ACE Blog - The American Council on Education's Weblog

Leading Your Institution in a 24-hour news cycle: What Presidents Need to Know

"We made media training a major priority after I took office as president of the University of South Florida. Almost immediately, it was critical to have a rational and common way to develop messages, to stick to them, and to state them clearly to the media. A year later we faced the 24-hour news cycle of 9/11, and controversies that arose on many university campuses, including my own. In addition, one of my vice presidents joined me for that session and used exactly those techniques that year when our campus visitor wasn't the 24-hour media, but good old fashioned 60 Minutes.

Media training isn't really about seeing yourself on camera. It's a formula for crafting and rehearsing simple, clear messages to the general public -- and you'll find it helpful for lots of other audiences as well."

 - Judy Genshaft, President, University of South Florida

Join college presidents and chancellors at ACE’s upcoming event, Leading Your Institution in a 24-Hour News Cycle: What Presidents Need to Know. This special seminar, designed for college and university presidents and provosts, will be held December 8–9, 2008, in Washington, D.C. Find out how higher education journalists approach their work through an intimate discussion (schedule) with Scott Jaschik, founder and editor, InsideHigherEd.com, Jeff Selingo, editor of the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Ben Wildavsky, senior fellow in Research and Policy at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and former assistant managing editor for Education and Ideas at U.S. News & World Report. They will take you behind the scenes and share with you their approaches to researching stories, developing relationships with sources, and other tips.

Early registration discounts are available through October 31, 2008.  Register Online Now

Read why your PR office is worried about you addressing the media in this Chronicle article: http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2008/10/2008103101c.htm

Innovating to Meet Emerging Campus Challenges

Guest post by James Hearn, Professor, Institute of Higher Education, University of Georgia.

Higher education institutions are facing an increasingly familiar litany of challenges.  Stakeholders are pushing for increased accountability regarding instructional quality and research relevance. Government funding is under mounting constraints. Costs for salaries, benefits, infrastructure, and maintenance are rising.  Facing rapidly developing  economic, political, social, and technological challenges, how are colleges and universities responding?  In what ways are they reforming their established operations in the face of growing pressures on their traditional ways of doing business? 

I examine these questions in a new report for ACE, Higher Education’s New Economics: The Risks and Rewards of Emerging Operational Reforms, available on the ACE website.  Belying the traditional view of campuses as changing only slowly and at the margins, some leaders are pursuing fundamental rather than incremental changes in their institutions’ core structures, policies, and practices.

The report examines a variety of emerging reforms in campus operations, including innovations in the pricing of educational services (e.g., tuition differentiation and discounting), budget decentralization to the levels of individual academic units, new human resource arrangements (such as increased reliance on
non-tenure-line faculty), revised compensation approaches (such as offering salary bonuses and separating core and incentive-based components of salary), and reforms in organizational structures.   
While these reforms differ in their focuses and scope, they share a concern with improving institutional
flexibility, adaptability, and efficiency in the face of difficult conditions. I argue in the report that, taken together, these emerging reforms may be contributing to a new economics of campus operations. Unfortunately, knowledge about the overall incidence, variations, and effectiveness of these and other notable operational reforms is limited.  To what extent are these innovations serving institutional health
and improvement?  Conversely, to what extent might they be threatening core academic values?  Clearly,
both within and across campuses, we need expanded information and dialogue around these issues.  Ideally, my  report will contribute to building the knowledge base we need to carefully design and evaluate new ways of doing business.

We look forward to hearing your voice. Post your comments below.

Diversity in Higher Education Programs for Older Adults

Kali Lightfoot, Executive Director of the National Resource Center for OLLIs, looks at the challenges of diversifying OLLI programs and recommends strategies to include the broader community in her essay, The Diversity Dilemma: OLLIs, Outreach, and the Underserved, available on the ACE website.

When OSHER Lifelong Learning Institutes (OLLIs) began to spring up on college campuses in the early part of the decade, they were seen as a place where adults over the age of 50 could come together and learn by developing their own curricula to meet their varied interests and needs. Today, with 119 member-run OLLIs spread across 48 states and boasting a total membership of about 70,000, that vision is being realized. Yet, of those 70,000 members, most are white, financially comfortable, and college-educated.

How can a member-driven organization reach out to the older adults from different ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic backgrounds?

What obstacles to diversity have you observed in your own programs?  What strategies have you developed to overcome them? We'd like to hear your point of view!
Post your comment below to add to the discussion.

Educating Student Veterans for the the Workforce

Guest post by Dr. John J. Sbrega, Ph.D., President of Bristol Community College in Fall River, Massachusetts

What can we in higher education do to help facilitate the transition for prospective students who are separating from military service?  Many seek the opportunity for a better life through education.  Our colleges and universities must ensure that we provide a warm, accommodating environment for them.

Recently, the American Council on Education sponsored a conference on this general theme at Georgetown University. Entitled “Serving Those Who Serve,” the conference brought together a wide array of participants:  college and university administrators, government officials (state and federal), service officers, and veterans.  The panels and presentations not only revealed some wonderful efforts being made across the country on behalf of those who served but also identified some formidable barriers to satisfying their educational needs (as well as their physical, psychological, and social needs).

At the risk of committing heresy in educational circles, I must point out that a broader context exists for our efforts.  Without denying the value of education for its own sake, I submit the proposition that we are educating student veterans so that they can reach their goal of becoming gainfully employed.  In Southeastern Massachusetts, we have undertaken a regional pilot project that brings together a wonderful collaboration of Bristol Community College, UMASS-Dartmouth, pre K-12, the state’s Department of Workforce Development and Department of Veteran Affairs, the Workforce Investment Board, the local career center, and other community leaders (elected or otherwise).  Their purpose is to find returning veterans viable employment – not just any jobs but jobs that hold the prospect of opportunity for a high quality of life.  By creating this team, we intend to serve veterans efficiently and to demonstrate the significant benefits of broad-based collaborations for workforce development, economic development, and the general welfare.

One persistent topic at the conference was the importance of community colleges in serving our veterans.  Of course, I helped reinforce this idea because community colleges are ideally positioned for this important responsibility.  Also, conference panelists described some wonderful work on behalf of student veterans being accomplished in Arizona, California, Idaho, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, and Ohio.  Perhaps the most important lesson of the conference emerged in the consensus recognition that more such conferences and opportunities to exchange ideas and Best Practices at the national, regional, and local levels must occur.

Who Are Today's Veterans?

How much do we know about today’s veterans? That was the question for discussion among higher education stakeholders at ACE’s "Serving Those Who Serve: Higher Education and America's Veterans" Summit. The panel discussion, National Profile: Who Are Today’s Veterans?, was moderated by Jack Sbrega, President of Bristol Community College and included panelists Deborah Frett, President and CEO of Business and Professional Women/USA, and Keith Wilson, Director of the Education Office, Department of Veteran Affairs. 

 

Some snapshot statistics:

 

• Education benefits are paid to 450,000 servicemembers around the country.
• On average, servicemembers use 17 months of the 36 months of VA benefits they are entitled to.
• 71% of eligible servicemembers use their VA benefits. Only 6% use their full VA benefits.
• Veteran students are at 6,800 locations around the world.

 

Statistical data on veterans presented by the panel pointed to the need for targeted career education and training programs and improved systems for addressing affordability issues in higher education.

 

Are veteran students a visible and targeted group for support services and programs on your institution’s campus? How are their needs being assessed and addressed? Join the conversation by posting your comments.

Student Veterans Speak Out About Their College Experience

One of the more lively sessions at ACE’s Veterans and Higher Education Summit was a panel discussion with student veterans about transitioning from active duty to college life, From Combat to Classroom: Student Veterans Speak Out. Limited financial aid, feelings of isolation and depression, and a lack of understanding and support from administrators and students were identified by the panelists as challenges they faced in adapting to campus life. But the discussion was not all doom and gloom. Along with the challenges, creative solutions for addressing them were offered by the panel and audience members including having a veteran spokesperson at orientations for veteran students to connect with as a peer, optional classes just for veteran students in a cohort-type environment, providing physical therapy and counseling services for veterans on campus and supporting the passage of an updated G.I. Bill.

 

Panelists included members of the Student Veterans of America (SVA) organization, Derek Blumke, University of Michigan; Natasha McKinnon, North Carolina State University; Josh Webster, University of California, Los Angeles; and Patrick Campbell, Legislative Director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). The discussion was moderated by Susan Aldridge, President of University of Maryland University College.

 

We would like to hear from higher education practitioners and student veterans about what your institution is doing to create a supportive, veteran-friendly campus. What remains to be done? Join the conversation by posting comments. 

Senator Hagel Frames Discussion on Veterans and Higher Education

This afternoon the American Council on Education opened a first-of-its-kind summit, “Serving Those Who Serve: Higher Education and America's Veterans” hosted by Georgetown University. Read full coverage of the event in ACE's Higher Education and National Affairs Online News. Staff members from ACE's Center for Lifelong Learning are blogging live from the Summit here.

Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) offered remarks to frame the conversation about student veterans. Senator Hagel asserted that 40% of the nation's population is under the age of 19. This poses some serious challenges not only for the nation, but the world in that we have a volunteer military force that depends on retention of soldiers.  Whether people choose to join the military in the future very much depends on what happens now globally, especially considering the loss of life our force has faced recently.

Following Senator Hagel, student veterans from the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Michigan, and North Carolina State University took the stage before college administrators during the panel discussion, "From Combat to Classroom: Student Veterans Speak Out."

The panelists raised the issue of the often frustrating campus climate veteran students experience when returning from active duty.  From the beginning of their pursuit of a college education, service members are at a disadvantage when compared with their peers. The student veterans revealed that while most students have counseling and advising before they start school, veterans often have only a short period between discharge and the start of school to seek the same advice and efficiently apply it towards successful entry into a college program.   Other issues addressed included: veteran access to financial aid, accommodation of veterans with disabilities, enrollment of veterans in four year colleges and universities, and student veteran networking on college campuses.    

The summit will attempt to address the role higher education plays in the education of veterans. ACE welcomes your participation in this conversation via this blog.

Molly Corbett Broad becomes Twelfth President of ACE

Molly Corbett Broad began her tenure today as the twelfth president of the American Council on Education (ACE). She is the first woman to lead the Washington, DC-based higher education organization since its founding in 1918.

Broad assumes her responsibilities at ACE during a critical time for higher education. On the legislative front, the House and Senate are in the midst of conferencing the legislation to renew the Higher Education Act and also working on measures to ensure continued access to student loans, increase veterans education benefits and control textbook prices, among other concerns.  Issues of access and affordability have taken on a new urgency with the recent economic downturn, which also demands a renewed focus on global competitiveness.

In an interview last week with the Associated Press, Broad said that investing in higher education provides dividends for both the individual and the nation as a whole. Read the interview between President Broad and Justin Pope, Associated Press.

ACE Names 34 Faculty and Administrators to Fellows Program

The American Council on Education (ACE) has selected 34 college and university senior faculty and administrators for the 2008-09 ACE Fellows Program, including three sponsored by the F. Marian Bishop Charitable Trust Leadership Program and five partially supported by the Lumina Foundation for Education. [Full Press Release]

More about the Fellows Program at ACE

ACE Fellows 2008–09 Class Listing

Francis K. Achampong
Director of Academic Affairs
Pennsylvania State University Mont Alto Campus

Cedric L. Adderley, DMA
Associate VP for Academic Affairs and Professor of Music
Claflin University (SC)

Sunil Ahuja
Associate Professor of Political Science
Youngstown State University (OH)

Nancy Aries
Professor and Executive Director of Academic Programs,
School of Public Affairs
Baruch College (NY)

Adenuga O. Atewologun
Dean, Natural and Applied Sciences
College of DuPage (IL)

Emmanuel B. Awuah
Director, Multicultural & International Service and Professor of Sociology
Onondaga Community College (NY)

Alfred Bryant, Jr.
Director of Assessment and Associate Professor, School of Education
University of North Carolina at Pembroke

Col. Curtis A. Carver, Jr.
Vice Dean of Resources and Professor of Computer Science
United States Military Academy (NY)

Pamela M. Christian
Assistant Provost, Special Assistant for University Diversity,
and Professor, Department of Higher Education & Organizational Leadership
Azusa Pacific University (CA)

Risa E. Dickson
Executive Assistant to the President and Professor,
Department of Communication Studies
California State University, San Bernardino

Michael J. Edwards, JD
Interim Dean, Workforce Development and Professor of Criminal Justice
Houston Community College--Central (TX)

Jacqueline El-Sayed
Director, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
and Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Kettering University (MI)

Angela M. Espada, JD
Associate Dean for Student Services and Admissions
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

David E. García
Associate Provost
Ithaca College (NY)

Andrew T. Harris
Executive Assistant to the President
Bridgewater State College (MA)

Joseph Hobbs, MD
Joseph W. Tollison, MD, Distinguished Chair, Department of Family Medicine and Senior Associate Dean for Primary  Care & Community Affairs
Medical College of Georgia

Andrew T. Hsu
Director, Richard G. Lugar Center for Renewable Energy and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs, School of Engineering and Technology
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

William J. Hueston, MD
Professor and Chair, Department of Family Medicine
Medical University of South Carolina

Cynthia S. Kelley
Associate Dean of Academic Affairs
West Virginia University at Parkersburg

Debra W. King
Associate Provost for Faculty Development
University of Florida

Ellen J. Kabat Lensch
Executive Director Of Resource Development and Innovation
Eastern Iowa Community College District

Chenyang Li
Department Chair and Professor of Philosophy
Central Washington University

Brian J. McAulay, D.C.
Provost
Life University (GA)

Beverly I. Moran, JD, LL.M.
Professor of Law and Sociology
Vanderbilt University (TN)

Peter O. Nwosu
Chair and Professor, Department of Urban Studies & Planning
and Director, Center for Human Relations
California State University, Northridge

Linda M. Randall
Associate Provost and Associate Professor of Business Management
University of Baltimore (MD)

William M. Reichert
Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Chemistry
Duke University (NC)

Mark D. Robinson
Vice Chancellor of Student Development
City College of San Francisco (CA)

Dereck J. Rovaris, Sr.
Assistant Dean and Assistant Professor, Graduate School; Director of Graduate Placement; and Director, McNair Scholar Program
Xavier University of Louisiana

Jeffrey L. Susman
Professor and Chair, Department of Family Medicine
University of Cincinnati (OH)

Christopher J. Van Wyk
Associate Vice President of Finance & Director of Institutional Research
Drew University (NJ)

Margaret H. Venable
Assistant Vice President, Early Colleges & Academic Initiatives
Georgia Perimeter College

Walter R. Zakahi
Associate Dean, Arts and Sciences
New Mexico State University

Lynnette Zelezny
Professor and Chair of Psychology
California State University, Fresno

Thinking Back about Thinking Forward

ACEBlog post by Jason A. Scorza, a member of the 2007-08 Class of ACE Fellows, Associate Professor of Political Science and Philosophy at Fairleigh Dickinson University, and author of Strong Liberalism: Habits of Mind for Democratic Citizenship (Tufts University Press, 2007).

The idea that technology, and the way our students interact with it and through it, will transform the shape of higher education, was the theme of the final plenary at the ACE Annual Meeting, presented by John Seely Brown, senior fellow and advisor to the provost at the University of Southern California.

Brown claimed that students are gradually moving from “learning about” to “learning to be” through direct productive inquiry into things that they are passionately engaged in.  Open-source digital systems that promote collaborative “tinkering” and “remixing” represent, for Brown, nothing less than an “epistemological shift from homo sapiens to homo faber.”  In other words, we may be observing a shift from man the thinker to man the maker, who develops his environment through tools but for whom, according to Hannah Arendt, the process of developing is as important as the end product.

Many higher education leaders are, understandably, less sanguine about the transformative effects of technology on learning, viewing such claims to be trivializing the socioeconomic barriers to academic achievement -- among them, the underfunding of public education and financial aid -- confronted by many students.  Indeed, the debate over the relative significance of technological epistemological factors and socioeconomic factors on student learning was a major theme at the Council of Fellows sponsored session on “The ‘New’ Students.”  Although the socioeconomic challenges emphasized by some participants in the COF session might appear to be radically unrelated to the technological epistemological challenges stressed by others, there may be a significant point of convergence between them.

The Socrates of Plato’s Meno believed in the epistemological principle that anyone can learn, even the poor and unlettered. All that is required for authentic learning to take place is for people to be exposed to their own ignorance and to have that ignorance problematized for them, as Socrates problematized geometry in this dialogue for Meno’s unnamed slave boy.

Socrates claims to have taught nothing, suggesting instead that the boy simply “recollected” innate ideas pertaining to the proportions between lines and spaces as they inquired together into their mysteries. Although this theory of “recollected” knowledge can be read as anticipating a full-fledged Platonic theory of idealism, the Socrates of Meno does not commit himself to such a theory. Instead, in an ironic turn, he backs away from this theory, commenting: “Some things I have said of which I am not altogether confident. But that we shall be better and braver and less helpless if we think that we ought to enquire, than we should have been if we indulged in the idle fancy that there was no knowing and no use in seeking to know what we do not know; that is a theme upon which I am ready to fight, in word and deed, to the utmost of my power.” (86b).

What Socrates reveals, in Meno, is an epistemological shift from rote learning based on authoritative teaching to an active process of inquiry employing what was, at the time, state-of-the-art collaborative technology, namely lines drawn in the dirt with a stick. Today, as in ancient Athens, technology can help facilitate active and collaborative learning. Perhaps more importantly, in doing so, it also can help us remember something that no decent society can afford to forget – a point that is both epistemological and socioeconomic – which is that if anyone can learn then everyone must be given a real opportunity to do so.

ACE's Office of Women in Higher Education will honor 35 women to help celebrate its 35th anniversary

As part of the 35th anniversary celebration of the Office of Women in Higher Education (OWHE), 35 extraordinary women will be profiled at the American Council on Education's website. The women are ordinary mothers, daughters, grandmothers, aunts, teachers, and mentors who have made an extraordinary difference in someone else's life. They are beloved for the support, encouragement, and faith, bestowed directly on women connected to the ACE State Networks.

Kicking off the 35 week celebration is a profile of Elli Stassinopoulos, mother of Ariana Huffington. Huffington is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, a popular news and blog site; a nationally syndicated columnist; author of 11 books; and was keynote speaker at OWHE's Women’s Leadership Dinner held during the recent Annual Meeting of the American Council on Education.

In this first profile, Ms. Huffington remembers her mother fondly and states "there is only one way to honor her— by living differently, living more like she lived". She goes on to say "The last time my mother was upset with me was when she saw me talking with my children and opening my mail at the same time. She despised multi-tasking. She believed it was a way to miss life, to miss the gifts that come only when you give 100 percent of yourself to a task, a relationship, a moment."

You can read the entire profile of Elli Stassinopoulos at the Thirty-five Weeks of Extraordinary Women page on the ACE Website. Be sure to bookmark the page so you can read all of the profiles of these extraordinary women at the weeks progress.

The Race is On!: Higher Education’s Push for Lifelong Learning

With much of the focus in the national media, —and from policymakers, legislative bodies, and higher education leaders—on “traditional” college students, lifelong learning professionals have had reason to feel that adult learners are more often than not invisible.  But as the nation’s demographics continue to shift and shortages in the workforce expand, more CEOs in higher education, business/industry, and state government are beginning to realize that adults must be part of the equation to multiply the number of college graduates, and in turn, keep the U.S. globally competitive and raise the quality its citizens’ lives. In Kentucky, for example, a state-led effort is underway to double the numbers of adults with a bachelor’s degree by the year 2020.  Yet despite these herculean efforts, college remains out of reach for many adult Kentuckians and adult learners nationwide as a result of cost, scheduling, and other barriers.

Read what participants in the recent Kentucky Adult Learner Summit had to say about the critical need to connect learners across the lifespan to higher education in ACE’s CenterPoint article, “Double the Numbers: Kentucky’s Race to Higher Education.”  What is your institution or state doing to increase the number of adult learners? What else do you think they—and other sectors—should be doing?  Join the conversation by posting your responses to the article and questions below.   

Newly elected ACE Board Chair Andrew K. Benton, president of Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA, was recently spotted above Times Square

Statement by American Council on Education President David Ward on the Shootings at Northern Illinois University

 “Our hearts go out to the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Northern Illinois University (NIU) who have suffered a terrible loss in the wake of yesterday’s tragic shootings in Cole Hall. Our thoughts are with the families of those injured and deceased—and with President John G. Peters as he guides his campus through this terrible time.

Yesterday’s incident, like the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech last April, serves to remind us that no workplace or community institution in America is immune from random gun violence—whether it is a local school, small business, shopping mall, or place of worship. Despite state-of-the-art security efforts and early warning systems—many of them upgraded since the incident at Virginia Tech—the free and open nature of college campuses as learning communities makes them vulnerable to such incidents.

Yesterday’s swift response by NIU staff to lock down the campus and warn the community should be considered exemplary. Such efforts only serve to remind us of the amount of training and preparation undertaken by our dedicated campus security officers around the country who must remain vigilant before a range of potentially dangerous scenarios.

Northern Illinois University remains a strong and vibrant source of teaching and innovation for the citizens of Illinois and the Midwest region. Despite yesterday’s events, I know the institution will recover from this terrible day.”

Full Story at the American Council on Education's website, www.acenet.edu

Social Learning in Higher Education

In the Closing Luncheon Plenary at the American Council on Education's Annual Meeting on Tuesday, February 12, 2008, John Seely Brown presented the session "Born Digital, Learning Differently". The session was sponsored by ING.

In the session, Seely Brown spoke about social learning in higher education and the article he and Richard P. Adler wrote for the January/February 2008 edition of Educause Review.

Here are the slides from his presentation and here is a link to the article. Both are PDFs.

John Seely Brown is a Visiting Scholar and Advisor to the Provost at the University of Southern California (USC) and Independent Co-Chairman of a New Deloitte Research Center. He is the former Chief Scientist of Xerox and Director of its Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Many of his publications and presentations are on his website (http://www.johnseelybrown.com). Richard P. Adler is a Research Affiliate at the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto and Principal of People & Technology, a research and consulting firm in Cupertino, California.

The Rankings Challenge

ACE Blog post by Brian Bridges, Associate Director, Center for Racial & Ethnic Equity at the American Council on Education

The session on "The Rankings Challenge" at ACE Fellows Annual Meeting was an interesting back and forth between the forces who promote them (represented by Brian Kelly Editor, U.S. News and World Report) and those against (represented by Lloyd Thacker Executive Director, Education Conservancy).
The US News & World Report rankings have become more entrenched as a measure of quality in higher education--the general public relies on them more heavily each year--despite the controversy surrounding their accuracy and use. In the absence of a more universally accepted measure of quality how can students and parents make decisions about which school is best for them?
Another issue involves higher education's support and use of the rankings despite their loathing of the system. Schools often say they have to participate because the public demands this information. Given this, what event or trend might realistically make colleges and universities cease their participation in the rankings?

America Is Losing Its Competitive Edge in Education

Collaboration Between Higher Education and K-12 Is Essential to American Competitiveness

ACE Blog post by Jason A. Scorza, a member of the 2007-08 Class of ACE Fellows, Associate Professor of Political Science and Philosophy at Fairleigh Dickinson University, and author of Strong Liberalism: Habits of Mind for Democratic Citizenship  (Tufts University Press, 2007).

Craig R. Barrett, Chairman of the Board of Intel, opened his remarks at the ACE Annual Meeting in San Diego on Monday with a premise: “We have a problem which we need to solve, which is the competitiveness of the United States.”  The economic competitiveness of the U.S., he argued, is threatened by the failure of American education and research and development to keep pace with advances by other developed countries.  Without investing in education and R&D, he argued, you cannot produce smart people with smart ideas.  “Apparently, our political leaders don’t think that it is very important to have smart ideas,” Barrett said.

Barrett laid much of the blame for America’s declining fortunes on the doorstep of K-12 education which fails to prepare students adequately in science and mathematics and which allows up to 30 percent of its students to leave school without completing a degree.  This dropout rate alone, he said, is a “drop anchor” on the U.S. economy.  The solution, he said, is for higher education to “work in a collective fashion to turn K-12 education around in this country.”

Comparing higher education to the superconductor industry, which once collaborated in a pre-competitive fashion to raise the quality of materials provided by its suppliers, Barrett argued that higher education should come together to establish appropriate expectation levels for high school graduates and by putting pressure on K-12 education to close the gap between what colleges expect and what high schools presently supply.

After the talk, this blogger suggested to Barrett that the K-12 sector would probably not welcome such an effort, thinking that higher education neither understands their problems nor appreciates the constraints under which they operate.  Barrett nodded soberly, recalling that the superconductor suppliers had once said much the same thing.  “Life is tough,” he said.  “But the most important thing that any society can do is to provide quality education for its children.”

Lessons from Virginia Tech and Kent State

ACE Blog post by Robert L. Wyatt, PhD, CPA, Dean, Breech School of Business Administration,  Drury University and American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow Class of  2006 - 2007 

The morning plenary session featured a panel discussion on campus security, response and recovery.  The panelists, Steven Healy, Director of Public Safety, Princeton University; Lester Lefton, President, Kent State University; and Charles Steger, President, Virginia Tech were joined by moderator Janice Abraham of United Educators and addressed a wide range of topics surrounding this important issue. President Steger reminded everyone that a campus must rely on its community in times of crisis and building this community is an ongoing process - one cannot wait until a crisis to build community and that an institution must have to it survive.  I was struck by his personal involvement in their ongoing security efforts, including a personal  meeting with all new policemen hired at Virginia Tech.

Healy discussed major threats to campuses and contended that high risk drinking continues to be one of the most pervasive threats, followed by sexual assault.  Lefton asserted that the biggest issue is "we don't know what's coming next" and that most campuses would probably have difficulty responding to something like a pandemic flu outbreak.  I found this discussion most interesting as some of the more high profile items (e.g., terrorism) were really never mentioned.

Healy went on to note that the new 30 minute provision in the recently passed House bill is troublesome. Steger agreed, indicating that these situations are not static events and that too many notifications might cause a "cry wolf" syndrome. Crisis communication, according to Healy,  must be timely, accurate and useful and that the absence of one component probably means the communication should not be sent.

All in all, an interesting discussion on a topic of extreme importance to all of us in higher education.

Focus on the “New” Students’ Stories - Listen to their Voices

ACE Blog post by Ann Woolford-Singh, Assistant for Special Projects, Tidewater Community College and American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow, Class of 2006 - 2007

Sunday’s sessions at the ACE Annual Meeting left me feeling battle fatigued.
Instead of celebrating the "new" student, welcoming and including their masses, we are overwhelmed by their challenges. They are a problem to be managed: poor, under-prepared, over-committed – a challenge in need of a solution. Who or what to blame? Single parents, callous politicians, dysfunctional K-12 systems, untrained or unwilling faculty, high tuition/low financial aid or is it bilingualism? Are these students victims or perpetrators of their own condition?
I feel as if Rome’s burning, and we are either wringing our hands or looking for fire hoses. Until there’s some collective will to educate all Americans, perhaps we should focus on the “new” students’ stories. The ones of survival and triumph along with the ones of failure and despair. Maybe, it’s the students’ voices that will ultimately jolt us from apathy, smugness, and hand wringing into meaningful, collective action. Meanwhile, I suggest we suspend authority on the subject.

Who Is Responsible for Academic Achievement?

ACE Blog post by Andy Novobilski - American Council on Education (ACE) Fellows Program 07-08 and Professor and Dept. Head, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

During the ACE Council of Fellows session ""New" Students: Who, What, Where and When?" the panelists Julie Little, Thomas Mortenson, Felice Nudelman and Gary Orfield were led in a discussion by moderator Scott Jaschik that explored the range of changing student characteristics affecting the changing face of higher education.  Of the many topics covered, one of the most interesting was the correlation between education and economic status.
  No surprise - the higher the level of academic achievement, the higher the earnings and the lower the unemployment rate.  The question that needs to be asked, however, is who is responsible for the achievement?  Although higher education has a responsibility to enable the environment that allows for success, is it really responsible for the outcomes of its students?  If not, perhaps higher ed is doing a disservice to its students by taking on more responsibility for their success than necessary?  In the end, the student must decide to achieve.  Once that occurs, then higher education becomes the springboard to the opportunities that come from student achievement.  But in the end, it is a decision made by one student at a time.

Aren’t We All Community Colleges?

ACE Blog post   by Jason A. Scorza, a member of the 2007-08  American Council on Education (ACE) Class of Fellows  and author of Strong Liberalism: Habits of Mind for Democratic Citizenship (Tufts University Press, 2007).   

Visionary leadership is a rare commodity in any field of endeavor and can be particularly hard to   come by in higher education where most presidents are preoccupied with raising money, managing financial and public relations crises, and appeasing various constituencies.

Gail O. Mellow, President of LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, New York, and co-author with Cynthia Heelan of Minding the Dream: The Process and Practice of the American Community College (2008), is one of the rare academic leaders who manages a large and complex institution while simultaneously providing cogent critiques of the general state of American higher education and a compelling agenda for its future.

Presenting the 2008 Robert H. Atwell Lecture Sunday afternoon at the ACE annual meeting in San Diego, Mellow drew a sharp distinction between institutions that welcome and institutions that select.  Four-year colleges, both public and private, compete with one another to enroll the best students they can, while public   two-year colleges provide open access and offer learning opportunities to   everyone.  In other words, Mellow   explains, most colleges try to “select the cream” while community colleges “make the cream.”

According to Mellow, the mission of community colleges is to “take students who are not prepared to succeed and transform their lives from grinding poverty to the middle class and beyond.”  Mellow’s passionate account of the transformative role that community colleges play in the lives of students, their   families, and their broader communities, made me wish – for a moment – that I   taught at a community college myself.

When the moment passed, as such moments generally do, I   recognized many of the attributes of my own institution, Fairleigh Dickinson   University, in New Jersey, in Mellow’s description of community   colleges.  Although FDU is a selective   private four-year school, it accepts many students who are not quite ready for   college-level work and are in need of remediation in multiple areas.  FDU also serves about as many   first-generation college students, immigrants, international students,   commuters, and adult learners, as it does “traditional” residential college   students.  Our students also tend, on   average, to be working class and extremely vulnerable to economic   pressures.

Like the community colleges, we sometimes receive scorn,  rather than thanks, for taking these students.    More distressing, sometimes our students receive the scorn – rather than the compassion – of the faculty who are entrusted with their futures.  These colleagues appear to suffer from what   Mellow calls “nostalgic memories of first-time full-time upper middle class students living in the dorms.”

Mellow insists that community colleges are not merely junior versions of four-year colleges.    However, many four-year colleges -- perhaps not Harvard and Princeton,   but many hundreds of others -- are to some extent senior versions of community colleges.  It seems to me that we would   be well-served by taking Mellow’s advice, and following LaGuardia’s lead, in creating sustained, systematic, faculty-led professional development opportunities to equip our colleagues to help our students succeed and achieve –  the students we actually serve, mind you, not than the students we imagine that we would like to teach.  This is unglamorous work.  But even of we aren’t all community colleges we should, in this regard, emulate them.

On Becoming Fearless

ACE Blog post by Ann Woolford-Singh, Assistant for Special Projects, Tidewater Community College and American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow, Class of 2006 - 2007

A ballroom full of successful women (and men) heard Arianna Huffington’s inspiring speech at the Saturday night Women’s Leadership Dinner at ACE's annual meeting. Remarks based on her new book (her eleventh), On Becoming Fearless, rang true for most–the importance of overcoming nagging self-doubt about looks, relationships, and ambitions. The long line of eager people for her book signing confirms that Ms. Huffington’s speech was a success, although the audience must have heard variations of the theme many times before that.

The power of the speech for me was in hearing this attractive, accomplished, out spoken woman confess to her own fear of failure, but learning to embrace it, making it an ally, expecting it to be present, but not letting it stop her from moving on. For her, fearlessness is not the absence of fear but acceptance of fear as a prerequisite of success. A corollary to overcoming one’s fear, according to Ms. Huffington, is empathy–the ability to recognize fear in others and help them to diminish it. What a powerful reminder for us in higher education, especially those of us at community colleges, with a large proportion of underserved youth and adult learners, who struggle to believe that a college degree is attainable for them. Yet so much of our curriculum is spent on content and upholding “standards” and so little on inspiring students and overcoming their self doubt, never mind the low retention rates nationwide. We are called upon to find creative solutions. Maybe, one lies in our students’ hearing more true confessions from people like Ms. Huffington.

A Personal Perspective on Meeting Arianna Huffington

ACEBlog Post by Amanda Adolph, Director of Marketing, American Council on Education

During her talk, Arianna Huffington shared her insights about the challenges women face in leadership positions. She acknowledged that all leaders have fears. She observed that women have a more difficult relationship with power than men but often challenge themselves to move forward when motivated by an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others. Her message resonated with the audience of 300 seasoned, fearless leaders.

I had the unique privilege of sitting next to her while she signed On Becoming Fearless after the event. One by one, people thanked her for reminding them to get more sleep, to encourage their daughters to believe in themselves, to give of themselves, to get angry (because there is a lot to be angry about) and above all to be grateful to be alive during such an amazing time. 

And that is really when it became really special. She genuinely sought conversation with people while signing their books – asking about their lives, inviting them to write to her and share the stories of their work, their campuses, their challenges, and the differences they are making each and every day. I hope those of you who said you would write, will, so that higher education’s stories move beyond our communities and into the public where they belong.

Fear of Failure in the Lives of Women

ACEBlog post by Jason A. Scorza, a member of the 2007-08 Class of ACE Fellows and author of Strong Liberalism: Habits of Mind for Democratic Citizenship (Tufts University Press, 2007).

No one is without fear.  But what distinguishes women who succeed in breaking through glass ceilings is that they are not afraid to fail.

This is the message that Arianna Huffington, political commentator and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post, offers in her new book, On Becoming Fearless.... in Love, Work, and Life (2007).  This also was Huffington’s theme Saturday night in her address to the Women’s Leadership Dinner, an event organized by the ACE Office of Women in Higher Education at the ACE annual meeting in San Diego.

Addressing an audience some 300 strong, Huffington contended that women must overcome their self-doubt, manifested is a nagging inner voice that she calls “the obnoxious roommate living in our heads.”  “Our worst enemies do not talk about us the way we talk about ourselves,” Huffington said.  “There is nothing more draining than listening to that voice.”

Huffington also observed that professional women often feel overwhelmed and exhausted by the stresses of competing demands – personal, familial, and professional.  “The most important thing we can do for ourselves is to get more sleep,” Huffington said.  “Unfortunately, men have turned sleep deprivation into a virility symbol.” 

What is your view on the relationship between personal fear, self-care, and the struggles of women for opportunity and success?  Does focusing on the inner life diminish the significance of social/structural obstacles to the achievement of women?

Women of Color in American Council on Education (ACE) Network

ACEBlog post by Gloria Thomas, Associate Director, ACE Office of Women in Higher Education

ACE's Office of Women in Higher Education witnessed today what appears to be the largest number of women of color participants at its ACE Network State Coordinators’ Conference in the history of the Network. Throughout all of today’s sessions, the common thread from all of the speakers was the intentional focus OWHE has placed on building a diverse Network. One particularly poignant session where diversity was discussed as a critical part of the history and mission of OWHE was a panel entitled, Past OWHE Directors’ Panel: Change and Stasis. The panelists included four former directors of OWHE as presenters: Donna Shavlik, Judy Touchton, Gladys Brown, and Claire Van Ummersen, with long-time OWHE staff member, Deborah Ingram Allen introduced and moderated the panel. In looking around the room, all would agree that the efforts at diversifying the ACE State Networks are beginning to visibly pay off.

Gladys Brown—who served as associate director of OWHE as well as interim director, and the only African American woman to have served in both these roles, commented that her experience with the ACE Network has been like being a part of a “sacred trust” that has made higher education better in general and in particular, the women who have been a part of this trusted network have tremendously benefitted.

Following the panel of past OWHE directors was an equally dynamic panel on Building a Diverse Network featuring four higher education senior leaders: Soraya Coley, Provost at CSU Bakersfield, Cynthia Smith Forrest, Dean Emerita, Framingham State College, Christine Hammond, Executive Director for Planning and Administration at Michigan State University, and Beatriz Gonzalez Robinson, VP for University Planning and Chief of Staff, St. Thomas University.

The best practices shared by these four women, in sum, included

• making the Networks an open and welcoming environment for all women regardless of race/ethnicity, sexual preference, age, position or rank within the institution, and institution type; and
• incorporating a diverse group of people and ideas in the planning of events for women of all backgrounds in higher education.

Beatriz reminded us that, “Perspectives are real for those who have them.” Thus, it is critical to include individuals with diverse backgrounds and perspectives so that every woman can relate and connect to what the ACE Network has to offer.

Beatriz also shared a testimony of how Josie Baltodano, president of Marian College of Fond du Lac, was instrumental in recruiting her into the Network. Beatriz clearly has not forgotten the experience of when Josie pulled out her checkbook and wrote a check for Beatriz to attend the Women’s Leadership Dinner during the ACE Annual Meeting a few years ago. Josie knew from her own experience what the Network could offer a promising and talented Latina and wanted to bring Beatriz (another Latina) into the fold of the sisterhood of the Network.

When Soraya Coley spoke on the panel about developing programs and events to engage women at all ranks and levels of academia, she started her comments by recognizing a guest in the audience, Mary Kay Tetreault, co-author with Frances Maher of Privilege and Diversity in the Academy and former provost of Portland State University, as a long-time mentor and supporter of her career advancement.

Mary Kay was invited to be a part of a lunch-time discussion of her book. Little did I know that she too was another who had reached out to a woman of color by offering Soraya, an African American woman, a significant career opportunity earlier on in her career.

Just in a matter of hours, participants at the ACE Network State Coordinators’ Conference were able to witness these two examples of the Network at work in advancing a diverse group of women—the story of Josie encouraging Beatriz to take on an active leadership role in the Network (and Beatriz now serves as the State Coordinator for the state of Florida) and Mary Kay having served as a mentor for Soraya. These are exactly the types of actions and behaviors that will continue to enhance the increased participation of women of color in the ACE Network. 

Perspectives on Senior Re-careering

Half of all adults aged 50 to 70 are interested in work that will help improve the quality of life in their communities, according to the New Face of Work Survey (MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures, 2005). A majority of those respondents identified an interest in working with health issues—in a hospital or with an organization fighting a particular disease—as well as teaching or working in a youth program.

Jim Craiglow, president emeritus of Antioch University New England and chancellor emeritus of Antioch University, offered his perspective on senior re-careering and now we want to read yours!
What is your perspective on senior re-careering?

Read Jim Craiglow's perspective in his essay posted at ACE's website: Senior Synergy: Re-careering Older Adults to Serve Society

American Council on Education to blog from Annual Meeting

ACE will be blogging from the 90th annual meeting in San Diego, CA, February 9-12. Be sure to visit this page frequently to read posts from participants, speakers, and ACE staff as events unfold in San Diego. We know a primary reason higher education leaders attend ACE’s annual meeting is to interact with one another. We invite you to use this space to keep the conversations alive.

New monograph offers insight into the role of chief diversity officers in academe

Damon A. Williams, assistant vice provost for multicultural and international affairs at the University of Connecticut, and Katrina C. Wade-Golden, senior research scientist at the University of Michigan's Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives, conclude that “without dedicated diversity leadership that focuses on driving the wheel of change as a matter of first priority, campuses will continue to flounder in their diversity efforts.” in a monograph published by the American Council on Education (ACE).

The Chief Diversity Officer: A Primer for College and University Presidents is the third in a series of occasional papers by ACE's Center for Advancement of Racial and Ethnic Equity (CAREE). The publication was produced with support from ING.

Learn more about this monograph at the ACE Bookstore

Save The Date! 2008 Bridging the Gap Symposium - June 25-26

ACE's Bridging the Gap Symposium: Cultivating Collaboration Between Multicultural Education and Internationalization will be held on June 25-26, 2008.

Preliminary program for the 2008 Bridging the Gap Symposium

More Information about ACE's Bridging the Gap Initiative

Molly Corbett Broad Named Twelfth President of ACE

Former University of North Carolina president is first woman to lead the organization.
Read the press release for the full story.

Register today for our Chairing the Academic Department Workshop

The workshop takes place February 20–23 at the Catamaran Resort Hotel in San Diego, CA.
If you are a new department, division, or program chair and interested in developing your leadership capacities or a experienced program head interested in renewing your skills, this program is for you. Deans interested in developing the leadership skills of their department chairs are also encouraged to attend.

For more workshop information including program content, course descriptions and program faculty, visit the Department Leadership Programs section of the American Council on Education Website.

Craig Barrett and Carlos Fuentes are set to speak at ACE's 90th Annual Meeting

Craig R. Barrett, Chairman of the Board, Intel will present "Leveraging Academic Leadership for Global Competition" and featured speaker, author and statesman Carlos Fuentes will address immigration challenges on both sides of the border.

The American Council on Education Annual meeting will be February 9-12 in San Diego California.
Register to attend: http://www.aceannualmeeting.org