Media Alert

Contact:
Carrie Johnson, Assistant Director, Marketing and Media Relations
Johnson@aacu.org
202.884.0811

Reclaiming a Democratic and Global Vision for College Learning Topic of AAC&U Annual Meeting in
Washington, DC

More Than 1,800 Educational Leaders to Gather at Grand Hyatt Hotel to Explore New Models for Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement and Ways to Ensure that All College Students Get a Globally Engaged Liberal Education

Washington, DC–January 13, 2012–More than 1,800 educational leaders from around the country—presidents, provosts, deans, and faculty members—are expected at AAC&U’s Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, later this month.  Building on the discussions already begun at the White House Convening on January 10, participants will discuss recommendations from the newly released report, A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy’s Future. Developed by the National Task Force on College Learning and Democratic Engagement, this report pushes back against a prevailing national dialogue that limits the mission of higher education primarily to workforce preparation. A Crucible Moment calls on higher education and many partners in education, government, and public life to advance a twenty-first-century vision of horizon-expanding education for all students—a vision with civic learning and democratic engagement an expected part of every student’s college education.

Speakers and sessions will focus on how to accomplish this ambitious goal—how to make civic, democratic, and global learning pervasive rather than peripheral on today’s college campuses.  The meeting will showcase examples from institutions of all types that are successfully building upon democratic visions and practices in complex, global contexts—visions and practices that shape institutional missions, improve undergraduate education, and challenge narrow definitions of student success.

Other sessions will also build on the release at last year’s meeting of the Degree Qualifications Profile (pdf) and will discuss how this new framework for clarifying the meaning of college degrees is being tested on campuses around the country.

Sessions will also present the latest research on the quality of student learning in American higher education, leading-edge campus innovations in globalizing the undergraduate curricula, and new initiatives focused on improving STEM learning, using e-portfolios to document student accomplishment, and developing more authentic forms of assessment.

The premier meeting ground of undergraduate educational leaders from all types of colleges and universities provides a unique opportunity to learn about the latest research on teaching and learning and the latest campus approaches to global learning, assessment, general education, the resurgence of liberal education, maintaining academic quality in tough economic times, and the changing policy and funding environment for higher education institutions.

Speakers include:

Martha J. Kanter, Under Secretary of Education, US Department of Education
Scott S. Cowen, President, Tulane University
Ken O’Donnell, Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Policy, California State University
Don Michael Randel, President, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Lisa Anderson, President, American University of Cairo
Carol Geary Schneider, President, AAC&U
Eboo Patel, Founder and Executive Director, Interfaith Youth Core
Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran and Director of Cultural Conversations at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies
Eduardo M. Ochoa, Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education, US Department of Education
Henry Eyring, Advancement Vice President, BYU-Idaho, and coauthor of The Innovative University
Holiday Hart McKiernan, Vice President, Operations and General Counsel, Lumina Foundation for Education

Other Highlights:

Pre-meeting Symposium on Reversing a Civic Recession: What Higher Education Can Do (January 25, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.)

Special Track of Sessions on New Frontiers on Higher Education Quality Assurance: Documenting Achievement and Learning Outcomes for Citizenship and Employability in Europe and the United States, sponsored by Lumina Foundation for Education and the European Centre for Strategic Management of Universities (January 26, 10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.)

An E-Portfolio Forum on Saturday, January 28, featuring sessions on the latest developments in the use of student e-portfolios for learning, reflection, and assessment

See the complete program and listing of speakers at www.aacu.org. Learn more about what’s happening at the Annual Meeting on the AAC&U blog, http://blog.aacu.org. Follow us on Twitter, twitter.com/aacu, #aacu12.

Press passes are required. Please contact Carrie Johnson at Johnson@aacu.org by Wednesday, January 18, to receive press passes to the meeting.

About AAC&U

AAC&U is the leading national association concerned with the quality, vitality, and public standing of undergraduate liberal education. Its members are committed to extending the advantages of a liberal education to all students, regardless of academic specialization or intended career. Founded in 1915, AAC&U now comprises more than 1,200 member institutions—including accredited public and private colleges, community colleges, and universities of every type and size.

AAC&U functions as a catalyst and facilitator, forging links among presidents, administrators, and faculty members who are engaged in institutional and curricular planning. Its mission is to reinforce the collective commitment to liberal education at both the national and local levels and to help individual institutions keep the quality of student learning at the core of their work as they evolve to meet new economic and social challenges.

Information about AAC&U membership, programs, and publications can be found at www.aacu.org.