Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), General Education and Assessment: New Contexts, New Cultures (February 23-25, 2012)
The current pace of change across higher education is fast, and evidence suggests that it will continue to accelerate. Student populations are dynamic, faculty roles are in flux, and the frontiers of specialized knowledge continue to expand. Societal expectations of higher education shift in sometimes contradictory ways, with calls to increase the number of degrees awarded vying with demands to reduce public support and reign in tuitions. Similarly, critics insist on educational excellence even as they push for greater efficiency and savings of time and money. Such trends produce contexts far removed from those in which general education originally emerged. These new contexts require new thinking, new designs, new pedagogies, and new strategies for engagement in and assessment of general education. General education and assessment must also be flexible and inclusive enough to meet the needs of multiple cultures and creative enough to harness the full potential of diverse perspectives. The conference will follow four tracks: 1) Changing Students: Demographic Trends and General Education; 2) Building Cultures of Faculty Engagement: Institutional Strategies; 3) Building Cultures of Assessment: Improving Student Learning; and 4) Engaging Real-World Problems: General Education for a Global Century.  Click here for further information.

Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), Student Success: Pushing Boundaries, Raising Bars (March 22-24, 2012)
This conference will examine new interpretations of student success in the 21st century; review the latest findings on today’s students and how they learn; feature high-impact practices in teaching and learning; and provide innovative strategies and tools for supporting and rewarding faculty innovation and leadership. It will encourage participants to push boundaries and raise bars so that all students are able to pursue their highest aspirations for success in college and beyond.  For more information click here.

Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM), Reflecting on the Development of Student Skills and Agency (April 21-22, 2012)
This workshop will be a collaborative event for ACM faculty members. Our goals: to demonstrate models which address common issues in First Year programs and their assessment; to consider methods for enhancing and assessing student agency; to provide solutions to the challenge of enriching experience for first year students; and to consider the role of institutional research in these domains. To do this, we will come together to share project outcomes, develop common strategies and tools, and explore future endeavors to achieve similar goals on our campuses.  Workshop activities will include: panels sharing project outcomes and common issues; breakout sessions on challenges and solutions faced on our campuses regarding First Year programs; interactive workshop sessions on developing and using rubrics to assess writing skills and student agency; and sharing useful resources on related topics.  For more information click here to see the complete Carleton Weekly announcement.