Charles C. Schroeder

Freeman A. Hrabowski

Betsy O. Barefoot

Leo M. Lambert

Peter Felten

John N. Gardner

A clear, practical framework for getting higher education back on track The Undergraduate Experience is a guide for significantly improving student learning and institutional performance in the rapidly changing world of higher education. Written by recognized experts in undergraduate education, this book encourages college and university leaders to rethink current practices that fragment the student experience, and to focus on creating powerful, integrated undergraduate learning for all students. Drawing from their own deep experience and the latest research, the authors reveal key principles that enable institutional change and enhance student outcomes in any higher education setting. Coverage includes high-impact practices for engagement, the importance of strategic leadership, the necessity of setting and maintaining high expectations, and insight on fostering excellence through systematic planning. Through its core themes and action principles, this book can be a valuable resource for faculty, staff, administrators, and governing boards at all types of postsecondary institutions. The book provides a practical framework for achieving excellence in undergraduate education by focusing on: Learning Relationships Expectations Alignment Improvement Leadership The value of an undergraduate education is under greater scrutiny than ever before, and campus leaders must be able to convey the value of their institutions to students, boards, donors, and legislators. Is a college or university degree worth the increasing cost? Are today's students academically adrift? What's the difference between a degree and an education? Responding to these questions requires focused action by individuals and institutions. The Undergraduate Experience offers practical guidance for creating and sustaining excellence in the face of disruption and change in higher education.

Focusing Institutions on What Matters Most

The Undergraduate Experience

Alison Cook-Sather

Catherine Bovill

A guide to developing productive student-faculty partnerships in higher education Student-faculty partnerships is an innovation that is gaining traction on campuses across the country. There are few established models in this new endeavor, however. Engaging Students as Partners in Learning and Teaching: A Guide for Faculty offers administrators, faculty, and students both the theoretical grounding and practical guidelines needed to develop student-faculty partnerships that affirm and improve teaching and learning in higher education. Provides theory and evidence to support new efforts in student-faculty partnerships Describes various models for creating and supporting such partnerships Helps faculty overcome some of the perceived barriers to student-faculty partnerships Suggests a range of possible levels of partnership that might be appropriate in different circumstances Includes helpful responses to a range of questions as well as advice from faculty, students, and administrators who have hands-on experience with partnership programs Balancing theory, step-by-step guidelines, expert advice, and practitioner experience, this book is a comprehensive why- and how-to handbook for developing a successful student-faculty partnership program.

A Guide for Faculty

Engaging Students as Partners in Learning and Teaching

H-Dirksen L. Bauman

Edward Taylor

Aaron Kheriaty

Praise for Transformative Conversations "In the 'superstorm' of writings about the crisis in highereducation this little gem of a book stands out like a mindfulnessbell. It calls us back to the only thing that trulymatters—the energy and wisdom buried in the minds and heartsof dedicated educators." —Diana Chapman Walsh,president emerita, Wellesley College; trustee emerita, AmherstCollege; member of the MIT Corporation "This book is revolutionary! It is about transforming the veryessence of higher education through the power of authenticconversation, knowing that as the people within the institutionevolve, the institution will transform." —Patricia andCraig Neal, The Art of Convening: Authentic Engagement inMeetings, Gatherings, and Conversations; founders, HeartlandInc. "This is a radical story about how to create a more intimate andrelational culture inside the halls of higher education.... forthose who long for higher education to return from the abyss ofsiloed isolation to its original charter as a cooperative learninginstitution committed to developing the whole person in service ofthe common good." —Peter Block, FlawlessConsulting and Abundant Community Transformative Conversations offers guidance to helpreaders create and sustain Formation Mentoring Communities, wherefaculty, staff, and administrators can speak openly and honestly tothe heart of their work as educators and human beings.

A Guide to Mentoring Communities Among Colleagues in Higher Education

Transformative Conversations

Brooke Barnett

Colleges and universities silo diversity and inclusion by creating specific courses to address them, or programs to welcome and support people with a range of identities, whereas in reality students, faculty and staff do not encounter diversity in the fractured ways that match the organizational structures of our institutions. We all simultaneously embody a variety of identities with different saliency in different circumstances and times. This book offers models for institutions to move intentionally toward intersections – of study abroad and multiculturalism, of race and gender and religion, and of other essential aspects of our educational programs and our students’ identities – to open doors to new possibilities that better prepare our students for life in a diverse world, and that allow our institutions to become more efficient and effective as we strive to not simply do things better in our own separate spheres, but to do better things by working together across difference. Each chapter offers action-oriented analysis focusing on particular campus intersections, rather than attending to specific demographic groups. Chapter authors also build on their own local expertise of doing this work on campuses that often do not have deep pockets or rich histories of such efforts. The book is organized into three sections: People focuses on diversity broadly defined, considering questions about how we recruit and engage the students, faculty, and staff in the campus community, and how we work with governing boards and others to promote inclusive excellence. Environment focuses on inclusion, including residence life, the local community, the working and learning environment, and external factors and events such as national and international news events or town gown relationships. Learning focuses on perspective taking and learning about difference in the core curriculum, the disciplines, and the co-curriculum, as well as professional development for faculty and staff. This ground breaking book aims to help readers, no matter what position they occupy on campus, to develop the knowledge and capacities necessary to do this essential work and is premised on the understanding that identity, oppression, power and marginalization cannot be accomplished by looking solely at single identities.

A Guide for Faculty and Campus Leaders for Creating Inclusive Classrooms and Institutions

Intersectionality in Action

Ultimately, the book is an invitation—and a challenge—for faculty, administrators, and student life staff to move relationships from the periphery to the center of undergraduate education.

How Human Connections Drive Success in College

Relationship-Rich Education

Colleges and universities silo diversity and inclusion by creating specific courses to address them, or programs to welcome and support people with a range of identities, whereas in reality students, faculty and staff do not encounter diversity in the fractured ways that match the organizational structures of our institutions. We all simultaneously embody a variety of identities with different saliency in different circumstances and times. This book offers models for institutions to move intentionally toward intersections – of study abroad and multiculturalism, of race and gender and religion, and of other essential aspects of our educational programs and our students’ identities – to open doors to new possibilities that better prepare our students for life in a diverse world, and that allow our institutions to become more efficient and effective as we strive to not simply do things better in our own separate spheres, but to do better things by working together across difference. Each chapter offers action-oriented analysis focusing on particular campus intersections, rather than attending to specific demographic groups. Chapter authors also build on their own local expertise of doing this work on campuses that often do not have deep pockets or rich histories of such efforts. The book is organized into three sections: * People focuses on diversity broadly defined, considering questions about how we recruit and engage the students, faculty, and staff in the campus community, and how we work with governing boards and others to promote inclusive excellence. * Environment focuses on inclusion, including residence life, the local community, the working and learning environment, and external factors and events such as national and international news or town gown relationships. * Learning focuses on perspective taking and learning about difference in the core curriculum, the disciplines, and the co-curriculum, as well as professional development for faculty and staff. This ground reaking book helps readers, no matter what position they occupy on campus, to develop the knowledge and capacities necessary to create inclusive classrooms and is premised on the understanding that identity, oppression, power and marginalization cannot be addressed by looking solely at single identities.

Charity Johansson

The recent trend of trying to measure higher education’s return on investment misses a fundamental point, argue Charity Johansson and Peter Felten. The central purpose of a college or university is to transform the lives of students—not to merely change them or help them mature. This transformation is an ongoing process of intentionally aligning one’s behavior with one’s core sense of personal identity. It is the university’s central role to lead students in this transformation, a process that shapes students into intentional, critical, and engaged individuals. Recognizing the remarkable influence of the college experience on peoples’ lives, the authors offer a guide to how colleges and universities can effectively lead students through this life-changing process. Drawn from extensive interviews with students and graduates, faculty and staff, Transforming Students gathers diverse stories to show how students experience the transformation process, which rarely follows a neat or linear path. The interviews illustrate central themes from the literature on transformative learning and the undergraduate student experience. A sequel of sorts to George Keller’s classic Transforming a College—which chronicled Elon University’s metamorphosis from struggling college to a top regional university—Transforming Students addresses the school’s core educational mission: to shape students into engaged adults who embrace learning as a lifelong endeavor. Given this effect, the college experience is much more than preparation for a career. It is preparation for life.

Peter Felten

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