AAHE Conference: Rallying the Trendsetters in Higher Education

Posted by on August 6, 2004

2004 American Association for Higher Education
National Conference on Higher Education
CALL FOR PROPOSALS

COURAGE, IMAGINATION, ACTION
Rallying the Trendsetters in Higher Education

March 17-20, 2005
Marriott Marquis, Atlanta, Georgia

The AAHE 2005 National Conference on Higher Education will bring together trendsetters – the individuals, institutions, and coalitions in North America and beyond – that demonstrate the courage and imagination to act on one or more of the pressing issues of our time. AAHE challenges higher education with these propositions:

Strand One
Definitions of Student Success and Institutional Effectiveness: What Students, Parents, Employers, and Policy Makers Want to Know

The evidence that colleges and universities use internally to improve student learning and institutional effectiveness must be made transparent to higher education’s external stakeholders who want this information for decision-making and resource allocation. How do we make this information transparent? Who is leading the way?

Strand Two
Access and Success for Low- and Middle-Income Students

Access to higher education is being curtailed at the very time that a college degree has become a passport to well-paid jobs, middle-class status, and a good quality of life. What are colleges and universities doing to address the long-term consequences for our society if low- and middle-income students are denied access to or do not succeed in college?

Strand Three
Planning for the Future of Democratic, Knowledge-Based Communities

Given the documented decline in civic participation and the deterioration of public schools and public infrastructure in many communities, colleges and universities must work with their communities to help plan the future. Can higher education’s engagement go beyond economic development projects, service-learning requirements for students, and sporadic efforts at philanthropy?

Strand Four
Learning from Innovators Outside the United States

The emergence of new ways of thinking about, organizing, and providing higher education as an intellectual enterprise and a “service industry” in countries around the globe has major implications for the future of the United States and the world. Do we understand those implications? What can we learn from these innovators?

Strand Five
The Future of Academic Organizations and Academic Professionals

To address one or more of these propositions, colleges and universities must be ready to rethink and reformulate traditional definitions and models of staffing, governance, and leadership. How must higher education change? Who has made changes that work?

If you are willing to share your efforts to address one or more of these critical issues, or if you feel that the propositions above are worthy of exploration and debate, we invite you to submit a proposal for the conference. Accepted proposals will be distributed across several formats, including standard concurrent sessions, discussion forums, roundtable discussions, and posters. Indicate which presentation format you prefer.

In addition, AAHE welcomes proposals for concurrent session synthesizers. Synthesizers confer with session leaders prior to the conference, preside and participate actively in sessions, and report on the AAHE website after the conference. Synthesizers need to be adept at summarizing and reflecting on ideas generated during sessions.

AAHE is not alone in its quest for trendsetters able and willing to address these critical issues. Thus far, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, the University of Phoenix, the University System of Georgia, and the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications have joined us as co-producers of the 2005 National Conference on Higher Education.

To submit a proposal, go to http://www.aahe.org/National/2005.htm.

Proposals will be accepted through October 1, 2004. You will be informed of the status of your submission after November 1, 2004.

One Dupont Circle, Suite 360, Washington, DC 20036 (202) 293-6440

All those who submit a proposal must intend to present at the conference. All accepted presenters and synthesizers must pay the registration fee.