Making Excellence Inclusive: Scholarly Inquiry and Student Accomplishment Carol Geary Schneider President, Association of American Colleges and Universities The Future of Diversity Research—A Diversity Scholars Network Conference The University of Michigan May 18, 2016

Overview The Role of Scholars in a Changing Academy The Courage to Envision: Committing to Inclusive Excellence Writ Large The Societal Context Making Excellence Inclusive: What It Can Mean— For College Students For a Diverse and Troubled Democracy

The Role of Scholars in a Changing Academy From Individual Merit to Collaborative Innovation for New Excellence and Creativity The Complicated Road from Here to a Better Future

The Role of Scholars in a Changing Academy (continued) Some Lessons from a Leadership Program for STEM Women Faculty of Color (PCFF)

PCFF Lessons We (Mostly) Don’t Want to Become Administrators We DO Want to Lead STEM Learning in a Different Direction We Need Proactive Support from the Top— And Allies on All Levels And We Need Collective Courage—As WE Invent That Better Future

My Invitation Today Even as You Navigate Systems Invented in a Different Time, I Hope You Will Work—with Willing Allies—To Help Envision and Invent a New Academy, Dedicated to Democracy’s Unfulfilled Promises and Characterized by Inclusive Excellence—Writ Large

The Collective Courage to Envision: A New Direction is Already Emerging What Is That Vision? What Should It Mean for Scholarly Inquiry?

Toward a New Academy and Inclusive Excellence Writ Large Engaged with Public Partners and Public Questions Inclusive in Its Commitment to Excellence Shared Inquiry at the Center—Peers, Partners, Students Inquiry Connected With the Needs of Society—Contemporary and Enduring

There Is, Of Course, A Competing Vision: Higher Education as Workforce Development Narrow Learning Training for Available Jobs Persistence and Pocketbook as the Metrics for “Success”

The Competing Vision is Fueled by Economic Anxieties Policymakers’ Anxieties Students’ Anxieties

In Our Commitment to Creating a Vision of Inclusive Excellence, We Need to Take These Economic Anxieties Into Account….

But We Also Need to Show That They Are Based on a Fundamental Misreading of Economic Trends and Needs

Or, To Put It Differently, We Need to Make Certain that Graduates are Well Prepared, BOTH For a Changing Economy, AND for a Diverse and Globally Engaged Democracy

And We Need to Demonstrate That Narrow Training, Devoid of “Big Picture” Learning, is a Recipe for Ruin

Changing Priorities for Work in the 21 st -Century Economy The Societal Context:

The Long-Term Economic Trends Source: Dancing with Robots: Human Skills for Computerized Work, by Frank Levy and Richard J. Murnane. Third Way, 2013.

What Economists Say “Human work will increasingly shift toward two kinds of tasks: solving problems for which standard operating procedures do not currently exist, and working with new information—acquiring it, making sense of it, communicating it to others…today, work that consists of following clearly specified directions is increasingly being carried out by computers and workers in lower-wage countries. The remaining jobs that pay enough to support families require a deeper level of knowledge and the skills to apply it.” Frank Levy and Richard Murname, “Dancing with Robots” (2013)

Employers Say Innovation, Critical Thinking, and a Broad Skill Set are Key for Meeting Challenges in the Workplace 95% of employers report that their companies put a priority on hiring people with the intellectual and interpersonal skills to help them contribute to innovation in the workplace 93% of employers say that candidates’ demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems is more important than their undergraduate major 91% of employers say that, whatever their major, all students should have experiences in solving problems with colleagues whose views are different from their own 80% of employers say that, whatever their major, all students need broad learning in the liberal arts and sciences Source: “It Takes More Than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student Success” (AAC&U and Hart Research Associates, 2013).

In Their Own Words: Employers Want to Find Graduates With That “360 ° Perspective” They Firmly Resist Narrow Training Alone. Hart Research Associates Focus Groups

What Employers Seek is Complex Problem-Solving and Diversity Acumen

Beyond the Economy On the MULTIPLE Purposes of a College Education Or, What the “Greatest Generation” Knew…And What We Must Reaffirm…

There Is a Clear Connection Between “Big Picture” College Learning and the Future of Democracy

Today, the Challenges at Home and Abroad Are Immense— A “Big-Picture” Education— Designed to Engage Diversity and Democracy —is Absolutely Indispensable in Building Both Our Commitment and Our Capacity to Tackle Problems Successfully

Within Our Democracy… The Communications and Technology Revolutions---And Their Effects in All Sectors Education and Equity: Generations of Children Still Left Behind Stalled Social Mobility, the Environment, and an Aging Population Violence Against People in Minority Racial, Ethnic, and LGBTQ Communities Reversals in Access to Voting in Many States The Disillusion With Democracy

Global Challenges Energy and the Environment Poverty, War, Suffering, Oppression Illiteracy and Its Effects Terrorism and Fear Gender Hierarchies Pervasive Fear of the “Other”

Making Excellence Inclusive: The 21 st Century Academy Needs to Position Itself as a Partner in Helping to Generate Solutions to Society’s Complex Problems Problems of Equity, Innovation, Opportunity… Problems Related to a Better Future for US and Global Communities

This is More than Public Scholarship, Important Though Public Scholarship Is

This is Also More Than “Dissemination” of Significant Research, Important Though That Is

The Inclusive Excellence University—Writ Large—Creates Continuing Partnerships of Many Kinds Partners Help Identify Important Problems—and Related Research Questions Partners May Contribute to Research Findings Partners Provide Sites and Contexts for Connecting Scholarship with Choices for Action, Intervention, and Further Learning Shared Inquiry, In Sum, Becomes Connected by Design to the Uses of Knowledge—Both Short- Term and Long-Term

And, Within This Context, Our Conceptions of Inclusive Excellence Writ Large in Teaching and Learning Shift As Well

The Implications of Inclusive Excellence for Teaching, Learning, and Student Success First: To Achieve Inclusive Excellence, We Need Clarity About the Kind of Learning Students Will Need for a Diverse and Complex World Second: To Prepare Students for a World of Complexity and Diversity, We ALSO Need to Ensure That Students Work Directly on Projects and Topics That Explore Complex Issues—Frequently, and In-Depth

The Good News: Through Active Work on Campus, US Higher Education Has Already Reached Broad Agreement on the Key Components of Quality Learning for a Diverse and Complex World See handout and

The Quality Learning Outcomes Include: Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World The liberal arts and sciences, focused by engagement with big questions, both contemporary and enduring Intellectual and Practical Skills (such as inquiry, analysis, communication, problem- solving with diverse partners, etc.) Practiced extensively, using evidence-based reasoning, across the curriculum See handout, page 3

The Quality Learning Outcomes Include (continued): Personal and Social Responsibility (ethical, civic, intercultural, global) Anchored through active involvement with diverse communities and real-world challenges Integrative and Applied Learning Demonstrated through students’ completion of substantial projects keyed to their goals, and confirming their readiness to tackle complex challenges See handout, page 3

More Good News: Employers Strongly Endorse These Quality Learning Outcomes—And Ask Mainly That We Ensure Students Have Acquired Them Hart Research Studies: “Raising the Bar: Employers’ Views on College Learning in the Wake of the Economic Downturn” (2010) “It Takes More Than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning Student Success” (2013) “Falling Short? College Learning and Career Success” (2015)

Means The Emerging Quality Framework Also Includes a Strong Emphasis on Engaged Learning: High Impact Practices and the Centrality of Students’ Effortful Work— Research, Portfolios, and Creative Work

When Students Participate Frequently in High Impact Practices, They Deepen Their Learning AND They Are More Likely to Complete Kuh, AAC&U, 2008.

But,Too Many Students Miss Out on the Value and Power of Inquiry- Based Work

To Make Excellence Inclusive, We—Faculty, Staff, and Key Partners—Need to Remap Educational Pathways—To Foreground Cross-Disciplinary Study of Significant Questions, Both Contemporary and Enduring

AAC&U’s LEAP Challenge—Preparing Students to Do “Signature Work” on Important Questions and Problems See handout, page 9

The LEAP Challenge in Detail Make Students’ Signature Work—lasting a semester or more—on a “big question” or unscripted problem an expected component of college and the best demonstration of what students can successfully do with their learning

Inquiry Connected with the Needs of Society: Suppose We Envisioned College Study as Guided Cross-Disciplinary Preparation for Students to Identify and Work on a Signature Topic and Related Work— Courses and Projects, Curricular and Co- Curricular

Cross-Disciplinary Inquiry and Signature Studies The First Year or Gateway Experience Should Introduce Illustrative Questions and Problems The Entire Educational Experience Should Build Capacity to Grapple with Significant Questions The Students’ Portfolio Should Demonstrate Deep Engagement with One or More Significant Problems—Problems That Matter to the Student and Problems That Matter to the Wider Society

Cross-Disciplinary Inquiry and Signature Studies (continued) Disciplinary Inquiry is Still Foundational But Students Also Need Experience in Connecting Their Disciplines with Other Perspectives and Voices And, Both for Citizenship and for Work, Students Need Active Engagement in Their Own Inquiry- Centered Studies and Projects

The Key Question for This Digital Era Will We Use the Digital Revolution as an Opportunity to Flip the Classroom—and Even the Curriculum? More Time for Collaborative and Cross-Disciplinary Projects, Investigation, and Research? More Opportunities for Community-Based Learning? More Opportunity to Work with Faculty on Significant Problems and Questions? More Student Engagement with Significant Problems That We Need to Solve?

Will We Make Shared Inquiry—Faculty, Students, and Partners Working Together—the Core Work of the Inclusive Excellence Academy?

Four Recommendations Articulate that Compelling Vision—For Inclusive Excellence in the Service of Society Connect College Study with the World’s Urgent Questions—Contemporary and Enduring Focus the Curriculum, Within and Across Departments, on Developing Powers of the Mind—and Heart Expect Each Student—Yes, Every One of Them!—To Devote Time and Talent to Signature Questions of Their Own Choosing, Support their Efforts, and Celebrate the Results

“[The problem-based project] has taught me not only about the community’s power, but also about my own agency as a political actor…I have found that democracy means continually acting as a community, for the community, rather than simply casting a vote at election time. - Nina Porter

Your Commitment—as Scholars and Faculty-Based Leaders—is the Key to This Better Future

My Invitation Today Even as You Navigate Systems Invented in a Different Time, I Hope You Will Work—with Willing Allies—To Help Envision and Invent a New Academy, Dedicated to Democracy’s Unfulfilled Promises and Characterized by Inclusive Excellence—Writ Large