You are invited to two opportunities to engage in a stimulating conversation with Dr. James A. Anderson, Vice President for Student Success and Vice Provost for Institutional Assessment and Diversity at the University at Albany.
Please share this invitation with interested faculty, graduate teaching assistants, and staff in your areas.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
| 9AM - 11AM | Student success workshop — Big 12, Kansas Union |
| 4PM - 5PM | "Driving Change through Diversity" Presentation — Alderson, Kansas Union |
The morning workshop and afternoon presentation will feature practical applications that Anderson articulates in his new book, Driving Change Through Diversity and Globalization: Transformative Leadership in the Academy.
James A. Anderson is Vice President for Student Success and the Vice-Provost for Institutional Assessment and Diversity at the University at Albany. From 1992 to 2003, Anderson served as the vice provost for undergraduate affairs at North Carolina State University. He has also served on the psychology faculty at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Xavier University of New Orleans. At Xavier he also served as the department chair. He obtained a bachelor's degree from Villanova University and his doctorate in psychology from Cornell University.
Anderson's research and publications have focused on the development of student learning styles across gender, race, culture and class; the formal assessment of student learning in the college classroom; and the examination of how diversity impacts student learning, retention, and overall institutional effectiveness.
He was selected as an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow, a Danforth Fellow and a National Learning Communities Fellow. In March 2005, Anderson was awarded the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Outstanding Contribution to Higher Education Award, and in November 2004 was honored by the National Association of Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC) Commission on Human Resources and Social Changes with an Outstanding Service award. Anderson edited the 2004 publication "The Unfinished Agenda of Brown v. Board of Education" (John Wiley & Sons).
As noted in one review of Anderson’s latest publication, Driving Change Through Diversity and Globalization Transformative Leadership in the Academy, the demands of the twenty-first century are challenging higher education to pursue greater excellence and improve national competitiveness. Among the challenges are the demographic changes that require enhancing institutional capacity to serve diverse populations; calls for greater accountability; and societal needs to educate students to become effective global citizens and leaders. In this book, Anderson argues that success in meeting these myriad challenges will be achieved to the degree that institutions embed the twin values of diversity and globalism at the very heart of their activities. James Anderson demonstrates how focusing on these two values—that each institution needs to define collectively for itself to gain commitment and active engagement at every level—will drive the transformation that’s essential to meeting tomorrow’s demands.
The book sets out the challenges and considerations that must be addressed by administrative leaders, by faculty, by trustees, and others who shape the vision and direction of the institution. It offers a framework to place the diversity discussion in a learning-centered context. While charging institutional leaders with the responsibility for organizational change, it stresses the critical role of faculty in changing the teaching and learning paradigm, diversifying or transforming the curriculum, and empowering the voices of diverse students. It calls for strategically linking diversity and globalism to teaching and learning outcomes.
In the forward of the book, Ronald A. Crutcher, President of Wheaton College, compliments Anderson for presenting “a guidebook for transformational change in our institutions. However, rather than simply espousing lofty ideals, Anderson’s book presents both thorough analyses of the challenges as well as practical examples and recommendations for successful implementation." Drawing on numerous examples of successful institutional and faculty initiatives, James Anderson offers guidance for integrating diversity and globalism in every aspect of the everyday work of the institution.
Please join us for this conversation with an engaging speaker who has spent several years looking at the issue of diversity and its critical relationship to learning.
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