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Friday
Plenary 1
Welcomes from Daniel Sack (Program Officer, ACM) and John Burris
(President, Beloit College)
The goals and practices of the liberal arts: Richard Light
Richard J.
Light is Walter H. Gale Professor of Education at the Kennedy School
of Government and Graduate School of Education of Harvard University.
He teaches statistics, program evaluation, and policy analysis,
with special focus on programs in education. His work emphasizes
how to collect and analyze information to improve program management.
Mr. Light received his Ph.D. in statistics from Harvard in l969,
and was appointed a professor in l974. He has authored or co-authored
seven books. His most recent book, Making the Most of College: Students
Speak their Minds, published in 2001 by the Harvard University Press,
was honored with the press's Virginia and Warren Stone Prize for
best book of the year about education and society. In addition to
his teaching responsibilities, Mr. Light also currently is Director
of the Seminar on Assessment. This consortium, supported by two
Harvard presidents, Derek Bok and Neil Rudenstine, brings together
faculty and senior administrators from twenty-four colleges and
universities to carry out research on college effectiveness. It
is now in its fourteenth year. Mr. Light currently is Chair and
Director of a project called "The Educational Impact of Changing
Student Demographics in Colleges and Universities." This three year
study, based at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, brings
together senior campus leaders from twenty selective colleges and
universities. It encourages gathering evidence about what campus
leaders can do at a time of dramatically changing demographics.
The project explores how to enhance benefits for students, both
inside and outside of classrooms, as they attend colleges with fellow
students who come from increasingly different backgrounds.
Saturday
Response to plenary 1
We have asked three ACM people--a president, a dean, and a faculty
member--to respond to Dr. Light's presentation, and reflect on how
it connects to our liberal arts colleges. They are: Lawrence Breitborde
(Dean, Knox), Allison Roberts (Economics, Lake Forest), and Richard
Warch (President, Lawrence)
After their brief remarks, conference participants will talk around
their round tables about these issues on their campuses. We have
assigned each participant to a particular table, to encourage people
from different colleges to meet and talk.
Plenary
2: Today's students
An essential part of supporting a liberal arts education is understanding
our students. We have asked several people from across the consortium
with special insight into student cultures to talk about the current
generation of students. They are Mark Govoni (Dean of students,
Carleton), Carol Trosset (Institutional research, Grinnell), Muyiwa
Awoniyi (Student, Beloit), Margaret Govoni (Student, Beloit), and
Becca Zeni (Student, Beloit). The questions they might consider
include:
- What is
unique about this generation of students?
- In what
ways are they different from previous cohorts?
- To what
degree do they understand what a liberal arts education is all
about?
- What engages
them in their education?
- What disengages
them? There will be substantial time for questions and answers
from participants.
Reflection
on plenary 2
Is Light right about the liberal arts? Is the panel right about
today's students? Here's a chance to talk about what you've heard,
and what it means for our colleges and our students. You'll be assigned
into small groups for discussions moderated by the project liaisons.
Here are some questions you might discuss:
- What is
distinctive about the culture and lives of today's students?
- Are they
different than twenty years ago?
- Do they
have different expectations about what they will "get" out of
college than their predecessors?
- What do
students think about liberal arts education?
- Our student
communities are diverse. Do first-generation (or international
or African-American, etc.) college students as a group have different
expectations or beliefs concerning liberal arts colleges that
shape their initial experiences on campus?
- How do
you communicate the value of a liberal arts education in language
that engages eighteen year olds?
- How much
consensus is there on your campus among faculty, staff, and administration
about the distinctive nature and value of a liberal arts education?
- What are
the different and complementary roles of faculty and student affairs
professionals in supporting our students' academic experience?
Team meetings
Teams from campuses will meet to discuss what you've heard so far,
begin thinking about a campus project, and figure out your expectations
for the working groups.
Working
groups
We've asked the colleges to identify their challenges in supporting
student academic development. These working groups will start thinking
about those challenges. In the group you will find some people with
expertise, as well as some people who are looking for answers.
- Advising
- Sophomore
year and transition to the major
- Capstone
and mentored research programs
- First year
program (general)
- Orientation
- Dealing
with student personal issues in first year program
- Faculty
engagement in first year program
- Writing
in first year program
- Engaging
students with the curriculum/liberal arts
Dessert:
Sharing best practices
There will be drinks, coffee, and dessert as people from ACM colleges
show off what they think their colleges do particularly well in
academic development. Move around the room, learn from the other
colleges, and get to know some people in an informal and congenial
setting.
Sunday
Team meetings
Meet with your campus team to think about a project for your campus
Plenary
3: Planning for next steps, identifying emerging themes
We hope
that the ideas and connections from this conference won't stop here.
The ACM Engagement Project will continue over the next several years.
The project's guiding deans will summarize what they've heard and
suggest what the project might do next. David Burrows (Dean of the
College, Beloit), Dennis Moore (Dean of the College, Cornell), and
Brian Rosenberg (Dean of the Faculty, Lawrence)
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