In this article, the authors discuss contemporary challenges. David Berry offers advice on teaching the humanities at a community college; Gerald Graff examines how the traditional organization of universities undermines student learning; and Cary Nelson considers the effects on the humanities of the increasing reliance on contingent faculty.

"The Quality Imperative" was approved by the Board of Directors of the Association of American Colleges and Universities in December 2009. This statement focuses on the core issue of educational quality. Both employers and educators know that the higher education quality shortfall is just as urgent as the attainment shortfall. Today's employers…

For many years, the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) has been working with other institutions in the University of Wisconsin System to change the conversation about higher education in the state. In the spring of 2006, these partners participated in a systemwide advisory group convened to promote better understanding of liberal…

At the beginning of the second decade of the twenty-first century, a new vision for college learning is clearly in view. Through its Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP) initiative, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has outlined what contemporary college students need to know and be able to do--in…

An effective higher education curriculum is woven from threads that unite into a whole cloth for students, as demonstrated by the new Civic Innovations program at Wagner College on Staten Island in New York City. Civic Innovations embodies an intensive system of college and community collaborations that focus the college's commitment to civic…

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…

Think of the United States Military Academy and the typical images are of duty, character, leadership, and possibly even regimented conformity. Intellectual liberation, integrative innovation, and holistic development--hallmarks of a liberal education--are not always associated with the public's perception of the West Point experience. Yet,…

Located just north of Colorado Springs, Colorado, the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is one of the nation's federally funded military service academies. With an enrollment of approximately 4,400 undergraduates, the academy offers an integrated four-year curriculum of academics, athletics, leadership and character development, military…

The United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, has a clear and well-understood mission: to prepare leaders for service in the U.S. Navy or Marine Corps. Most people know something about "Navy." But what most people don't know is that Navy also provides a top liberal education to all midshipmen, and that one of the central elements of that…

This is no ordinary recession. And, for leaders in higher education, its impact will resonate long after it has passed. In the years ahead, the author believes that the past thirty years will be viewed as a kind of golden age of academic prosperity that was brought to a crashing end by this recession. Yet, the end of the golden age has also…

The Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP) initiative of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) provides substance and direction to President Obama's American Graduation Initiative, which seeks to encourage more students to obtain baccalaureate degrees. The LEAP initiative defines the practical and aspirational goals…

The past century's technological revolution has returned images to a central place in people's individual and collective lives. Photography became widely popular in the first half of the past century, creating new visual forms of high art, mass advertising, and amateur entertainment. During the latter half of the twentieth century, innovations in…

The disciplinary major has long served as the backbone of higher education. Every student has at least one major, and each major prescribes a program of study that is supported by a series of courses both within the field and from the general education curriculum. Yet relying solely on the formal academic curriculum to achieve the outcomes of a…

Some of the students in this author's developmental writing class are, to their own surprise, brilliant storytellers. They simply trust the tale, not the teller. If they tell a ghost story, they do not pretend, for instance, to believe in ghosts or zombies or duppies; they actually do. And so when they write faithfully, the reader sees what they…

"Experience" is a healthy-sounding word, but what do educators really mean by it? And how do educators persuade people that higher education fosters important forms of experience, that "experience" is an integral part of any vital liberal learning? The author suggests that educators might begin by getting clearer in their own minds just what they…