Each summer, The New American Colleges and Universities holds a Summer Institute on one of its campuses for faculty and administrators from member colleges and universities. The institute, lasting three days, provides an excellent opportunity for professional development, discussion of issues common to our member institutions, and networking. A Planning Committee develops the program.

The 2010 NAC&U Summer Institute, June 16-18, 2010 at Wagner College, click here to learn more about the institute and to register, will focus on sustaining community, renewal, and meaning in our work. The hallmark of an NAC&U school is its commitment to integrating liberal arts, professional programs, and civic responsibility. This holistic approach to education is as demanding as it is rewarding. NAC&U faculty and administrators and other participants can benefit from reflecting together how they, their colleagues and programs can be replenished and rejuvenated, especially during a time of economic uncertainty and strain. This year’s institute will provide a combination of plenary sessions, panels, affinity group meetings, educational excursions, and time for conversation.

The team at Wagner, led by President Richard Guarasci, Provost Devorah Lieberman, and faculty Sarah Donovan and Pat Tooker, their Wagner colleagues, and the NAC&U Summer Institute Advisory Committee, have planned an exciting and thought-provoking agenda, one which capitalizes on the college's extraordinary location overlooking New York Harbor.

Plenary Speakers

The three plenary speakers are:

Plenary I: Charles Blaish, the Wabash Center, Wabash College: The Wabash Study: Why We Should Listen to What Students Say

Plenary II: Jon Lawlor and Lynsey Struthers: The Impact of Social Media on Building and Sustaining Community on Campus. Jon and Lynsey will meet with Communications affinity group members after the plenary session.

Plenary III: George Dehne, of George Dehne & Associates, will present research on what campuses, faculty and students may look like as we approach 2020. George Dehne will also meet with Communications directors and staff during their affinity group meeting.

Affinity Groups

Several affinity groups will meet during the institute. These include but are not limited to:

1. Presidents with their CFO’s and CAO’s (pre-institute roundtable)
   
2. Spouses of presidents
   
3. Provosts/Chief Academic Officers
   
4. Associate Provosts/Deans
   
5. Communications/Marketing/Media Office Representatives
   
6. Education Department Chair, Dean, and education faculty
   
7. Those responsible for advising on national scholarships and fellowships
   
8. Those responsible for faculty and staff professional and leadership development
   
9. Other faculty or administrators who would find value in learning more about NAC&U and have interest in the institute theme.
10. Vice presidents of Advancement
11. Directors of Teaching and Learning Centers
    

Prior to the start of the institute, there will be two pre-institute sessions:

Tuesday June 15, 1:00 - Wednesday, June 16, 11:30 -Staff and Faculty Leadership Development

A workshop for those interested in starting leadership development programs for staff and faculty on their campuses, as well as for those who currently lead such programs. This will be an opportunity to share information and best practices and to discuss how the consortium can provide support and leadership in this area. There is no fee for this workshop.

Wednesday, June 16, 8:00 - 11:30 - Presidents' Round-table

A "summit" of the executive leadership of NAC&U institutions--presidents, provosts, and CFO's--will be the June Presidents' Round-table.

Registration

Registration covers meals, materials and transportation on Staten Island during the conference, except for dinner on Thursday evening. This registration fee covers teams up to 10 members. For teams over 10 members, please add $250 per additional member. Only one person needs to register paying the team fee. For non-NACU institutions, the registration fee covers teams up to five members. Register now!

Housing

Rooms are available on campus in Wagner's newest residence hall or at either the Hilton Garden Inn or Hampton Inn on Staten Island. See our Registration Site for more information. Reservations for on-campus housing should be made through the registration process. The room rate is $210, which covers up to three nights.

Hotel reservations can be made directly with the hotels. Inform them that you are part of The New American Colleges and Universities Summer Institute at Wagner College. Reservations should be made as early as possible and prior to May 15, 2010.

Transportation will be available from the hotels to campus.

For the pre-institute sessions: There is no charge for either the pre-institute workshop on leadership development programs or for the President's Roundtable for presidents, cfo's, and cao's. There is a place on the registration page to indicate which of these you plan to attend.

Registration deadline: May 15, 2010.

The following individuals are organizing the Summer Institute. Particular questions about the following should be addressed to:

• Housing: Carole Lavinio - 718-390-3283
  
• Meals, Educational Expeditions: Betty McComiskey - 718-420-4014
  
• Conference Proposals and Presentations: Pat Tooker - 718-390-3450, Sarah Donovan - 718-420-4273
  
• Leadership Institute: Anne Love - 718-420-4212
  
• Registration: Lynette Robinson - 617-418-5613
  Ian Bagley

Register Now!

Purposeful Collaboration in Music City

One of the many roundtable discussions at the Summer Institute

Among the fresh-faced freshmen orientees and statuesque basketball camp participants, the 138 attendees of ANAC’s Summer Institute enjoyed the lovely Belmont University campus and its two-mile proximity to downtown Nashville. Belmont president Robert Fisher and his wife, Judy Fisher, provost Dan McAlexander, associate provost Marcia Mcdonald, and director of Belmont’s Teaching Center, Kim Boggs, created a warm and welcoming atmosphere for this dynamic three-day gathering, themed “Designing for Learning.” At the Summer Institute, held annually, integrated teams of administrators and faculty from across ANAC’s 21 member organizations come together for an information exchange that is rare in higher education today. Participants not only meet individuals from other institutions but become better acquainted with members from their own campuses as well.

By day, the Institute was a lively gathering of conversations focused on the ANAC mission – to purposefully integrate liberal arts education, professional studies and civic engagement. Combining these facets of campus and community (both local and global) allows students to graduate with a deep understanding of their professional roles and aspirations as well as their responsibilities as global citizens.

The Bill and Carole Troutt Theater was the site for the first plenary address. Susan Painter, PhD, design psychologist and urban and university campus planner at AC Martin Partners, discussed how campus development can affect how well students adapt to college. After hearing her suggestions for campus design, roundtables of attendees met to discuss their campus development challenges and successes. Afterwards, a pre-dinner poster session allowed participants to informally showcase exemplary programs. 

Breakfast on the terrace at Belmont

On the second day, 12 ANAC presidents met for several hours to discuss common challenges they face in their roles. Spouses of presidents also met that morning to discuss issues they face in their roles. Roundtables, led by representatives from the 21 ANAC schools, generated more discussion on the advantages and challenges of creating truly integrative teaching and learning campuses. Discussions included helping students to successfully transition both into and out of college, designing curricula that foster integrative learning, encouraging entrepreneurship, supporting faculty and staff and meeting the needs of communities. That afternoon Barbara Walvoord, PhD, professor emerita at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, delivered the second plenary address on “Assessing General Education in the New American College” and led a workshop on “Teaching Well, Saving Time.” Nine different affinity groups met later that afternoon: Career Services, Enrollment Services, Sponsored Programs, Student Affairs, Provosts, Library, Associate Provosts, Business Deans, and Arts & Sciences Deans.

Belmont alumna and adjunct instructor of music, Tammy Rogers King, performs with her band, The SteelDrivers

To close out this year’s Summer Institute, Stuart Dorsey, PhD, president of the University of Redlands, delivered an excellent overview of the range of fiscal, demographic and regulatory challenges that may await ANAC institutions. He and his team warmly welcomed everyone to next year’s Summer Institute to be held June 24-26 at Quinnipiac University. We hope to see you there!

Elon University hosted the 2007 ANAC Summer Institute. It was the largest institute in ANAC history, with over 160 participants from 22 institutions.

The Institute featured best practices in teaching and learning with a particular emphasis on pedagogies that build on ANAC’s tradition of integrating liberal arts and professional education to prepare students to be global citizens. Participants also explored way that they blur traditional classroom boundaries, bringing together curricular and co-curricular programs to connect students with communities across town and around the world. Special sessions for senior administrators in the areas of Enrollment Management, Executive Assistants to Presidents, Institutional Research, and Student Affairs were also held.

The 2007 ANAC Summer Institute had three excellent plenary speakers:

1. George Kuh directs the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), is Chancellor’s Professor of Higher Education, and leads the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University;
   
2. Randy Bass is a Senior Scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and Executive Director of Georgetown University’s Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship;
   
3. Barbara Jacoby is Senior Scholar at the University of Maryland’s Stamp Student Union, and is a prominent voice in national dialogues about civic engagement and service-learning.

Materials from many of the concurrent sessions can be found at the Elon web site as well as press releases from the institute. Answers to the ANAC Quiz, played at the institute, are available here. Questions about the Institute can be directed to Peter Felten at Elon’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (pfelten@elon.edu, 336-278-5100) or to Lynette Robinson, Executive Director, ANAC (lrobinson@anac.org, 617-418-5613).

Roberts Jones explains global educational challenges in addressing Institute

Jerry Berberet thanks colleagues in farewell as executive director.

Mary Deane Sorcinelli describes professional development touchstones in Institute remarks.

Institute speakers Bobby Fong (president, Butler University), Roberts Jones (president, Education and Workforce Policy LLC), and Mary Deane Sorcinelli (associate provost, University of Massachusetts), respectively, portrayed a vision for ANAC’s future, sketched the international competitive landscape facing American higher education, and traced the historical evolution and current focus of faculty/staff professional development programs. Institute discussions especially explored collaborative opportunities for academic and student affairs to enhance the learning outcomes of student academic and student life experiences.

The Institute also featured an evening with tributes, gifts, and farewells to Jerry Berberet who retired August 31, as ANAC’s founding executive director. 

The Institute planning committee comprised Chair Devorah Lieberman, Provost at Wagner College; local coordinator Francine Navakas, Associate Academic Dean at North Central; IRep chair Gerry Francis, Provost at Elon University; and Cheryl Ney, ANAC provost-in-residence.