• 14 liberal arts colleges
• Links to ACM member colleges
• Leaders in innovative education
  • International study
  • Math and science
  • Instructional technology
• ACM activities
  • Off-campus study
  • Faculty development
  • Information exchange and external relations
  • Nick Adams Short Story Contest for students
• History and organization of ACM
• Staff at the ACM office in Chicago

14 liberal arts colleges

The Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) are 14 academically excellent, independent liberal arts colleges located in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Colorado.

They are among the oldest, most prestigious undergraduate institutions in the region, and each has a distinctive identity and set of traditions. At the same time, the ACM colleges share many characteristics, especially a fundamental commitment to the liberal arts as the best preparation for life, employment and contributing to society.

ACM colleges are residential, and student engagement -- both within the campus community and in the wider world -- is an integral aspect of the education these colleges provide. Challenging curricula, close contact with faculty, undergraduate research opportunities, off-campus study, community service, internships and a wealth of co-curricular activities are all parts of the college experience for students at ACM institutions.

Leaders in innovative education

Through the years, the ACM colleges have been leaders in providing innovative education that engages students as active participants in the learning process. This leadership is exemplified by the colleges’ achievements in international study and instruction in the sciences, as well as an emerging involvement in instructional technology.

International study

ACM has offered consortial study-abroad programs for more than 40 years. Individual ACM colleges also offer international programs in locations around the world and in subjects ranging from art history to marine biology.

Each year about 1,500 students from ACM colleges spend a term or longer on an international program. On some ACM campuses, one-half to three-fourths of recent graduating classes have participated in off-campus study.

In the recent Global Partners Project, ACM and two other consortia, the Associated Colleges of the South (ACS) and the Great Lakes Colleges Association, Inc. (GLCA), explored ways to make international study more effective, accessible and cost-efficient. The multi-year project, begun in 1999 and supported by a major grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, linked resources and expertise at the 41 consortial colleges and at centers in Africa, Central Europe, Russia and Turkey.

Math and science

Faculty from ACM colleges have been at the forefront of national efforts to reconceptualize the way mathematics and the natural sciences are taught at the undergraduate level.

Through involvement in Project Kaleidoscope, the ChemLinks Coalition, the Calculus Reform Project and other initiatives, as well as in projects on their own campuses, professors at ACM colleges are designing courses that emphasize hands-on, inquiry-based methods of instruction. Students cover the same basic content as before, but spend more of their time in the lab “doing what scientists do” -- posing questions, designing experiments and working in groups to find solutions.

It’s not surprising that these exciting developments find fertile ground at ACM colleges, where there is a tradition of students working alongside their professors on research projects.

Instructional technology

ACM has been involved in major initiatives to strengthen the use of instructional technology at liberal arts colleges.

• Funded by grants from the Mellon Foundation, ACM and GLCA established the Midwest Instructional Technology Center (MITC).
• Last year, MITC was incorporated into the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE). For faculty at ACM colleges, NITLE is a resource for learning to fully utilize new technology in teaching and off-campus study.

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