Proposals are due Friday, July 14, 2017, for the conference, Foundations for Democracy, which will be held February 15–17, 2018, in Philadelphia, PA.

On May 20, Lynn Pasquerella delivered the commencement address to graduating students at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, urging graduates to use the invaluable skills they acquired through a liberal education to enhance their personal lives and strengthen democracy. “Elizabethtown College takes seriously our nation’s historic mission of educating for democracy,” Pasquerella said. “Yet, beyond the public purpose of higher education, your education has served a personal purpose, as well . . . Elizabethtown has set you on the path of finding your best and most authentic selves.” 

Newman's Own Foundation has appointed Lynn Pasquerella, president of AAC&U, to its advisory board. In January, AAC&U received a grant from Newman’s Own Foundation for a three-year initiative supporting the collaboration with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to create Centers for Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) at higher education institutions across the country. The grant will support a multi-year initiative to implement ten TRHT Centers, which will be designed to engage and empower campus and community stakeholders to break down racial hierarchies and create a positive narrative about race in the community.

"We are delighted to have Dr. Pasquerella join the Newman's Own Advisory Board," Bob Forrester, president and CEO of Newman's Own Foundation and executive chairman of Newman's Own, Inc., said in a press release. "Lynn is a distinguished scholar and teacher, whose lifelong commitment to bringing empowerment and opportunity to the least advantaged in our world will make her a valued colleague and advisor."

AAC&U has received a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to support the initial development of ten Centers for Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation at higher education institutions across the country.

The Mellon / American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Public Fellows Program is a career-building fellowship initiative designed to expand the reach of doctoral education in the humanities. In 2017, the Public Fellows Program will place up to twenty-two recent PhDs from the humanities and humanistic social sciences in two-year staff positions at partnering organizations in government and the nonprofit sector. Fellows will participate in the substantive work of these organizations and will receive professional mentoring; an annual stipend of $67,500; and health insurance. 

The application deadline for the Mellon/ACLS Public Fellows Program is March 22, 2017 (8 p.m. EDT).

The Public Fellows Program is offered by ACLS with generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Please direct all inquiries about the fellowship program to ACLS.

On Wednesday, March 8, from 1 to 2 p.m. (ET), AAC&U will cohost a free webinar with the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities on Tracking Student Access to High-Impact Practices in STEM. Certain High-Impact Practices (such as internships, undergraduate research, capstone courses, and learning communities) help undergraduate students persist and succeed. However, a number of these practices take place beyond the classroom, and universities may not have the capacity to fully track student access to these practices and their impact on learning outcomes. During this webinar, we will explore some of the evidence for High-Impact Practices and learn about innovative efforts to track student participation at California State University, Northridge and the University of South Carolina. Click here to register.