Conducted for the Bringing Theory to Practice project, this literature review examines the theoretical and research bases for linking engaged learning, student mental health and well-being, and civic development. The findings of this review are discussed briefly in this article. Current prevention literature recommends a shift from targeted…

The author had a conversation one late afternoon with an untenured colleague from another department regarding chili pepper ratings. Her colleague explained that the popular RateMyProfessor.com Web site allows students to rate faculty members not only according to standards of "clarity," "helpfulness," and something called "easiness," but also in…

In this article, the author shares her perspectives on the Bringing Theory to Practice project and liberal education. The Bringing Theory to Practice project has developed strategies and support for the necessary research and for initiatives individual campuses have proposed to affect the multiple and troubling increases in forms of student…

The governance of most colleges and universities is shared among the board of trustees, the administration, and the faculty. Most four-year institutions endorse the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities (1966), which asserts that the faculty has "primary" authority over the…

The organization of institutions of higher education has been seen as operating with ambiguous purposes in vertically oriented structures that are only loosely connected. The rationale for this ambiguity is twofold: (1) to allow for creative thinking, and (2) to respect--and even encourage--the autonomy of different disciplines. But ambiguity of…

Faculty members who work directly to advance the institutional mission of teaching, learning, and at some institutions, research, represent the core human resource of higher education. They are the stewards of campus leadership and decision making. While the faculty role has changed over time, leadership has remained critical to innovation in…

Growing up in the late 1960s and 1970s, the author learned about inequality and slavery, about how the poor were treated, and about the role played by skin color in dividing the haves from the have-nots. She also learned about separate and unequal schools and how privileged whites received a better education. From the very beginning, the United…

"Saving Higher Education in the Age of Money" is a critique of the pernicious syndrome set in motion when the means and concomitant benefits of higher education--money and prestige, in particular--became increasingly accepted as its most important and fundamental ends. The book contends, on the basis of extensive evidence and documentation, that…

Hurricane Katrina took more than 1,500 lives. Most of those people died in their homes because they could not escape, or they died trying to escape the flood waters. The hurricane submerged 80 percent of the parish, a land mass seven times the size of Manhattan. The flood lasted for fifty-seven days and destroyed over 160,000 homes and apartments.…

For centuries, liberal education did not need to be justified. It was simply the way one came to be educated. However, the curriculum has evolved with the growth of knowledge and changing intellectual fashions over the very long stretch of time from the Middle Ages to the early twentieth century. Now, with the progressive increases in the cost of…

The authors' goal is to personalize some concerns of diverse student populations and encourage faculty to intentionally incorporate cultural inclusion into their pedagogy and their courses. Here, they share Julian's story, which is a composite of perspectives shared by the 219 participants in the National Black Male College Achievement Study, many…

In this article, the author talks about big questions of meaning and value that young people pose and how to respond to their concerns about big questions. He relates the story of his granddaughter, Charlotte, who, at the age of one, would climb up on the stairs not from choice or whim, but "because they're there." For her, it was not play, but…

There is a certain kind of liberal educator who bases his or her practice on a particular attitude toward the "Big Questions." The questions of fundamental literacy in K-12 education, or of expertise in vocational and professional education, may be just as important, but they are seen as quite different in kind. Indeed, the questions of liberal…

Administrators hate to be called bureaucrats. They prefer to be seen as academic leaders. Leaders articulate priorities and values, serve as exemplars, and represent an institution to both others and itself. Today, more than ever, the humanities and the arts need academic leaders at every level of the university to give them voice, to avow their…

According to a study of student religiosity conducted by the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), 80 percent of students express a strong interest in spirituality. They are not only spiritual, but they are also religious. Over half of all students attend religious services at least once per month. Indeed, according to the UCLA study, eight…