#8: “I’m awake.”
Meeting attendees taking the escalator between floors were greeted with a video montage from ACUE’s courses projected on the wall. In this still, a student featured in our unit on active learning is pictured saying “I’m awake. And I’m awake because I’m engaging constantly.”
#7: The nation’s teaching center
Testimonials from our subject matter experts and partners were included in the “Member Resources” section of ACE’s networking lounge slideshow. Here, a quote from José Bowen, president of Goucher College, that was published in Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning is shared: “Through ACUE, we can prepare our faculty with their ‘degree’ in pedagogy. It can be the nation’s teaching center and help us change lives.”
#6: Presidents and chancellors address
ACUE Founder and CEO Jonathan Gyurko spoke at the Reception for Presidents and Chancellors on Saturday night, following opening remarks from ACE President Ted Mitchell about ACE and ACUE’s important collaboration. “We asked ourselves: What could we do to help you strengthen these defining moments in a student’s academic career and make great teaching the norm?” Gyurko said. “Now, four years in, we hear from faculty every day who are learning together at our partner institutions as they reflect on, and write about, the changes they’re making to their teaching, and the impact on students.”
#5: Standing room only
It was a packed house at the session “Innovation-Driven Approaches to Teaching Effectiveness” on Sunday morning, where Steven Taylor, director of academic innovation and initiatives at ACE, presided among presenters from Western Governors University, Carnegie Mellon University, and ACUE. Pictured above, our Chief Academic Officer Penny MacCormack shares a quote from Eduardo Padrón, president of our partner institution Miami Dade College: “I believe that great teaching—a long-sought priority of higher education—is within our grasp.” “If great teaching is within our reach,” MacCormack added, “then so is great student learning, and great retention and graduation rates.”
#4: Exhibiting collaboration
Molly Broad, president emerita of ACE, visited our exhibit to chat with our Founder and CEO Jonathan Gyurko. In 2016, Broad and Gyurko launched ACE and ACUE’s landmark collaboration to help institutions enhance student outcomes through effective instruction.
#3: The “donut hole” in the student success agenda
In “The Future of Teaching Across American Higher Education,” a Sunday afternoon session, Penny MacCormack, our chief academic officer, facilitated a conversation among panelists (pictured left to right) George L. Mehaffy, vice president for academic leadership and change at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU); David Brailow, vice president for development at The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC); and Ken O’Donnell, associate vice president of student success program integration and assessment at California State University, Dominguez Hills. Mehaffy described the “gap” he has noticed in many institutions’ student success initiatives: “As we looked at it, and looked at what people were doing across this array of institutions, large and small, in all parts of the United States, what we saw was what I describe as the donut hole. We talked about all of the support stuff, but we didn’t talk about what goes on in the classroom. And if you don’t talk about what goes on in the classroom, the rest frankly doesn’t matter.”
#2: A Hollywood moment
We were delighted to have Terri Jett, associate professor of political science and special assistant to the provost for diversity and inclusivity at Butler University, visit us in the exhibit hall. You may recognize Jett from our modules on “Motivating Your Students” and “Developing Self-Directed Learners.” Above, ACUE’s Julie Candio Sekel, Tricia Russ, and Pete Nowka are all smiles posing with Jett (second from the right).
#1: Cheers to 100 years
Congratulations to ACE on 100 years of service to higher education. This timeline showcases ACE’s many accomplishments, from 1918 when the Emergency Council on Education was formed, to today, as ACE continues to confront the major issues affecting higher education, offer a collective voice in advocacy efforts, and share research and practices that advance our institutions’ work. We are honored to have our collaboration with ACE be included as a milestone among ACE’s most impressive history.
