Shooting the Gap Engaging Today’s Faculty in the Liberal Arts DENNIS DAMON MOORE

IN “WHAT REALLY MATTERS IN : that focus and the larger consideration of How Students View and Value Liberal Educa- more general skills and capacities that liberal tion” (2005), Debra Humphreys and Abigail education purports to foster. However, as Davenport present the findings of a study everyone would agree, the gap is unfortu- that asked high school and college students nate—not least because professional and cor-

PERSPECTIVES about their impressions of liberal education. porate employers have been increasingly Humphreys and Davenport found that, on emphatic about the value of those very skills the whole, these stu- and capacities in adapting to life after college. dents—including Understanding that in “today’s knowledge-fu- those already in college—did not have a work- eled world, the quality of student learning is Collaboration within ing definition of a liberal education and did our key to the future” (43), Humphreys and individual campuses not spontaneously value the outcomes of such Davenport conclude by calling upon the col- an education. In the course of the study, stu- leges to find ways to shoot this gap. may be the most dents were asked to consider a definition In the fall of 2005, interaction among rep- important element familiar to virtually everyone connected with resentatives from the fourteen institutional in the new liberal liberal arts (42): members of the Associated Colleges of the arts interchange Liberal education is a of educa- Midwest (ACM) meeting at Coe College in tion that empowers individuals, liberates Cedar Rapids, Iowa, suggested that at least the mind from ignorance, and cultivates so- some colleges are finding those ways. They cial responsibility. A liberal education com- had come together for the third and final con- prises a curriculum that includes general ference in a series funded by the Andrew W. education that provides students broad ex- Mellon Foundation as part of a project enti- posure to multiple disciplines and more in- tled Engaging Today’s Students with the Lib- depth study in at least one field or area of eral Arts.1 Two previous conferences in the concentration. spring of 2003 and the spring of 2005 had fo- Students responded positively to this defin- cused on first-year education and interdisci- ition, but it was evident that developing asso- plinary, collaborative, and experiential ciated writing and other communication learning; the consortium had also sponsored skills, information literacy, quantitative rea- research related to institutional mission state- soning, critical thinking, and global perspec- ments, distribution requirements, and student tive were not high on their list. views of the education they were experienc- This result is not surprising. Faculty and ad- ing; and individual campuses had undertaken ministrators at many liberal arts colleges know specific projects related to new initiatives in that students tend to focus on specific course- teaching and learning. The conference at Coe oriented outcomes; and there is a gap between provided an opportunity for participants to share their findings and to deliberate together DENNIS DAMON MOORE is dean emeritus of on the future of liberal education in institu- Cornell College. tions like theirs. The conference concluded

46 L IBERAL E DUCATION S UMMER 2006 Cornell College PERSPECTIVES Cornell College 8L 48 of breakoutsessionsdealingwithsuchtopics ties forcollegialcross-pollinationinanumber School People Learn:Brain,Mind,Experienceand (2001), andJohnBransford,authorof the MostofCollege:StudentsSpeakTheirMinds including RichardJ.Light,authorof instance, hadfeaturedplenaryspeakersofnote, approximately ahundredattendeesineach to readersof reinforced anoutcomethatshouldbeofinterest century Americancollege.Thesestatements ments forthetwenty- collection ofmissionstate- a straints, whichproduced politics orfinancialcon- sessions, freefromcampus with small-groupdiscussion In typicalfashion,theconferenceseries,with IBERAL (2000). Theyhadprovidedopportuni- E DUCATION Liberal Education S first- UMMER 2006 . process-oriented learning process-oriented increasingly becomethe increasingly The coursesandmajors vehicles andpathways in thecataloguehave for newemphaseson Making How ments onwell-knownstudies;andfromone and Bransfordofferedsynthesesofcom- educational thought.Intheirremarks,Light of theinterchangedidnotrepresentoriginal individual collegeslearnedagreatdeal,most general education. second year. Coere mouth, andRipon In diverseprojects,St.Olaf,Knox,Mon- nell focusedonwritingacrossthecurriculum. tions onliberaleducation.CarletonandCor- published aninstitutionalgatheringofreflec- Although manyfacultymembersfromthe ied. Beloitassembledand Campus projectswerevar- and academicadvising. entation, off-campusstudy, dents, first-yearstudentori- as thecultureoftoday’s stu- looked atthefirstand/or considered itsprogramof point of view, most of the campus projects early and late. The real news in this consortial simply helped some colleges catch up to other project was that at least some colleges are colleges in their areas of focus. The fact that beginning to take hold in this line. To formulate faculty mentoring is important to undergradu- more ways to engage students, faculty members ate students, that first-year students experi- themselves needed to be engaged beyond their ence college in widely disparate ways, or that departmental and divisional interests and think second-year students do not automatically deliberately about undergraduate education synthesize and apply what they learn from one across the curriculum and throughout the col-

course to another is hardly front-page news. lege career. On the individual campuses and PERSPECTIVES But considered in other ways, this three-year in consortial consultation, ACM faculty mem- ACM project brought news of a different kind. bers representing colleges with shared tradi- tions and distinct personalities from Illinois, Toward a collaborative curriculum Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Colorado When all is said and done, figuring out how to demonstrated that crucial engagement at the engage today’s students in liberal arts study does turn of a new century. not require advanced degrees in higher educa- At one level, this is a trend like any other, tion. It simply requires that a college give this succeeding the expansive curricula of the process very high priority in its , its 1960s and 1970s, the area studies of the programming, and its attention to students 1980s, or the rise of technology in the 1990s. At another level, it marks a sea change in how small-college faculty members view the liberal arts curriculum. In the old days, col- leges were all about courses and majors; en- gaging in them, as the colleges announced and their alumni regularly testified, you also learned how to read, think, and write. But full-bodied institutional intentionality was lacking. As Ernest Pascarella (2005) has re- marked, it was largely a faith-based operation with a very simplistic message: come study here; you will learn and grow in our college, and as a result you will succeed in your later life. Faculty members were believers, students were con- verts, and colleges were cathedrals, the hal- lowed halls. With few exceptions, colleges tended to look hard at their curricula and their teaching and learning across the board only in times of crisis such as financial exigency. Not surprisingly, when regional accrediting agencies began to press for more objective, accountable assessment of academic achieve- ment in the early 1990s, there was much resis- tance in liberal arts colleges. In a 1993 letter to the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, the chairs of the deans’ councils of ACM and the Great Lakes Colleges Associ- ation declared, “we understand the contri- bution that institutional assessment will make to our capacity to sustain our quality. Yet it must be our own mission and philosophy of education that shape the means by which we assess our work.” For a full decade thereafter, the colleges and the regional accrediting agencies were engaged in academic dialogue

S UMMER 2006 LIBERAL E DUCATION 49 PERSPECTIVES 0L 50 fully concrete an abstractidealasoldthe cation whoseimplementation makeswonder- is anewholisticvisionofundergraduate edu- coming aphenomenonofthe past.Theresult ments asweonceknewthem aregraduallybe- the side.Alongway, distributionrequire- ing awealthofsubject-matterknowledgeon phases onprocess-orientedlearning,provid- become thevehiclesandpathways and majorsinthecataloguehavei liberal artslearningonitshead,thecourses ties inlaterlife.Turning about thevalueofall more plausibletotalkaboutassessment—and student learning,whichinturnhasmadeit priorities anddevelopmentalimplicationsin has forcedfacultymemberstorethinkcurricular for theseundertakingsinacrowdedcurriculum prominence marksarealshift.Findingplace liberal artscolleges,buttheircombined in now onthetable. engagement project,quantitativereasoningis result ofresearchlikethatundertakeninthe vice learningandstudyabroad;partlyasa from hands-onscienceandinternshipstoser- created aconceptualumbrellaforeverything apace; thenotionofexperientiallearninghas literacy; to highlightthe have combinedforceswithfaculty members ing; instructional ulty togetherforlivelydiscussionsaboutlearn- writing acrossthecurriculumhasbroughtfac- by facultymembersthemselves.In least asimportanthavebeenchangesinitiated wants toputcollegesoutofbusi one no Everyone wantsstudentstolearn,and faculty concessionand Some ofthismovementwasmade convergentmovement. remarkably productive repeatedly caughtinthemiddle. to respond.Asisoftenthecase,deanswere ment. Theypersistedinpressingthecolleges agenciesandatalllevelsofgovern- regional ity write. Thequestionofeducationalaccountabil- minds to the main,theysimplydidnotwanttoputtheir busywork pressure tocomplyanddreadedtheproforma process. Fac somewhat None ofthesecategoriesisentirelynew Little bylittle,however, theredeveloped continued tobeanactiveissueforthe IBERAL interdisciplinary programshavegrown this matter;theywantedtoteachand that assessmentseemedtoentail.In reminiscent oftheMideastpeace E ulty membersresentedtheexternal DUCATION importance technologists and S those skillsandcapaci- UMMER agency com the oldde of information 2006 ness. Butat ncreasingly for newem- promise. finition of terest in through librarians and collaboration aswellactiveexploration and deeplyserious—emphasized community provisionally presentedatCoe—both playful sure andin-depthstudy. Theninestatements through acurriculumproviding broadexpo- empowerment, liberation,and cultivation the studentsintheirfocusgroupsemphasized Humphreys andDavenporthadpresentedto tional definitionofliberaleducationthat the smallliberalartscollege.Therathertradi- twenty-first-century missionstatementsfor breakout groupformulationofputative ment conference’s concludingactivity, the ened thecircleandenricheddiscussion. dents withtheLiberalArtshavebothbroad- consortial projectslikeEngagingToday’s Stu- mic communityofanotherkind.Appropriately, new academicinterchange,reinforcingacade- of learning,thosediscussionshaveinduceda peared tosomethreatentheoldcommunity ization andcampusdisengagementhaveap- and inanindustrywherefacultyprofessional- every workinggenerationanddiscipline, involved inthesediscussionshavecomefrom and current interests the projectwasalso timely tives thatACMhasrecentlyexperienced,but interdisciplinary, across-the-curriculuminitia- and facilitatedsomeoftheconsideration The factoftheprojectundoubtedlyoccasioned place ofthiseducationinourlargerculturallife. but withmorepositiveimplicationsforthe catchphrases. Itisashiftlikeglobalwarming, old liberalartseducationconveyedinnew suggests thatthisisneitherafadnorthesame ries andpractitionersoftheliberalarts. sending graduatesintotheworldasbeneficia- founding ofourearliestcolleges—that gap together. met: facultyandstudentsareshootingthe Humphreys andDavenportis,ineffect,being value hereandnow. Thechallengeposedby process theirstudentsarebetterawareofits actively engagedinaffirmingthelearning learn, becausemorefacultymembersare have regularlytaughttheirstudentshowto to know;andwhilethebestfacultymembers the center, asalways,learningwhattheyneed Where arethestudentsinallthis?Theyat and theliberalarts Conversation, community, This wasevidentinthefinal Moreover, the ACM needs. Facultymembers engagement project . Itclearlyspoketo ACM engage- Distribution requirements and growth in many as we once knew them are arts education for the contexts. Here is a repre- gradually becoming a foreseeable future. But as sentative version, for an phenomenon of the past suggested above, the new institution dubbed “Swell developments in inter- College” by its creators: disciplinary and skills- Swell College educates students to become oriented offerings and programs have brought critical and creative thinkers and produc- faculty members together in new conversations tive, informed, and ethical citizens. We that have benefited those faculty members, the

inculcate in our students an appreciation students they teach, and the PERSPECTIVES for the significance of diverse views, values, institutions they serve. Moreover, as faculty cultures, and bodies of knowledge. We members increasingly consider the develop- engage students in collaborative processes mental aspects of student learning, they will of discovery and invention that provide a inevitably find themselves in more frequent basis for a prosperous and meaningful life dialogue with administrative staff members in a changing world. from offices of student life. In settings where No mention of courses or majors, just aims, other trends have tended to dilute the sense attitudes, processes, and outcomes. After- of community that has always distinguished wards, all those ACM faculty members looked small liberal arts colleges, this new tilt toward at one another and realized that they were collaboration is welcome indeed. ■ describing the colleges that their institutions had, in fact, largely become. To respond to this article, e-mail [email protected], The dialogue will, of course, continue in with the author’s name on the subject line. many quarters. One of the Mellon Founda- tion’s aims in supporting this project was to encourage and enable collaboration across the NOTE consortium. This collaboration occurred and 1. Dennis Damon Moore is one of the coordinators of will recur as the cross-curricular trends here the ACM/Mellon engagement project. Also coordi- nating are David Burrows, provost and dean of the described gain momentum. Since the Coe faculty at Lawrence , and Marc Roy, conference, ACM has sponsored a consortial vice president for academic affairs and dean of the workshop on academic advising that sent at- faculty at Coe College, with support from ACM tendees back to their home campuses with program officer Daniel E. Sack and Carol Trosset, much food for thought. For a second round of director of institutional research at Hampshire College. Consortial members of the Associated campus projects, building in part on the expe- Colleges of the Midwest, founded in 1958, include rience of sister institutions, Macalester will Beloit College, Carleton College, Coe College, develop a Liberal Arts Learning Project, de- Colorado College, Cornell College, Grinnell Col- signed to deepen and broaden first-year stu- lege, Knox College, Lake Forest College, Lawrence dents’ understanding of the purposes, values, University, Macalester College, Monmouth College, Ripon College, St. Olaf College, and the College and questions integral to a liberal arts educa- of the University of Chicago. tion, and Grinnell will design a second-year retreat. In larger and smaller ways, members of ACM are joining with colleges across the REFERENCES nation to affirm and enact the goals of the Bransford, J., et al. 2000. How people learn: Brain, mind, Association of American Colleges and Univer- experience and school. A report by the National Research Council and U.S. Committee on Learning sities in both the Greater Expectations initia- Research and Educational Practice. Washington, tive and the Liberal Education and America’s DC: National Academy Press. Promise campaign. Humphreys, D., and A. Davenport. 2005. What really However, collaboration within individual matters in college: How students view and value campuses may be the most important element liberal education. Liberal Education 91 (3/4): 36–43. Light, R. 2001. Making the most of college: Students in the new liberal arts interchange. Disciplinary speak their minds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Uni- courses, traditional departments, and academic versity Press. divisions have historically defined and some- Pascarella, E. 2005. Liberal arts colleges and liberal arts times circumscribed academic culture in small education: New evidence on impacts. Presentation at colleges, and they will undoubtedly play Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa. significant and substantial roles in liberal

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