READY OR NOT
Global Challenges, College Learning, and America’s Promise

January 21-24, 2009
Seattle, Washington

The Associated New American Colleges
Founded in 1995, the Associated New American Colleges is a national consortium of twenty-two selective, small to mid-size (2,000-7,500 students) independent colleges and universities dedicated to the purposeful integration of liberal education, professional studies, and civic engagement.

Thursday, January 22, 2:45-4:00 pm

Innovations in General Education Reform and the Challenges of Assessment
Three ANAC colleges recently renovated their general education requirements.  Each developed innovative approaches to engage stakeholders in the reform process and successfully transformed their established general education programs while maintaining significant faculty support and minimizing serious conflict. The current challenge involves devising meaningful procedures to assess student learning in these new programs.  The session will provide an overview of the strategies each university pursued and detail the challenges these newly reformed programs pose for assessment. Participants will be invited to discuss challenges encountered at their institutions and brainstorm possible solutions, with a particular emphasis on the sharing of portable assessment ideas.

Moderator:  Roy Austensen, Provost, Valparaiso University

Panelists:  Ed Wingenbach, Chair, Department of Government, University of Redlands; Piers Britton, Chair, Department of Art History, University of Redlands; Jean Schwind, Associate Professor of English, Elon University; Andrea Crivelli-Kovach, Associate Professor and Director of Community Health Programs, Arcadia University

Friday, 10:30-11:45 am

Service Learning for Sustainable Change
How do colleges and universities ensure that their community service initiatives result in sustainable community impact while engaging issues of diversity, inequality, and interdependence? The three programs discussed here provide dynamic opportunities for students and faculty actively to engage in developing and executing applied research and advocacy projects that have ongoing impact at local, regional and national levels.  These New American Colleges and Universities will share examples of civic initiatives that have had sustainable impact and invite discussion of examples and challenges from participant’s institutions.

Moderator:  Devorah Lieberman, Provost, Wagner College

Panelists:  Larry Baas, Professor and the Chair of the Political Science Department and Director of the Community Research and Service Center, Valparaiso University; Gary Daynes, Associate Provost for Integrative Learning,  Westminster College, Cassia Freedland, Director, Center for Leadership, Wagner College