University Will Create a New Faculty Development Program with ACM

Posted December 5, 2007

The Board of Directors of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest(ACM) announced at its recent fall meeting that the College of the University of Chicago, a member of ACM since 1988, has decided to withdraw from membership in the consortium and has offered to create a new faculty development program in cooperation with ACM.

"With this decision, the ACM's relationship with the University will shift from involving students in ACM study away programs to involving ACM faculty in University activities" explained Christopher Welna, ACM President. "We appreciate the University's generous initiative to deepen the scholarly ties between the faculty of the ACM's liberal arts colleges and the University as we move forward."

Under the proposed five-year program, the University will create a fund to underwrite grants for ACM faculty to visit the University. The grants will cover travel and local costs for faculty to use the University's Regenstein and Crerar Libraries and to participate in University workshops in the humanities and social sciences organized through the Council on Advanced Study in the Humanities and the Social Sciences (CAS). The University will provide funding for about 20 grants per year and ACM will administer the program.

John W. Boyer, Dean of the College and Chair of the Council on Advanced Studies in the Humanities and the Social Sciences at Chicago, said that "the University looks forward to a wider range of scholarly collaborations between ACM faculty and faculty and graduate students at Chicago. We think that all will benefit from this new collaboration between the University and the liberal arts colleges of ACM."

In making the announcement, the ACM Board expressed its gratitude to the University of Chicago for its many contributions to ACM over the past two decades, in addition to the new fund for ACM faculty visits. The Board noted the important role that University faculty, administrators and students have played in consortial activities and the significant impact that the new program can generate for faculty development.

The University's withdrawl from membership in ACM will take effect on June 30, 2008, and the faculty development program is expected to begin in the 2008-09 academic year.