafayette Park/Farragut Square

This session will introduce AAC&U’s new report, Liberal Education Outcomes: A Preliminary Report of Student Achievement in College, a thought-provoking publication prepared for the recently launched campaign, Liberal Education and America’s Promise: Excellence for Everyone as a Nation Goes to College. Presenters will discuss what campuses need to do next to assess and improve student learning. The session will also address how campuses can use the report to generate appropriate dialogue about assessment and accountability on campus and among external constituents, such as parents, state legislators, and accreditors.
Judith Eaton, President of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation; Ross Miller, Director of Programs, Office of Education and Quality Initiatives, AAC&U; Ronald Williams, President, Prince George’s Community College; and Elisabeth Zinser, President, Southern Oregon University

Women's Inclusive Leadership: A Catalyst for Excellence
Wilson/Roosevelt

Campus Women Lead, housed at AAC&U, invites participants to give feedback on a new workshop series, Women's Leadership for Inclusive Excellence, to be launched this spring. The goal is to engage campus-based diversity and excellence advocates in analysis and action based on multiple cultural perspectives. Would our initial concepts, working assumptions, and organizing strategies be catalysts for excellence on your campus? What revisions would you suggest?
Patricia Lowrie, Chair, Campus Women Lead, Michigan State University; Judith White, Executive Director, HERS; Caryn McTighe Musil, Senior Vice President, AAC&U

PROMISING PRACTICE/CAMPUS INNOVATION
Faculty Development Strategies to Improve Integrative Learning and Civic Engagement
Independence B/C

To change our institutions to improve student learning outcomes in skills, understandings and aptitudes needed in the 21st century, the key is faculty and the learning experiences they design for their students. In this session, examples of faculty development strategies used to support faculty involvement in the design and implementation of innovative teaching, learning and assessment at PSU will be shared. The examples will address science literacy, reflective practice, integrative learning and civic engagement.
Judy Patton, Director of University Studies; Terrel Rhodes, Vice Provost for Curriculum and Dean of Undergraduate Studies; Jeffrey Gerwing, Assistant Professor, University Studies and Environmental Science – all of Portland State University

Demanding Excellence in the English Major at Public Liberal Arts Colleges
Independence I

Departments of English stand at the core of efforts to improve student learning in the areas of critical thinking and writing. General education courses in writing and survey courses in Western and World literature empower students to communicate effectively in the new global century. Panelists will discuss the role of the English Department in the University’s General Education/Liberal Arts Core Curriculum, the under-prepared student, and strategies for success in the major, and the value of a capstone experience for all students.
William Spellman, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, University of North Carolina - Asheville; Julia Hall, Chair, Department of English, Foreign Languages, and Philosophy, Henderson State University; Jian-Zhong Lin, Associate Professor of English, Eastern Connecticut State University; Bill Gholson, Associate Professor, Rhetoric and Director, University Colloquia, University of Southern Oregon

This session is sponsored by the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges

PROMISING PRACTICE/CAMPUS INNOVATION
The Liberal Arts Ambassadors: Reaching Underserved College-Bound Students for Liberal Education
Independence H

College-bound students from first generation families and underrepresented ethnicities are often given a purely pragmatic rationale for attending college, leading them away from a liberal arts education that is perceived as expensive and impractical. The Liberal Arts Ambassadors program, at the Institute for the Liberal Arts at Westmont College, in partnership with the University of La Verne, sends current first-generation students and students of color into the community to counter these misperceptions, showing that a liberal arts education can offer better career preparation in a dynamic workplace and that a college education can be about much more than a job. Current Ambassadors will discuss what they’ve learned about liberal arts education and how they’re taking the message of its benefits to the next generation.
Christian Hoeckley, Administrative Director, Institute for the Liberal Arts at Westmont, Westmont College; Sharon Cruz-McKinney, Director of Community Relations and Outreach, University of La Verne; Jennifer Estrada, Westmont student and Liberal Arts Ambassador; Teri Tan, Westmont student and Liberal Arts Ambassador

PANEL PRESENTATION
Liberal Education and the Goals of Off-Campus Study
Cabin John/Arlington

As international education becomes recognized as a critical part of liberal education, it is increasingly important to consider the conceptual rationale for off-campus study. This panel includes a study of off-campus program goals funded by the Teagle Foundation as part of a larger project on assessment. Presentations focus on the relationship between off-campus study goals and liberal education, and the implications for evaluating off-campus programs.
David Burrows, Provost and Dean of the Faculty, Lawrence University; Elizabeth Hayford, President, Associated Colleges of the Midwest; Lawrence Breitborde, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College, Knox College

RESEARCH SESSION
Settling in for the Long Haul: A Longitudinal Study of Civic Outcomes
Independence F/G

Join the staff of University College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University as they introduce their six-year longitudinal study examining the effect of Tufts on students' civic and political attitudes and activities. Preliminary findings for two years worth of data on 10 civic outcomes in four broad areas will be discussed. Participants will be provided with tools that will enable them to develop civic outcome measures for their own campuses.
A Longitudinal Study of Civic Outcomes
Nancy Wilson, Director and Associate Dean of University College; Ande Diaz, Evaluation Consultant; Dawn Terkla, Executive Director of the Office of Institutional Research; Lisa O'Leary, Research Analyst – all of Tufts University

RESEARCH SESSION
Initiatives to Recruit Faculty Members to Serve Strategic Needs at Liberal Arts Colleges
Independence D/E

How can a liberal arts college fill strategic faculty needs? What kinds of efforts broaden the applicant pool and encourage candidates to seriously consider liberal arts college positions? One strategy is to give graduate students experiences working in liberal arts environments. Join a discussion of the experiences of DePauw University and Grinnell College in using pre- and post-doctoral fellowships, consortial arrangements, and special hiring strategies to enhance their faculties.
James Swartz, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the College, and Bradley Bateman, Gertrude B. Austin Professor of Economics, Associate Dean of the College – both of Grinnell College; Neal Abraham, Executive Vice President and Dean of the Faculty, and Emmanuel Harris, Associate Professor of Modern Languages, Spanish – both of DePauw University

ACAD SESSION
Integrating Liberal Arts Skills in the General Curriculum: An Approach for Smaller Institutions
Constitution CDE

A panel of faculty will present a case study of one college’s revision of its general curriculum, which aimed to strengthen and more fully integrate the liberal arts. The new curriculum demonstrates how all courses contribute to six important liberal arts skills: fostering core skills; preparing students for living in a diverse and global society; developing inquiry strategies in a variety of disciplines; fostering advanced research skills; promoting integrative learning; and preparing students for the examined life and promoting lifelong learning.
Michael Degnan, Academic Dean; Thea Harrington, Chair, Department of English; Christopher Holoman, Professor, Political Science – all of Hilbert College

10:45-11:45 a.m.

Closing Plenary
Constitution A/B

Azar Nafisi

Liberal Education and the Republic of the Imagination

AZAR NAFISI is author of Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, a compassionate and often harrowing portrait of the Islamic revolution in Iran and how it affected one university professor and her students. Reading Lolita in Tehran has won diverse literary awards, including AAC&U’s Frederic W. Ness Book Award for 2004. Azar Nafisi is a Visiting Professor and director of the SAIS Dialogue Project at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. She taught at the University of Tehran, the Free Islamic University, and Allameh Tabatabai before her return to the United States in 1997 — earning national respect and international recognition for advocating on behalf of Iran's intellectuals, youth and especially young women. She is currently working on two books, one tentatively titled The Republic of the Imagination, which is about the power of literature to liberate minds and peoples, and the other, The Pursuit of Happiness, about culture, history, and loss.

Dr. Nafisi’s appearance is made with special arrangement with the Steven Barclay Agency

If you have questions, please e-mail us at meetings@aacu.org.