A List
11/1/10

SLU Chosen To Participate In National Project On General Education For A Global Century

CANTON - St. Lawrence University is one of 32 institutions selected by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in a competitive process to participate in General Education for a Global Century, a curriculum and faculty development project that is part of AAC&U's Shared Futures initiative, funded by the Henry Luce Foundation. Over 140 institutions applied to be part of the initiative.

"It is both a great privilege and a great responsibility to prepare students to meet the challenges the next century will bring," said St. Lawrence President William L. Fox. "With this opportunity, our goal is to ensure that every St. Lawrence student develops the global perspective, disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge, and sense of ethical responsibility to be an effective agent of positive change."

The institutions selected are from all regions of the country and include colleges and universities of many different types -- including two-year and four-year, public and private institutions.

This new project builds upon innovative efforts to reframe general education courses and programs, and create coherent curricular designs that address complex, global issues across divisions and disciplines. In concert with a Global Learning Leadership Council, St. Lawrence University will help lead a high profile, national effort to:

- articulate essential global learning outcomes for all students;
- refine and disseminate models of global general education curricula that can be adapted across all institutional types;
- provide faculty development opportunities to assist college faculty in designing and teaching interdisciplinary, integrative courses that focus on real-world global issues; and
- develop rubrics to assess global learning outcomes.

Institutional teams will spend the fall and winter on their home campuses refining general education reform strategies and strengthening connections between existing general education goals and outcomes and essential global learning outcomes. They will also inventory the curricular and co-curricular opportunities for global learning that already exist on their campuses and ways those opportunities could be better integrated within their larger general education efforts. Working through a social networking website, team members will help identify common areas of interest and concern. Those critical issues will be addressed in the project's central activity, an intensive summer institute in 2011.

At St. Lawrence, the project will be led by Professor of Government and Associate Dean for International and Intercultural Studies Karl Schonberg, with Assistant Professor of Art and Art History Mark Denaci, Associate Professor of Chemistry Samantha Glazier, Associate Professor of Philosophy Laura Rediehs and Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Jon Rosales.

AAC&U is the leading national association concerned with the quality, vitality, and public standing of undergraduate liberal education. Its members are committed to extending the advantages of a liberal education to all students, regardless of academic specialization or intended career. Founded in 1915, AAC&U now comprises 1,200 member institutions, including accredited public and private colleges and universities of every type and size.

For additional information about the initiative, see the AAC&U Global Century Project Web site.

-30-