 Pacific Lutheran Celebrates President Loren Anderson and His 20 Years of Service to the University
 After Bruce Bjerke '72, chair of the Board of Regents at Pacific Lutheran University, praised the Andersons for their long service to the university – noting that during President Anderson's tenure PLU has seen the creation of five endowed chairs and professorships, a healthy endowment of $75 million and the recent completion of a capital campaign that topped $120 million – he had a surprise in store. Bjerke turned to assistant professor Spencer Ebbinga, who unveiled a bronze bust of Anderson. The bust will have a new home in the newly renamed Loren and MaryAnn Anderson University Center. Read more.
Videos Added to NAC&U YouTube Channel
Westminster Hosts Summer Institute for New American Colleges & Universities
 Westminster College will host the 18th Annual New American Colleges and Universities (NAC&U) Summer Institute from June 20-22, 2012. The Summer Institute brings together faculty and administrators from member colleges and universities across the nation to discuss issues facing their schools and also provides a venue for professional development and networking.
This year’s NAC&U Summer Institute builds on the theme explored through the NAC&U Teagle Foundation Planning Grant. Through the grant project, teams are exploring what it means to be a NAC&U professor in the 21st century. In this year’s Summer Institute, participants will delve into what it means to be a 21st century NAC&U institution.
With issues such as cost-quality; expanding and demanding faculty roles; new approaches to learning inside and outside the classroom; innovative uses of technology in higher education; nonstandard learning environments; facing the expectations and addressing the needs of this next generation’s students; and measuring, recognizing, and rewarding efforts toward student learning, all member institutions can share and explore possibilities for best practices.
For more information: General Info | Register | Speakers | Program.
Undergraduate Research – and Faculty Mentoring – Opens Doors to the Future
 When Megan King started her undergraduate research, she had expectations – and a solid hypothesis – of what her research would yield. Her hypothesis was not correct, which was a tough lesson for the North Central College senior, but one that gave her real-world skills. King reflected, “It was difficult for me to learn that it is okay – it’s just your hypothesis was proved wrong, and you move forward with what you did find.”
King began her research after asking numerous professors at North Central about their ideas relating to accounting and Spanish, which she has studied as an undergraduate. When Professor Sarah Lureau’s idea piqued her curiosity, King wrote a Richter Research Grant to secure funding from North Central and then traveled to Spain to research how International Financial Reporting Standards are taught in Spanish undergraduate universities for her paper, “A Study on Pedagogical Changes in Spanish Undergraduate Accounting Education.” Read more.
Final Words
Over the next month, as they stand at podiums on our campuses, looking out at a sea of caps and gowns, commencement speakers will advise and inspire graduates as they move forward with the next chapter of their lives. 
At the University of Evansville, a new tradition is beginning. Instead of selecting an outside speaker, a graduating student will deliver the commencement keynote. Alan Kaiser, associate professor of archaeology and chair of the Senior Keynote selection committee, said that the student keynote was implemented because the Ceremonies Committee believed that “no one can better reflect on the UE experience than a member of the graduating class.” Following a competitive process, which included submitting a written speech, the selection committee at UE picked eight finalists to perform their speeches before the final selection was made. Emily Mella, an archaeology, art history, and international studies major and history minor will be UE’s inaugural student keynote.
 The path to the podium is not just arduous for aspiring student speakers -- securing a prominent speaker can require much persistence. This year Wagner College students will have the pleasure of listening to Dr. Elie Wiesel, an author, professor and Nobel Peace Prize winner. According to Wagner’s chief of staff, Joe Romano, “We have been trying to arrange for him to speak at Wagner for some time, and this is the first opportunity where everything has worked out to make it a reality.” Romano said that the values Wiesel has taught over the course of his own career, including those of understanding and tolerance, dovetail well with Wagner’s curriculum of community engagement.
Wagner president Richard Guarasci added, "Elie Wiesel is one of this world’s moral beacons. He has been a steadfast moral witness against genocide. I have been in his presence three times, and I can tell you that it is an experience I will never forget." Read more.
Six NAC&U Members Listed Among Princeton Review’s Greenest
 Drury University, Ithaca College, North Central College, Pacific Lutheran University, Stetson University and Westminster College were highlighted in The Princeton Review’s Guide to 322 Green Colleges: 2012 Edition. According to the Princeton Review, the free downloadable book profiles institutions of higher education that “demonstrate notable commitments to sustainability in their academic offerings, campus infrastructure, activities and career preparation.” For more information: Drury | Ithaca | North Central
 Hamline Appoints Provost, School of Education Dean
Hamline University has named Dr. Eric R. Jensen as its provost. He will begin his new duties as provost on July 1, 2012. Jensen comes to Hamline from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he has spent the past eight years serving as director of the Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy.
"Dr. Jensen's extensive background in higher education as a professor of economics, as an innovative leader of a nationally-recognized public policy program, and as a gifted administrator will advance our vision as a diverse and learning centered university,” Hamline President Linda Hanson said. Read more. 
Hamline also named Dr. Nancy L. Sorenson as dean of its School of Education. Sorenson will begin her new role on July 1, 2012. Sorenson has a wealth of experience in academic leadership positions. She hails most recently from Saint Mary’s College of California, where she served for ten years as dean of the School of Education. Prior to that, she spent six years at College of Charleston as dean of its School of Education. Read more.
Arcadia University Announces New Study Abroad Program, Faculty Development in Cuba
Arcadia University has established the Arcadia in Cuba study abroad program,as well as the first Global Faculty Development Workshop in academic collaboration with the prestigious University of Havana. This new relationship has enabled The College of Global Studies at Arcadia University and Arcadia’s Office of International Affairs to launch new study abroad, faculty development and applied research programs in Cuba. Read more.
|
