ANAC Commentary

• Susan Traverso on Goals of ANAC Academy

"Over the next few months, we will develop a list of faculty and staff willing to serve as consultants in areas of need on our campuses, for example, training of department chairs, program review, and centers for learning and teaching. The Academy's networking activities will also include organizing listservs among faculty and staff in similar disciplines or areas of focus. "

—Susan Traverso,
   Founding Director of ANAC Academy

Susan Traverso on Goals for ANAC Academy

Susan Traverso

In her career as a faculty member Susan Traverso, just named founding director of ANAC Academy, has given presentations on topics in higher education at ANAC, AAC&U, and AIS conferences and has an article forthcoming in Liberal Education titled "The Role of Faculty in Institutional Development." Susan also has an active scholarly life in her own disciplinary field, U.S. History, and her book Welfare Politics, Boston, 1910-40, was published this past April by University of Massachusetts Press. At North Central, she is the chair of the History Department and of the college-wide Assessment Committee. She serves on the Faculty Personnel Committee and is an active participant in several of the college's interdisciplinary programs. She offered these thoughts as immediate priorities in getting ANAC Academy underway:

ANAC Academy has been established as a center for collaboration among ANAC institutions. The Academy will provide opportunities for faculty and staff to exchange ideas and best practices. It will enhance communication among our campuses and support cost-effective inter-institutional collaboration. Central to the goals of the Academy is increasing the capacity of faculty and staff to sustain the values and practices of comprehensive institutions as modeled by ANAC members. Moreover, the Academy will highlight institution building that links faculty and staff development to student learning outcomes.

In June, campus representatives met to formulate "first steps" in this collaborative endeavor. In keeping with the Academy's larger goals, the group agreed to concentrate immediately on four areas. Using web technology, we will establish a site for posting information about practices and programs on our campuses. This exchange will serve as a resource for our campuses on a number of topics, including faculty and staff development, programming for first year students, curricula reform, and undergraduate research.

A second area of activity will be networking faculty and staff on our campuses. Over the next few months, we will develop a list of faculty and staff willing to serve as consultants in areas of need on our campuses, for example, training of department chairs, program review, and centers for learning and teaching. The Academy's networking activities will also include organizing listservs among faculty and staff in similar disciplines or areas of focus. The work here might include, for instance, assuring communication among faculty in area studies such as East Asia or Latin America; it might also provide links among the residence life staff. In the future, ANAC Academy may establish formal exchange programs for faculty and staff.

The third area of activity this first year will be organizing workshops and conferences. Next year's Summer Institute will grow out of the Academy's work this winter and will likely focus on the first year experiences of students, faculty, and staff. The effort in this third area will also include mediating among our faculty and staff about workshops and conferences on all of our campuses to encourage cross-campus participation. For instance, this October Ithaca College is hosting an innovative conference on "Literacy in a Media Age" that the education faculty and outreach staff on all of our campuses might consider attending. The Academy will broker information to the appropriate people on ANAC campuses about these opportunities.

Finally, the Academy will disseminate our work to the larger higher education context and the public more generally. We will collaborate with national organizations, such as AAC&U, AAHE, and CIC, as well as foster the scholarship of teaching and application among our faculty and staff to illuminate and share the efforts on our campus that model the philosophy and practice of the New American College.

Nearly all member campuses have appointed campus coordinators to facilitate the Academy's work on their campuses. Susan will work closely with these coordinators as the Academy launches its efforts this coming year. Campus coordinators will be encouraged to envision ways to make the resources of the Academy available to faculty and staff on their campuses. This might involve creating a campus committee or working with existing groups. Whatever the case, the goal is to assure access to the rich resource of ideas, information, and expertise on our campuses to advance the institutional missions of member institutions and the collaborative work of ANAC.

Nancy Thomas and Ratnesh Nagda introduced pedagogies of Study Circles and Intergroup Dialogue which demonstrated to Institute participants the potential for the 'arts of democracy' to serve as powerful teaching and decision-making tools.