AAC&U Senior Director Susan Albertine Recognized at CCAS Meeting
At the Council of Colleges of Arts & Sciences (CCAS) 2008 annual meeting in Portland, Oregon, November 12-15, AAC&U Senior Director for LEAP in the States Susan Albertine was recognized for her leadership and service. In Oregon, Albertine and AAC&U President Carol Schneider both addressed the conference, noting "the shared commitment to liberal education that is the common ground of both organizations and the guiding vision of their work."See Give Students a Compass for more information about the initiative Albertine currently coordinates.
(Posted on 2008-11-20 08:57:21)

Utah ?What Is An Educated Person?? Conference Discusses LEAP Outcomes
Public and private colleges and universities from across the state of Utah gathered November 7th to debate the question, “What is an Educated Person?”  AAC&U Vice President Debra Humphreys delivered the keynote address, “College Learning for the New Global Century: Teaching and Assessing What Really Matters Today,” and Utah Commissioner of Higher Education, William Sederburgh, urged participants to help make the case for the value to individuals and the state of sending more high school graduates on to 2- and 4-year colleges.  Participants debated what outcomes were most important and how they might best be assessed, especially focusing on the development of electronic portfolios.  See news coverage of the event and more on LEAP.
(Posted on 2008-11-19 08:59:52)

Webinar Series on Advancing Internationalization
ACE, in conjunction with AAC&U and other higher education associations, will present a series of four webinars on advancing internationalization at U.S. institutions. The webinars, grouped by institutional sector, will run from December 1-16 and will be based in part on ACE's recent publication, Mapping Internationalization on U.S. Campuses: 2008 Edition. These webinars will allow participants to compare internationalization at their institution to national results and explore the implications for their campus. Registration is available now. For questions, please contact Jill Wisniewski at jill_wisniewski@ace.nche.edu or 202-939-9553.
(Posted on 2008-11-13 13:06:45)

AAC&U and PKAL Announce New Partnership to Improve Science Education
AAC&U and Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) are joining forces to advance and amplify work on improving undergraduate education in science, technology, the various fields of engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in colleges and universities across the country. AAC&U and PKAL share a strong conviction that these fields are essential to liberal learning in the twenty-first century, and that undergraduates in today’s STEM labs and classrooms should gain both the skills and knowledge important in a wide range of contemporary careers and become responsible citizens in a complex and challenging world. To learn more about this new partnership, click here.
(Posted on 2008-11-10 10:30:53)

AAC&U Board Issues Statement on Historic Election
AAC&U's Board of Directors issued today a statement noting the unprecedented and historic election of Barack Obama as the next president. Applauding the active participation of so many college students in this election and noting the role of higher education in advancing both diversity and democracy in our nation, the statement quoted both Senator McCain and President-Elect Obama on the road ahead. AAC&U "remains committed," the board affirmed, "to graduating students who leave college both prepared and inspired to take on with vigor the responsibility of forging ...[a more perfect] union—a union that is at once diverse, democratic, and strong." See the text of the full statement posted November 5th.
(Posted on 2008-11-05 14:14:24)

Fall On Campus with Women Highlights New Science Pedagogies
The current On Campus with Women examines ways to improve student retention and engagement in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The issue explores how feminist pedagogies, by connecting academic learning and personal experience, can transform cultures and classrooms to be more inclusive and hospitable to all students, particularly women across races and ethnicities whose participation in certain fields remains low. Featured examples include a new approach to introductory engineering at Georgia Tech and a comprehensive program based in mentoring and service at Rochester Institute of Technology. To read the entire issue, visit www.aacu.org/ocww.
(Posted on 2008-11-05 09:19:20)

LEAP Initiative Launches Series of Public Forums
AAC&U’s LEAP initiative launches a series of public forums in November with programs in Providence, Rhode Island and Richmond, Virginia. These events will kick off a two-year series of forums designed to engage academics, business leaders, K-12 educators, policymakers, and community leaders with action agendas for moving the LEAP vision for higher education forward with input from and action steps for individuals on campus and beyond. Members of the LEAP National Leadership Council will participate in both events with local and regional leaders. The programs will draw on the innovative work of campuses in Virginia and across New England, and also will call upon key stakeholders to provide leadership for carrying action agendas forward in specific state and regional contexts. Another forum is planned for March 2009, cosponsored with Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, and additional forums are slated for 2009 in Miami and other locations around the country. More information is available at www.aacu.org/leap.
(Posted on 2008-10-22 14:03:00)

More Reasons for Hope: Diversity Matters in Higher Education
Honoring the late Edgar Beckham and his profound influence on higher education, More Reasons for Hope examines the trends in diversity education since the publication of Reasons for Hope in 1998.  It features an address by Edgar Beckham that identifies intellectual, structural, and political challenges that need to be addressed in the next generation of diversity work. It charts progress and setbacks and includes more than thirty current exemplary campus diversity programs, policies, and practices.
(Posted on 2008-10-08 09:52:23)

Peer Review Discussion Guide on Student Political Engagement
The Democracy Imperative (TDI) has developed a discussion guide for campuses to use in conjunction with the latest issue of Peer Review, which focuses on student political engagement. Written by Nancy L. Thomas, acting TDI director and an author in this issue, the guide was created for multiple uses?as a classroom teaching tool, a faculty development instrument, for use in strategic planning processes, and as a means to engage trustees in a discussion about the aims of higher education. The guide, Democratic and Political Learning, can be found on the TDI Web site.
(Posted on 2008-10-06 15:57:08)

New LEAP Report by George Kuh Presents Latest Research on High-Impact Practices
AAC&U has released a new report for its LEAP initiative. High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter, by George D.Kuh, with an introduction by AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider, defines a set of educational practices and describes research on why they have a strong impact on student success. Kuh presents data from the National Survey of Student Engagement about these practices and why they benefit all students, but also seem to benefit underserved students even more than their more-advantaged peers. The publication also presents data that show definitively that underserved students are the least likely students, on average, to have access to many of these practices. High-Impact Educational Practices is required reading for anyone working to advance changes in curricula and teaching practices and increase students’ achievement of key learning outcomes. Purchase a copy or read an excerpt.
(Posted on 2008-10-06 15:55:46)

LEAP Campus Action Network Members Honored with General Education Award

Miami-Dade College and the University of North Dakota, both members of AAC&U's LEAP Campus Action Network, are winners of the 2008 AGLS Awards for Improving General Education. The awards are given annually by the Association for General and Liberal Studies to recognize creative program accomplishments by general education faculty and administrators committed to ongoing improvement in the areas of general and liberal education. Judges called the process by which UND created and instituted its new “Essential Studies” program, “a creative, non-formulaic review that offers other institutions many transferable examples.” Miami-Dade’s successful effort to move from a complex set of twenty-five general education goals to a slimmed down, multidisciplinary set of ten College Learning Outcomes was notable because it engaged great numbers of faculty in the process, despite the size of this multi-campus college of more than 160,000 students. For more information about AGLS, visit its Web site.

(Posted on 2008-09-22 14:52:38)

Washington Post Highlights Goals of Educated Citizen and Public Health Project
In his cover story, “For a Global Generation, Public Health is a Hot Field,” reporter David Brown highlights the work of The Educated Citizen and Public Health Project, co-sponsored by AAC&U along with the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research. He notes that there is great interest among today’s students in the subject of public health and that “the subject is essential knowledge in the flattened, crowded and worried world of the 21st century.” This project is part of AAC&U’s efforts to extend the advantages of a liberal education, with its strong focus on civic engagement and “the big questions,” to every student. See Project Overview for more information or new data from the project’s research on majors and minors in public health.
(Posted on 2008-09-19 12:48:35)

AAC&U Staff Member's Dance Company Recognized
Daniel Singh, AAC&U’s director of information systems, was honored with two awards at the September 9 Metro DC Dance Awards ceremony—Emerging Group and Excellence in Costume Design. Singh, in addition to his work at AAC&U, is president and artistic director of Dakshina, a dance company with the mission to “demonstrate that dance is universally accessible; that it is a system of communication that transcends boundaries, cultures, and time; and that it can be used as a vehicle for social change and community development.” AAC&U is thrilled that our colleague’s inspired dancing and excellent community work has been recognized. Learn more about bringing Dakshina and its programs to your campus.
(Posted on 2008-09-15 09:25:01)

"Taking Seriously The Perspectives of Others" Topic of October Symposium
AAC&U’s Core Commitments initiative is sponsoring a symposium on October 15-16 in Long Beach, California. Participants will learn about campus efforts to educate for personal and social responsibility in light of holistic and developmental frameworks. Symposium will feature new campus climate data on perspective-taking gathered through the initiative. Speakers include L. Lee Knefelkamp of Teachers College, Columbia University, and Laura I. Rendón of Iowa State University. Registration is limited. Visit the symposium Web page to learn more and register to attend.
(Posted on 2008-09-11 14:04:24)

Bringing Theory To Practice To Host Student Conference in DC
This third national student conference, "Millenial Happenings," sponsored by Bringing Theory to Practice, will take place October 3-4 in Washington DC and will highlight how student perspectives inform the work of the BTtoP project and campus cultures around the country.  Speakers include Alison Malmon, founder of Active Minds, Inc, and Joyce Bylander, special assistant to the president for institutional and diversity initiatives at Dickinson College, as well as many other students and recent college graduates. Student session proposals accepted through September 19; accepted proposals come with $200 travel stipend.  See the call for proposals or online registration form.
(Posted on 2008-09-03 09:43:30)

Peer Review: Spring/Summer 2008
This issue of Peer Review examines how the academy engages students in their learning today to help them grow as engaged citizens for tomorrow. It focuses on democratic civic engagement rather than service and in what some call civic agency.
(Posted on 2008-08-21 11:12:17)

AAC&U President To Conduct Inside Higher Ed Teleconference in September
AAC&U President Carol Schneider will conduct a teleconference sponsored by Inside Higher Ed on September 11, 2008, on the topic of "Liberal Education for Everyone—Transforming Professional and Liberal Arts Programs." Featuring research and insights from AAC&U’s LEAP initiative, the teleconference will examine the increasing importance of liberal education outcomes and how both professional studies and liberal arts and sciences departments are essential to fulfilling the promise of higher education for today’s students. See Inside Higher Ed Teleconferences for more information.
(Posted on 2008-08-14 11:01:21)

New Executive Summary Issued Including Summary of Latest Employer Survey Results
AAC&U has released a new version (pdf) of the executive summary of College Learning for the New Global Century which now includes summaries of findings from our surveys of business leaders released in 2007 and 2008. The findings detail the skills and knowledge areas on which employers want colleges and universities to place more emphasis and how and why they value a liberal education. They also highlight employers' views on various approaches to outcomes assessment and reveal their clear support for more qualitative forms of assessment and rejection of multiple choice testing at the undergraduate level. The executive summary is ideal for initiating discussions with trustees, boards of regents, business advisory councils, and other campus or community groups. Learn more about LEAP or read full public opinion reports.
(Posted on 2008-08-07 10:34:51)

Diversity, Learning, and Inclusive Excellence Conference -- Online Registration Now Available
Diversity, Learning, and Inclusive Excellence:
Accelerating and Assessing Progress

October 16-18, 2008
Long Beach, California

Diversity, Learning, and Inclusive Excellence: Accelerating and Assessing Progress aims to help campuses take diversity efforts to the next level of comprehensive, coordinated action, where educational benefits for all students and for the institution more broadly, can be demonstrated in meaningful ways. It will highlight curricular, co-curricular, and institutional models that enable higher education leaders to develop, implement, assess, and continually learn from the experience of fostering diverse learning environments -- environments in which all students develop, in increasingly sophisticated ways, critical knowledge, skills, and capacities for work and citizenship.

With keynotes and plenaries by:
Alma Clayton-Pedersen, AAC&U
Mildred Garcia, California State University-Dominguez Hills
Jamie Merisotis, Lumina Foundation for Education
Daryl Smith, Claremont Graduate University

You can learn more about the conference highlights and workshops online.
Register now online. Early registration -- through September 23, 2008
(Posted on 2008-08-01 12:07:39)

Advancing Personal and Social Responsibility Key Agenda at AAC&U Summer Institute
170 people from the 23 Leadership Consortium schools attended the Core Commitments summer institute on the Portland State University campus July 22-25, 2008. The teams worked together on ways to advance personal and social responsibility on their campuses. Teams also interpreted and planned how to effective ways use data collected last fall using the Core Commitments Personal and Social Responsibility Inventory. An initial report (pdf) on the data was released in April 2007, and a series of reports will be released next year.
(Posted on 2008-07-31 10:20:49)

Roberts T. Jones Speaks at the National Conference of State Legislators? Summit
LEAP National Leadership Council (NLC) member Bob Jones spoke on "Building a Workforce for the Future: The State Role" at the NCSL Summit on July 24, 2008 in New Orleans. He addressed the challenges America faces in the global economy and the role of higher education in meeting them. Other presenters on the session included leaders from the Government Accountability Office and Northrop Grumman. Read more about these issues in the LEAP NLC report, College Learning for the New Global Century (pdf) and see what employers say about recent college graduates in a recent LEAP national polls.
(Posted on 2008-07-30 10:34:17)

AAC&U Welcomes New Senior Web Editor Barbara McCuen
AAC&U announces the appointment of Barbara McCuen as its new Senior Web Editor. McCuen comes to AAC&U with a wealth of experience including most recently at the Council on Foundations and, prior to that, at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. She brings to AAC&U her serious commitment to liberal education and a wide array of communications and technical skills that will help us take our Web site to new levels of sophistication in order to serve our members as they seek to improve undergraduate education for all today's students. Do you have suggestions for how we can improve our Web site? We would like to hear from you; email Barbara at mccuen@aacu.org.
(Posted on 2008-07-16 09:57:07)

Lumina President Merisotis and Cal State Dominguez Hills President Garcia to Address Fall AAC&U Meeting
The next AAC&U meeting – Diversity, Learning, and Inclusive Excellence: Accelerating and Assessing Progress – will feature Jamie Merisotis and Mildred Garcia as speakers. Merisotis will speak on "Equality of Opportunity in Higher Education: Improving Access and Success for Historically Underrepresented Populations," while Garcia will outline "A Comprehensive Plan for Inclusive Excellence." Visit the Diversity and Learning meeting page for more details and information on how to register.
(Posted on 2008-07-15 08:47:54)

VA LEAP Leadership Council Member Offers Advice to Next President
Sweet Briar College President, Elizabeth Muhlenfeld, offers advice to the next president in a chapter of the new book, Letters to the Next President. In her article, she notes that AAC&U’s LEAP initiative has “culiminated in consensus about ‘essential learning outcomes’ we should expect from higher education…If we could ensure that a college experience would result in such an education, we could be far less concerned about our nation’s future.” She urges the next president and all the nation’s leaders, as they “consider higher education policy, to embrace the big questions…[including] What do our college graduates need to know to be citizen leaders in their communities and in the world?” See Sweet Briar news release for more information and VA LEAP for information about LEAP VA state activities.
(Posted on 2008-07-14 15:27:25)

Cal State Adopts New Gen Ed Learning Outcomes Based on LEAP Framework
The California State University system has established new guidelines for general education requirements developed by the CSU Academic Senate and based on the LEAP Essential Learning Outcomes. Upon passage of the new guidelines, CSU Academic Senate Chair John Tarjan noted that “Incorporating the LEAP framework into our general education curriculum should help students to more clearly focus on the skills, ability, and attitudes necessary not only for success in the classroom, but also in their careers, as they engage in lifelong learning, and as they become community leaders.” See what LEAP National Leadership Council members say, the CSU press release, its new general education guidelines, andhow you can get involved with LEAP.
(Posted on 2008-07-02 10:47:48)

AACU Marks Passing of Beloved Liberal Educator Patrick Hill
In a letter to Evergreen State College President Les Purce, AACU President Carol Geary Schneider expressed her condolences to the entire Evergreen family noting that "the entire higher education community has lost one of our most gifted and passionate educational leaders and mentors."  In addition to serving as Provost and Academic Vice President of Evergreen State University, Hill served on the national panel that guided AACU’s American Commitments initiative and was a pioneer in the movement for learning communities -- an educational innovation that continues to spread and improve learning for thousands of college students across the country.  A memorial service will be held on July 2, 2008 at 6 p.m. at Evergreen State University and will be available via  streaming video online.

(Posted on 2008-07-01 15:06:28)

AACU Receives Grant To Improve State-wide General Education Outcomes in California, Oregon, and Wisconsin
AACU received a $560,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation to develop a multi-state partnership designed to strengthen the quality of undergraduate student learning. Working with public higher education systems in California, Oregon, and Wisconsin, Give Students a Compass will support collaboration to re-map educational aims, practices, and assessment strategies for general education. The project is part of AACU's signature initiative, Liberal Education and America's Promise.
(Posted on 2008-06-30 16:05:46)

Report Recommends Tenure Policy Reforms for the Engaged University
A new report from Imagining America, Scholarship in Public Knowledge Creation and Tenure Policy in the Engaged University, proposes "concrete ways to remove obstacles to academic work carried out for and/or with the public by giving such work full standing as scholarship, research, or artistic creation."  Emerging from the work of the Tenure Team Initiative, among whose 19 members are AACU President Carol Geary Schneider and AACU Senior Scholar R. Eugene Rice, the report is a toolkit for those eager to change the culture surrounding promotion and tenure in the "new academy." 
(Posted on 2008-06-26 15:46:19)

On Campus With Women Addresses Women's Leadership
The latest issue of On Campus With Women explores the power of women’s leadership, action, and advocacy to transform the greater political field in which women operate.
(Posted on 2008-06-20 16:54:14)

AAC&U News Summer Issue Features Entreprenuerial Education at University of Rochester
The June/July issue of AAC&U News features entrepreneurial education at the University of Rochester; new findings on students' political views; a commentary on veterans and liberal education; and the latest news about AAC&U meetings, projects, podcasts, and publications.
(Posted on 2008-06-20 16:04:10)

Oshkosh Faculty Senate Approves New Learning Outcomes
The Faculty Senate at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh has passed a new set of student learning outcomes based on the Essential Learning Outcomes of LEAP. The specific UW-Oshkosh outcomes were developed by the University's Liberal Education Reform Team and Resource Group, comprised of faculty, staff, and students. Upon approval, UW-Oshkosh Chancellor Richard H. Wells noted that "we need to deliver a strong, intentional liberal education if our students are to succeed in this ever-changing global century." Learn more about LEAP and how to get involved.
(Posted on 2008-06-18 15:47:00)

College Board Report Challenges Ethnic Stereotypes about Academic Success
“Fact, Not Fiction,” published in collaboration with the National Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islander Research in Education, investigates the “model minority” stereotype often associated with AAPI students.  AAC&U Vice President for Education and Institutional Renewal Alma Clayton-Pedersen was a member of the commission, and she was quoted in the New York Times article about the report, saying, “The notion of lumping all people into a single category and assuming they have no needs is wrong… it’s almost like the reverse of what happened to African-Americans.”  You can read the press release and find the full report at the College Board’s Web site.
(Posted on 2008-06-18 15:45:00)

44 Colleges and Universities Send Faculty to Civic Seminar Co-Sponsored by AAC&U and the Aspen Institute
Forty-eight faculty members will attend the Wye Faculty Seminar on Citizenship and the American Polity July 19-25, 2008, on the Aspen Wye campus in Queenstown, Maryland.  Selected by the presidents of their institutions because of their distinctive contributions to the quality of liberal education, these faculty members will study together the broad issues of civic engagement, individual rights and responsibilities both nationally and globally, and the public purposes of education in a democracy.  AAC&U and the Aspen Institute have been cosponsoring the seminar since 1991. Learn more about the seminar on the Aspen Institute’s Web site or fread the AAC&U press release.
(Posted on 2008-06-18 15:19:00)

AAC&U Appoints Public Health Expert Marian Osterweis as New Senior Fellow
Marian Osterweis will be working with AAC&U's Office of Diversity, Equity, and Global Initiatives on its Educated Citizen and Public Health Initiative. This project, which recently received a grant from the Macy Foundation, provides resources to assist faculty in developing high quality public health curricula to deliver essential liberal education learning to undergraduates. Previously, Osterweis was the Executive Vice President of the Association of Academic Health Centers (AHC) from 1989 to 2006. Read the press release at aacu.org/press_room/press_releases/2008/osterweis.cfm, and learn more about the Educated Citizen and Public Health Initiative at aacu.org/public_health.
(Posted on 2008-06-04 11:43:11)