Trends in the Liberal Arts Core: A Vision for the
21st Century
A former Fund for Improvement of Post Secondary
Education (FIPSE), Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Project and American
Academy for Liberal Education Project, now in its Second Phase with
ACTC
The faculty and administrators from the colleges
and universities of the Association for Core Texts and Courses (ACTC)
know that the Association is dedicated to improving liberal education
through core texts and courses. This last April, during our annual
conference, we briefly reviewed our national project
for institutions that are considering serious and comprehensive
general education review or reform. ACTC is undertaking
a second phase of the former FIPSE/Mellon/American Academy for Liberal
Education dissemination grant, Trends in the Liberal Arts Core:
A Vision for the 21st Century. To date, our second phase has
enlisted thirteen new institutions, bringing the total number of
participating institutions in this national study to nearly 80.
Trends is designed to help faculty and administrators to review
and shape a unique general, liberal education on each participating
institution’s campus so that that institution may more fully realize
its educational goals and its niche among peer institutions.
Trends makes available the latest data on statistical
patterns, models and innovations in general education curricula
and assessment of Liberal Education from 1978-2002. Trends
can provide comparisons of an institution’s current general education
program to programs in 80 Baccalaureate, Comprehensive and Doctoral/Research
Institutions. Trends data and models cover not only curricula,
but administrative structures, co-curricular support, faculty enculturation,
general education review processes, liberal arts assessment and
accreditation. (This data is also supplemented by other ACTC projects
which involve another 20 institutions and our extensive knowledge
of the over 150 institutions which regularly participate in ACTC
conferences.) Finally, Trends, Phase II, presents
to institutions, administrators and faculty the opportunity to join
in the construction of a research history on general education and
to present in a national conference, for later publication, their
institution’s most recent developments in general, liberal education.
For the next two years, ACTC will be offering to 23
more institutions the opportunity to join Trends’ second phase.
TRENDS, Phase Two, Provides Institutions
With:
• A National, Statistical Data Base and Archive of General Education
Programs of 66 original and 36 Phase Two Institutions Spanning 25
years
• Institutional Profiles Characterizing Each Institution’s Unique
Developments in General Education
• Comparisons of an Institution’s Current General Education Program
to National Trends and Peer Institutions
• Site Visits with Presentation to Discuss with Faculty and Administrators
Useful National, General Education Innovations
• Publication of an Institution’s General Education Achievements
TRENDS Helps Institutions Focus
Upon:
• General Education Curricular Review and Reform
• Qualitative Assessment of General Education Programs
• Administration and Co-Curricular Support for General Education
• Faculty Enculturation and Support
• Recruitment and Retention
• Institutional Strategic and Market Planning
• Accreditation
WEBSITE CONTENTS:
Project Structure, Services, and Fees
List of Participants
Sample Institutional Profile
Sample Presentation
For Further Discussion, Information or Referral to Other Institutions:
J. Scott Lee, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Association for Core Texts and Courses &
The ACTC Liberal Arts Institute at the Saint Mary's College
of
California
Home Office: 253 Harlingen Road
Belle Mead, NJ 08502
908 359 7560
Liberal Arts Institute:
1928 Saint Mary's Drive
Moraga, CA 94556
tel: 925 631 8597
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List of Participating Institutions
“*” denotes state-supported institution.
“sv” denotes institution employing site visit
| Phase I FIPSE/Mellon Participants
1998-2001:
Research Universities (12)
Boston University
Georgetown University
Howard University
Oregon State University*
Rice University
Temple University
Tulane University
University of Iowa*
University of Maryland — College Park*
University of Miamisv
University of North Carolina — Chapel Hill*
University of South Carolina — Columbia*
Doctoral Universities (10)
Ball State University sv*
Baylor Universitysv
College of William and Mary*
Fordham University
Indiana University/Purdue University (Indianapolis)sv*
Miami University of Ohio*
Middle Tennessee State University*
Northern Arizona University*
Portland State University*
University of San Francisco
Masters Colleges/Universities (14)
Assumption College
Brooklyn College – CUNY sv*
Carthage College
Florida A&M University*
Grambling State University sv*
Hampton Universitysv
Hood College
Samford University
Seattle Universitysv
St. Michael’s College
Tusculum Collegesv
University of Central Arkansas*
University of Nebraska — Kearney*
University of North Alabama*
Baccalaureate Colleges (30)
Augustana College
Bard Collegesv
Birmingham-Southern College
Bryn Mawr College
Carleton College
Centre College
Colorado College sv
Connecticut College
Dakota State University*
Dickinson College
Eckerd Collegesv
Freed-Hardeman University
Furman University
Goucher College
Grinnell College
Hampden-Sydney College
Lewis and Clark Collegesv
Ramapo College of New Jersey sv*
Reed College sv
Rhodes College sv
Skidmore College
Thomas Aquinas College
University of Dallas
University of North Carolina at Asheville sv*
University of the South
Wabash College sv
Washington and Jefferson College
Washington and Lee University
Williams College
Wofford College
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Trends Phase II Institutions as of
June 2004:
Aurora University sv
Averett University
Benedictine University sv
Brigham Young University sv
Drury University sv
Fresno Pacific University sv
Indiana Purdue University of Kokomo sv*
James Madison University sv*
Kentucky State University sv*
Loyola College in Maryland sv
National University sv
St. Bonaventure University sv
St. Mary’s College of California sv
St. Olaf College sv |
Project Structure, Services, and Fee Ranges
Trends in the Liberal Arts Core: A Vision for the 21st Century
is an expanding national project designed to help faculty and administrators
to review and shape a unique general, liberal education on each
participating institution’s campus. Trends is, at once, a curriculum
review, a recruitment and retention instrument focusing on general
education, a (new) faculty enculturation project, and an assessment
planning tool for the liberal arts. In short, Trends is an invaluable
resource for faculty and administrators to consider institutional
improvements in general, liberal education.
After an institution invites the Trends project
to campus, all work prior to the visit is done by the project staff.
Aside from institutional contacts arranging the site visit, administration
and faculty only need to become involved on the day of the site
visit. The structure of preparation and participation is:
A. Data Contribution and Compilation: Participating
Institutions send in seven catalogs, spaced four years apart from
1978 to 2002 and the data is entered into the Trends database
B. Institutional Profile: The project director, at the
institution’s discretion, writes and delivers to the institution
prior to any site visit an “Institutional Profile” and/or an “Institutional
Data Analysis with Comparisons to Peer and Competing Institutions.”
C. Site Visit: The project director visits the campus and
offers a presentation tailored very closely to your institution:
“Trends in the Liberal Arts Core: General Education and [Your Institution].”
The project director then consults with faculty and administrators,
while gathering data to use in the national publication which will
culminate the project.
Phase II innovations on this pattern:
D. Additions to the original database of statistical
data on orientation and advisement, learning communities and teams,
faculty enculturation, and program review and assessment linked
to general education.
E. A National Conference to be held at the end of the second
phase which will report the results of the participating institutions’
reforms and the impact of the project upon the participants.
F. Publication of Second Phase results: Participating institutions
will be recognized nationally for their contribution to the project
and their innovative reviews or reforms.
Participating institutions receive benefits from:
• An expanding national archive and database on reforms and innovations
in general education since 1978 of over 80 institutions by which
an institution’s own developments may be compared.
• Detailed examples of
o reform and review processes that succeed;
o new administrative structures;
o general education coordination with advising, supplemental instruction,
learning teams and communities, new faculty enculturation, faculty
support, establishment and administration of core text programs;
o new innovations in general education curricula, including core
text course developments
o liberal education student-learning-outcomes based assessment,
and
o accreditation preparation or reviews
The products of the project include:
Data Contributions and Resources: Supplying data
to the project is essential to participation in the project and
must include the seven catalogs described above. Additional data
may be entered in the database and is welcome as a contribution
to the archives of the project. Participating institutions receive
a wealth of comparative data in return.
Institutional Profiles and/or Institutional Data Analysis
with Comparison to Peer Institutions: Institutional Profiles
(IPs) are detailed narrative histories of the development of each
institution's general education program for the last 20 years to
the present, set in the context of Trends national statistical
patterns and evolutions of gen ed. IPs are very useful in raising
awareness of an institution’s educational traditions and in enculturating
faculty to an institution’s habits of general education.
Institutional Data Analysis places the institution’s current general
education program within national statistics on curricular structure
and, then, offers some “peer institution” comparisons. At the institutions
request (and additional cost), additional data (e.g., on proposed
curricular reviews, on goals and assessment, on administrative reorganization)
can be analyzed and placed within the report. Thus, institutions
may choose elements of the Institutional Profiles or Institutional
Data Analyses.
Site Visit: The site visit is required and involves
a presentation, “Trends in the Liberal Arts Core: General Education
and [Your Institution].” The presentation, usually around 40
slides, examines current large-scale trends in general education,
the causes of success and failure in reform, and the specific administrative,
curricular, co-curricular, faculty support and enculturation, recruitment
and retention, and assessment innovations which have put general
education at the center of strategic planning for institutions across
the United States. Particular efforts are made to tailor the
presentation to the visited institution’s traditions and to
discuss innovations, found across the nation that would be of interest
to faculty and administrators. Breakouts with individuals and various
campus groups are a common feature of the site visit.
The National Conference: At the end of the three-year
period, in the fall of 2005, ACTC will hold a national Trends conference,
separate from its spring annual conference. Participation is required.
Part of the fee for service will reserve a place (including food
and registration for one participant) at the conference for participating
institutions. Nationally known public figures in general education
and opportunities for each institution to present the results of
its reform will shape the conference. The effort of the conference
will be directed toward showing that the Association for Core Texts
and Courses and the institutions in this project are national leaders
in reforming and renewing liberal, general education.
Publication of the Conference and Data Results:
Each institution will receive project results and a publication
with a national, general education publisher of the conference selected
papers.
Costs for institutions, depending on services
asked for, will usually range between $ 3900 and $ 6900. Additional
charges may be incurred, but only if the institution seeks parallel
additional analyses of data as described above in this distribution.
Expenses are not included in these figures and figures may reduce
or increase depending on travel distance and additional services
that an institution requests.
We would strongly encourage institutions participating in the study
to attend the annual meeting of the Association the year that they
propose to have a site visit. If applications to participate exceed
the allotted number of institutional slots, institutions participating
in ACTC annual meetings will be given preference.
Samples of the project products discussed above are available upon
request. Requests for proposal can be made to J. Scott Lee, Executive
Director, Association for Core Texts and Courses via email at jscottlee@prodigy.net,
to the contacts below, or to the Temple University address listed
above.
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