Author Archive
AAC&U’s upcoming Annual Meeting, Shared Futures/Difficult Choices: Reclaiming a Democratic Vision for College Learning, Global Engagement, and Success, will challenge the current dangerously narrow vision for higher education that seems to value degrees exclusively for their economic and individual benefit rather than for higher education’s contribution to the common good.
One precedent for a broader democratic vision of college learning is the 1947 Truman Commission Report, Higher Education for American Democracy, which linked education to “a fuller realization of democracy in every phase of living”; the development of “international understanding and cooperation”, and “the solution of social problems.” Of course, such a democratic vision emerged alongside a Cold War strategy for global engagement that emphasized American dominance and containment. Read the rest of this entry »
AAC&U recently announced the selection of the thirty-two colleges and universities that will be participating in General Education for a Global Century, the latest part of our national initiative, Shared Futures: Global Learning and Social Responsibility.
These thirty-two institutions were selected from more than 140 applicants and span all regions of the country and all institutional types. Reading all 143 of the proposals for participation provided a fascinating (though obviously self-selected) snapshot of how campus leaders are thinking about global learning and general education as they create and implement new curricular designs in an environment of financial uncertainty. Shared Futures staff members are currently analyzing these proposals more systematically, but I’d like to share a few obvious insights today.
The 2010 edition of the College Sustainability Report Card was released last week and provides additional evidence that colleges and universities are taking seriously the challenges of community, environment, social responsibility, and interdependence.
While it is worthwhile to recognize the schools that best match their rhetorical commitment to sustainability with campus practice, the sustainability categories that make up the grade remain incomplete. Institutions are graded in the following areas: administration; climate change and energy; food and recycling; green building; student involvement; transportation; endowment transparency; investment priorities; and shareholder engagement. What they are not yet judged on is the very heart of the higher education enterprise—teaching and learning. Read the rest of this entry »
