Renewal in the University: How Academic Centers Restore the Spirit of Inquiry (original) (raw)
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The End of the Modern Academy: At the University of Chicago, for Example
Social Research: An International Quarterly, 2017
The title of this essay is meant to suggest a particular understanding of the mission or end of the modern academy as exemplified by certain ideals associated in the minds of many academics around the world with the University of Chicago. The title is also meant to signal and raise concerns about contemporary threats to that mission, even at the University of Chicago itself. Examined in the essay are three core values of the modern academy. Are they foolish ideals? Have they become postmodern antiques? Ideal #1: "Research done primarily in anticipation of profit is incompatible with the aims of the university." Ideal #2: "The basic principles of the university include complete freedom of research and the unrestricted dissemination of information." Ideal #3: "There must be no consideration of sex, ethnic or national characteristics, or political or religious beliefs or affiliations in any decision regarding appointment, promotion, or reappointment at any level of the academic staff."
1999
This document is the result of a conference of university administrators and faculty and representatives of professional associations, private foundations, and civic organizations called to formulate strategies that can prepare students for responsible citizenship in a diverse democracy and to engage faculty members in developing and utilizing knowledge for the improvement of society. The declaration examines civic responsibilities of research universities and issues a call to higher education institutions to go beyond service-learning experiences and community-oriented research to renew their mission as agents of democracy. The declaration sees deep strategic challenges in finding ways to tap and free the talents of faculty, students, staff, and administrators for public engagement. The declarations suggests university curricula that challenge students' imaginations and co-curricular activities, both on and off campus, that offer opportunities for students to become engaged in community projects. It suggests that faculty help create, participate in, and take responsibility for public culture at their institutions; that staff build upon and receive recognition for local community ties; that administrators articulate the philosophical and intellectual meaning of research universities as agents of democracy; and that institutions develop admissions policies and financial arrangements that create diverse "publics" within institutions. Appended is a list of participants. (JM) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
Reviving the Academy: Self-Centered to Student-Centered | Control to Concern
Education is a vital vehicle in our quest to move our civilization forward into a brighter, better and more sustainable tomorrow. With global conflict ever-present, and the assault on our resources, environment and people pervasive, it seems urgent for higher education to reconsider its purposes, its means, its outcomes and its efficacy. In a realm where increasingly dollars matter more than dignity, and progress & success are measured numerically more than experientially, it is easy to lose focus, abandon principles and confuse priorities. Today the academy often feels more comfortable, and seeks solace, in seeing students as consumers & customers, in assessing achievements through key performance indicators, in measuring worth through hard metrics, in gauging accomplishments through relative rankings, and in valuing bureaucratic management over inspired leadership. While such rationalistic approaches no doubt translate into apparent leaps forward in abilities to cope with complex systems, they deny other more qualitative levels of understanding and behaving that are arguably far more serious, significant and impactful. Many of the performance assessment mechanisms in place for faculty foster a climate of self-centredness, isolation and independence at the expense of studentcenteredness, community and collaboration. Rigid oversight, overbearing control and micromanagement commonly eclipse opportunities for the cultivation of thoughtfulness, respect, compassion and concern as fundamental drivers of the educational mission. The present paper argues that higher education would benefit through a vigorous, sensitive and sensible reassessment of priorities, principles and practices in light of an increasingly challenged, turbulent and troubling global milieu. In many ways a more balanced, responsible and sustainable tomorrow is dependent on a revived, revised, relevant and more potent academy.
2017
In the fall 2016 issue of The Journal for Research and Practice in College Teaching , Bryan, Hall and Heuther reviewed the history of the University of Cincinnati’s Academy of Fellows for Teaching and Learning (AFTL). In this editorial, they asked key questions about the achievements of the AFTL and its place in the university. These key questions echo concerns of faculty development and the value of teaching and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) in the academy that continue to be asked by teaching and learning centers in academia. Bryan, Hall, and Heuther (2016) ask how the AFTL has raised the status of teaching at the university, developed relationships with other faculty development organizations, and cultivated support in the university administration. At the root of these questions is whether the AFTL is being effective in its mission to place students at the center, grow research excellence in the scholarship of teaching and learning, achieve academic excellen...
Liberal Education, 2019
A Confounding Promise this issue is not a collection of articles on how to teach community engagement. It is not a set of case studies. It is not about assessment. It tackles something less discussed but just as crucial: the fact that the oftencomplicated insights, confrontations, and sobering realities that characterize students' reactions to being part of a community create experiential highs and lows. In short, community engagement can be confounding. Yet the evidence shows that the transformative effects of community engagement on student learning and development are significantly, and consistently, positive. Students' engagement in communities produces real opportunities for applying and integrating learning, for developing a sense of flourishing and self-efficacy, and for fostering a range of civic outcomes. Without question, community engagement remains one of the most promising experiences colleges and universities can offer. If ever there has been a time to take on what community engagement means in all its complexities, it is now. The road to civil discourse, on and off campus, is increasingly obstructed by partisan divides. Ironically, as the world grows more diverse, the communities in which we find ourselves-online, in our neighborhoods, in our schools-are becoming ever more homogenous. The rapid diversification of American higher education within this broader context raises deep and uncomfortable questions about who makes up democracy and who has agency and voice within it. Accordingly, colleges and universities have the opportunity to consider how community-engaged experiences go beyond commitments to citizenship to address twenty-first-century commitments about equity. The essays in this issue tackle the complexity of community. Who or what defines it? Who is included? Why does thinking equitably about student success need to be at the heart of it all? Peter Levine of Tufts University looks back at the civil rights era and its prescient implications for today's student activism and success. Levine reminds us that to flourish is to find purpose, to experience sacrifice for a cause larger than your individual desires, and to share that with others. Colleagues from California State University-Channel Islands, Oxnard College, and Santa Barbara City College describe their collaboration to create a "college going" community that encourages underserved students in their region to seek a degree. Marta Elena Esquilin and Timothy K. Eatman discuss how they have upended the model for honors programs. At Rutgers University-Newark, they have turned the Honors Living-Learning Community into an inclusive, assets-based model focused on belonging, equity, and cultural wealth. Leeva C. Chung of the University of San Diego and her former student Daniel McArdle-Jaimes detail the value of alumni mentors as vital connectors within students' career and community networks. Finally, Jason Leggett of City University of New York Kingsborough Community College flips discussions about the role of technology and virtual communities by arguing that we've missed the point: technology doesn't create communities; communities create technology. The articles in this issue take on the hard questions of community engagement, not because they have all the answers but because the opportunities that come from engagement are so important. It is our challenge to make sure that those opportunities are not just for the few who participate in service learning or study abroad but for all who walk our campuses and hope to change the world.
Cultivating Change in the Academy
2012
The University Digital Conservancy (UDC) is a web-based tool that provides free, worldwide access to research and scholarship contributed by faculty and staff at the University of Minnesota, including research papers, pre-prints, presentations and research data-often meeting funding open access mandates (ie. NIH, NSF). It is also a showcase for original student works--such as dissertations, masters and professional papers, and honors theses--increasing visibility to our teaching and learning outputs. Finally, the UDC is an ...