From one state to another, boards of trustees, legislatures, and governors are implementing policies designed to increase output and efficiency in public colleges and universities. Many such policies reflect the agenda of the National Governors Association's Complete to Compete initiative, which seeks to increase completion rates without…

Through its signature initiative, Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP), the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) is promoting a vision for learning that begins in school: Starting in School . . . Rigorous and rich curriculum focused on the essential learning outcomes; comprehensive, individualized, and…

In this article, the author offers reflections on the impact of mobile technology for liberal education. These reflections are based on his own experience of incorporating iPads in his communication courses during the 2010-2011 academic year. As a member of an interdisciplinary faculty learning community on the use of mobile tablets, he explored…

There are several fundamental requirements for democratic government. First, there must be free and fair elections to elect leaders. Second, there must be freedom to express a wide range of views and positions, including criticisms of incumbent leaders. And third, the public discourse about elections and public policy issues must be conducted in a…

Changing a curriculum is already stressful enough without finding new ways to create anxiety, discontent, and rancor. To provide a truly integrated liberal education, the author contends that educators must not only change their curricula--the courses they offer--but they must change what they do in the classroom, the kinds of papers and…

For years, American higher education institutions have been working hard to increase the racial and ethnic diversity of campuses. This work is driven in part by arguments for social justice and the felt need for equal and expanded access to higher education. Since the society is diverse, the author argues that campuses should also reflect that.…

The conversation in higher education has shifted, moving from a focus on what students know to a focus on whether they know how to think and, more importantly, toward the goal of providing skills needed for living and working in the twenty-first century. In this article, the authors present national evidence regarding the impact of intentional…

There exists a plethora of writings about citizenship, or "civic virtue," in a democracy. Articles, books, reports, and commentaries proliferate, and the theme is continually stressed in the multiple activities of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). In this article, the author believes that a summary of the leading…

Amid all the current discussion of the value of a liberal education, and the pressure on colleges and universities to articulate benefits and career outcomes, the role of the arts is particularly important. In this article, the author explores the place of the creative and performing arts in a liberal education. He stresses that on campuses,…

The author believes there are three conceptual and somatic (from the Greek, meaning "of the body") changes that could be made in order to better educate the student body and, thereby, help sustain the intellectual and social relevance of the liberal arts as a program of study. First, the commitment to what Sir Ken Robinson has called "the…

When the author attended a Network for Academic Renewal conference sponsored by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in 2011, he was surprised by the level of skepticism expressed from the podium about proprietary higher education. This article is intended as a response. From his perspective as a for-profit educator, the…

As far as the foundational education of artists and designers is concerned, there is a sense that the natural sciences are of marginal importance, that they deal primarily with matters of material fact rather than the concerns of critical thought or cultural discourse. The author contends that the natural sciences can be quintessential liberal…

The humanities are at the heart of knowing about the human condition; they are not a luxury. The erosion of support for the humanities and the perennial anxiety about the state of the humanities are systemic. The author contends that until people acknowledge this fact, they will keep lurching from one point to another, unable to recognize the…

Although the author has been teaching for over a quarter century, he was never trained in, nor truly understood, "outcomes assessment." He regarded it as a task to be completed for an outside accreditor that had little relation to his real "liberal arts" goals for students. Those goals include teaching critical self-awareness, developing…

The history of post-secondary education in America since World War II has been in many ways a success story, with greater student access a signature feature of the many changes witnessed on campuses large and small. Much work remains to be done in the area of access and affordability, especially in the financial aid system and in standardized…