2008 Annual Meeting
INTENTIONAL LEARNING, UNSCRIPTED CHALLENGES
Knowledge and Imagination for an Interdependent World
January 23-26, 2008
Washington, DC
Plenary Speakers
Opening Plenary
Thursday, January 24, 8:45-10:15 a.m.
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Martha Nussbaum |
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Martha Nussbaum
Martha Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago. Her most recent publication is The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future (2007). Martha Nussbaum is the author of numerous books, including Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership (2006), Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions (2001), and Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Reform in Liberal Education (1997), for which she was awarded AAC&U’s Frederic Ness Award. Her next publication – Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America’s Tradition of Religious Equality – will be published in February 2008.
Closing Plenary *
Saturday, January 26, 10:45-11:30 a.m.
Derek Bok, Azar Nafisi, and George Kuh
Intentional Learning Requires Intentional Leadership: What Will It Take to Move to the Next Level?
While the world expects more from higher education, we are too often bogged down in discussions about admissions, rankings, resources, and reductive forms of accountability. And even as we continue to celebrate the rich pockets of creativity and innovation that AAC&U members have created, the evidence shows plainly that only a fraction of our students are actually benefiting from these empowering forms of learning. AAC&U stands with the LEAP National Leadership Council’s call to “Aim High—and Make Excellence Inclusive” by identifying and promoting institutional policies and practices that help ALL students develop the important outcomes of a contemporary liberal education. But what will it take to get to the next level? How can we best mobilize faculty and academic leadership at all levels for a systemic commitment to raising student achievement? What are the lessons of high impact practices? How can webest communicate—and achieve—our shared vision for liberal education in the twenty-first century?
ACAD Keynote Luncheon
Friday, January 25, 11:45-1:15 p.m.
Promoting Interdisciplinarity? Aligning Faculty Rewards with Curricular and Institutional Realities
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Cathy Trower |
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Cathy Trower
As reflected across campuses today and in sessions throughout the Annual Meeting, our goal, as academic leaders, is to make “liberal education rigorous, inclusive, pragmatic, and socially responsible” and to prepare all students for a global community – all of which is enacted through and by the faculty. This new work demanded of faculty – indeed, the very work that new scholars enjoy – requires inquiry and collaboration across discipline lines, new methodologies and technologies, and possibly different venues for publication and dissemination. And it is work that requires we rethink the faculty reward structure. Cathy Trower is Director and Research Associate at the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. She earned her BBA and MBA at the University of Iowa and her PhD in Higher Education Administration at the University of Maryland, College Park. Trower is widely known as a researcher on the status of the professoriate, and from 2002 to 2005, she was co-principal investigator with Richard Chait of “The Study of New Scholars.” She is author of numerous articles, case studies and presentations on the role of the faculty in higher education.
Opening Night Forum
Wednesday, January 23, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
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Natalie Angier |
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Natalie Angier
Natalie Angier is a Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer for The New York Times and author of The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science (2007), a guide to scientific literacy. She is also author of the award-winning books, Natural Obsessions (1988), The Beauty of the Beastly (1996), and Woman: An Intimate Geography (2000).
Networking Breakfast for Women Faculty and Administrators
Thursday, January 24, 7:00-8:30 a.m.
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Melissa Harris-Lacewell |
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Melissa Harris-Lacewell
Melissa Harris-Lacewell is Associate Professor of Politics and African American Studies at Princeton University and author of Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought. She has provided expert commentary on U.S. elections, racial issues, religious questions and gender issues for The New York Times, Boston Globe, CNN, NBC, Fox, Public Television, NPR, Black Enterprise, and others. Melissa Harris-Lacewell is at work on a new book – For Colored Girls Who've Considered Politics When Being Strong Wasn't Enough.
Networking Luncheon for Faculty and Administrators of Color
Thursday, January 24, 11:45-1:15 p.m.
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Diana Akiyama |
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Diana Akiyama
Diana Akiyama is Director of Religious and Spiritual Life at Occidental College. Previously, she taught courses in Gender Studies at the University of Southern California where she was awarded a doctoral degree in USC's School of Religion. Prior to her work at USC, she served as Associate Dean of the Chapel at Stanford University for six years. She has served on both The Committee on the Status of Women and The Committee on Racism for the National Church.
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