Register now to attend the meeting, "Can Higher Education Recapture the Elusive American Dream?" The Annual Meeting will be held January 24–27 in Washington, DC.

AAC&U is pleased to welcome Dr. Lisa Wills as Senior Director for Undergraduate STEM Education.

We are disappointed by the Trump Administration’s decision to end the DACA program. AAC&U will continue to work with our member institutions to advocate for immigration policies and programs that ensure protections for approximately 800,000 individuals.

AAC&U supports the continuation of protections for students under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy. “AAC&U stands alongside its 1,400 members in reaffirming an abiding commitment to the values of diversity, inclusion, and equity as critical to the well-being of our democratic culture and as the cornerstones of excellence in liberal education,” AAC&U President Lynn Pasquerella said in a statement released in January. 

AAC&U strengthened this commitment by joining the American Council on Education and other higher education leaders in sending a letter to US President Donald Trump on August 28, 2017, urging him to “to continue your promise to support the Dreamers and preserve DACA while seeking a permanent solution, and allow these productive and high-achieving individuals to continue to work, study and contribute to our great country.” This was followed on August 30 by a letter to President Trump from the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, AAC&U, and fifty national organizations.

Visit our Resources for Campus Leaders Crafting Messages in Response to Issues of Racial and Social Justice for more information about how campuses have taken action to champion these values. We invite member leaders to share their own statements by emailing Ross Berry at communications@aacu.org.

In the aftermath of the horrific, heartbreaking events in Charlottesville, we must not be silent....We must harness our collective intellectual, social, and financial resources to transform words into action.  

Jacinta will join AAC&U in September through the Mellon/ACLS Public Fellows program. She will be a member of AAC&U's Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation project team.              

Prior to joining AAC&U, Jacinta was a Woodrow Wilson Dissertation Fellow in the W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts (UMass), where she examined how race—specifically for people of color in urban settings—influences cultural representation and access to social benefits in wider American society. Previously, Jacinta helped steer Howard University’s strategic undergraduate recruitment and retention plans as the assistant director of recruitment. She also taught courses on African American culture and women and gender studies at UMass, using interdisciplinary scholarship as a change agent inside and outside of the classroom.

Jacinta earned a PhD in African American studies from UMass, where she also completed a master of fine arts and humanities degree in African American studies and a certificate in women and gender studies. Prior to her studies at UMass, she earned a bachelor’s in educational studies at Emory University.

The Academic Minute radio program is seeking submissions for upcoming segments. Please send submissions to David Hopper at dhopper@wamc.org.                                      

AAC&U President Lynn Pasquerella is host of The Academic Minute, produced by WAMC Northeast Public Radio in partnership with AAC&U. The Academic Minute features faculty and researchers from colleges and universities around the world discussing what’s new in the academy and the ways in which academic research contributes to serving the public good. In addition to being broadcast widely on radio stations around the country, each segment is posted daily on Inside Higher Ed and across The Academic Minute’s and AAC&U’s social media portals.

The Academic Minute has particular interest in research submissions related to several specific themes:

• Labor Day – exploring jobs, automation, and the future of work in America
• Back to School – educational practice, especially liberal education
• Week-Long Series – five separate research submissions from one institution
• Other Topics – research focused on areas outside of these topics

Be sure to tune in daily to The Academic Minute, and thank you for considering this opportunity for public engagement.