Faculty Convocation
This annual gathering of the faculty is held in August before the opening of a new academic year for the purpose of renewing acquaintance and focusing attention on a shared theme, initiative, or goal. This year, in preparation for a review of our core curriculum, the theme is general education program design. The keynote address will be delivered by Ann S. Ferren, a senior fellow at the AAC&U, an organization that has been involved in the strengthening of general education programs since the early 1980s. Ferren will talk on models, trends, and promising new directions in general education programs.
| Time | Activity | Location |
|
9-10 |
Coffee in Comer | Comer Hall |
|
10-12 |
Plenary Session |
Comer Aud |
|
Welcoming Remarks, President Stewart "What is New in General Education," Ann Ferren Response, Suzanne Ozment, Provost & VPAA |
||
| 12-1 | Lunch | Anna Irvin Dining Room |
| 1:30-2:45 | Follow-up session I: "Developing a Picture of Who We Are" | Anna Irvin Dining Room |
| 3-4 | Follow-up session II: "Leadership for Curricular Change" | Wills Master Classroom |
| 3-4 | Session for new faculty | Wills IT Lab |
| 4:15- 5:30 |
Reception |
Carmichael Library |
About Ann Ferren She served in the early 1990s on the advisory council of the AAC&U Project on Strong Foundations in General Education that resulted in the influential Strong Foundations: Twelve Principles for Effective General Education Programs (1994). She revisited some of these same issues in a chapter in the AAC&U's General Education and Liberal Learning (2010), in which she addressed practices of "Intentionality." She is author of many writings on higher education, including (as coauthor) Leadership through Collaboration (Praeger, 2004).
