NAC&U News: Summer Institute, Undergraduate Research, Commencement Speakers

News & Notes
from The New American Colleges & Universities

May 1, 2012

NAC&U Summer Institute

June 20-22, 2012

Preparing and Evaluating 21st Century Faculty: Aligning Expectations, Competencies and Rewards

Westminster College
Salt Lake City, Utah

NAC&U Members

Arcadia University

Belmont University

Butler University

Drury University

Hamline University

Hampton University

Ithaca College

Nazareth College

North Central College

Pacific Lutheran Univ.

Samford University

Stetson University

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University of Evansville

University of Redlands

Valparaiso University

Wagner College

Westminster College

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Summer Institute: Join Us at Westminster College

Westminster College will host the 18th Annual New American Colleges and Universities (NAC&U) Summer Institute from June 20-22, 2012. The Summer Institute brings together faculty and administrators from member colleges and universities across the nation to discuss issues facing their schools and also provides a venue for professional development and networking.

This year's NAC&U Summer Institute builds on the theme explored through the NAC&U Teagle Foundation Planning Grant. Through the grant project, teams are exploring what it means to be a NAC&U professor in the 21st century. In this year's Summer Institute, participants will delve into what it means to be a 21st century NAC&U institution.

With issues such as cost-quality; expanding and demanding faculty roles; new approaches to learning inside and outside the classroom; innovative uses of technology in higher education; nonstandard learning environments; facing the expectations and addressing the needs of this next generation's students; and measuring, recognizing, and rewarding efforts toward student learning, all member institutions can share and explore possibilities for best practices.

For more information: Boyer Award photo

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NAC&U Feature Story:

Undergraduate Research and Faculty Mentoring Open Doors to the Future

When Megan King started her undergraduate research, she had expectations - and a solid hypothesis - of what her research would yield. Her hypothesis was not correct, which was a tough lesson for the North Central College senior, but one that gave her real-world skills. King reflected, "It was difficult for me to learn that it is okay - it's just your hypothesis was proved wrong, and you move forward with what you did find."

King began her research after asking numerous professors at North Central about their ideas relating to accounting and Spanish, which she has studied as an undergraduate. When Professor Sarah Lureau's idea piqued her curiosity, King wrote a Richter Research Grant to secure funding from North Central and then traveled to Spain to research how International Financial Reporting Standards are taught in Spanish undergraduate universities for her paper, "A Study on Pedagogical Changes in Spanish Undergraduate Accounting Education."

NAC&U Feature Story:

Final Words

Over the next month, as they stand at podiums on our campuses, looking out at a sea of caps and gowns, commencement speakers will advise and inspire graduates as they move forward with the next chapter of their lives.

At the University of Evansville, a new tradition is beginning. Instead of selecting an outside speaker, a graduating student will deliver the commencement keynote. Alan Kaiser, associate professor of archaeology and chair of the Senior Keynote selection committee, said that the student keynote was implemented because the Ceremonies Committee believed that "no one can better reflect on the UE experience than a member of the graduating class." Following a competitive process, which included submitting a written speech, the selection committee at UE picked eight finalists to perform their speeches before the final selection was made. Emily Mella, an archaeology, art history, and international studies major and history minor will be UE's inaugural student keynote.

The path to the podium is not just arduous for aspiring student speakers -- securing a prominent speaker can require much persistence. This year Wagner College students will have the pleasure of listening to Dr. Elie Wiesel, an author, professor and Nobel Peace Prize winner. According to Wagner's chief of staff, Joe Romano, "We have been trying to arrange for him to speak at Wagner for some time, and this is the first opportunity where everything has worked out to make it a reality." Romano said that the values Wiesel has taught over the course of his own career, including those of understanding and tolerance, dovetail well with Wagner's curriculum of community engagement.

Wagner president Richard Guarasci added, "Elie Wiesel is one of this world's moral beacons. He has been a steadfast moral witness against genocide. I have been in his presence three times, and I can tell you that it is an experience I will never forget."

To see commencement speakers at other NAC&U campuses, click here.

Hamline Appoints Dr. Eric R. Jensen as Provost

Hamline University has named Dr. Eric R. Jensen as its provost. He will begin his new duties as provost on July 1, 2012. Jensen comes to Hamline from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he has spent the past eight years serving as director of the Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy.

"Dr. Jensen's extensive background in higher education as a professor of economics, as an innovative leader of a nationally-recognized public policy program, and as a gifted administrator will advance our vision as a diverse and learning centered university," Hamline President Linda Hanson said.