Collaborative Projects Aim to Meet Broad Goals of Liberal Education, Also to Continue Assessment of Best Practices for Improved Student Learning

Contact: Donna Heiland, Teagle Foundation Vice President, 212-373-1970

NEW YORK, Mar. 22 /Standard Newswire/ -- The Teagle Foundation today announced $1.5 million in new grants to fund 11 innovative projects involving more than 40 colleges, universities and institutions focused on higher education. Seven of the grants further the goals of Teagle's Fresh Thinking initiative, seeking to increase student engagement and learning in the liberal arts and science. Addressing another issue of increasing importance, that of religion in the classroom, one grant will fund the publication and dissemination of materials aimed to provide instructors with a better sense of their students' religious engagements.

Two grants will continue the Foundation's work in assessment, encouraging colleges to use more systematic forms of assessing the learning of their students. A major grant to the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) will allow CIC to extend its work with a consortium of institutions using the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) to measure key liberal education outcomes. A planning grant to the Appalachian College Association (ACA) will help the ACA explore ways of strengthening the teaching of mathematics at selected member colleges, in response to the results of an earlier Teagle-funded assessment project.

"The goal of liberal education is to enrich student learning through a rigorous and wide ranging curriculum," said W. Robert Connor, president of the Teagle Foundation. "Our latest round of Fresh Thinking grants will advance teaching and learning in several critical ways: they'll encourage civic engagement, help faculty understand the religious beliefs that students bring to the classroom, and advance the teaching of cutting edge science on the campuses of liberal arts colleges. And our new assessment grants will help strengthen liberal education by building on the important work our grantees have done in the area of student learning outcomes."

In addition, three Teagle grants will provide further funding for several New Orleans institutions that were severely affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Dillard University will receive $250,000 for student scholarships and faculty development; a grant of $100,000 for Tulane University will go to the Consortium Scholars Fund; a third grant of $100,000 will fund the Campus Master Plan at Xavier University of Louisiana.

Fresh Thinking

"Reacting to the Past: A Pedagogy for Curricular Innovation" -- $99,900

Barnard College, Drake University, Loras College, Queens College (CUNY), Smith College, Trinity College (CT), University of Georgia, and University of Texas at Austin

"Defining Social Pedagogies and Their Relevance to Liberal Education" -- $83,867

Georgetown University, Alma College, Borough of Manhattan Community College, California State University at Monterey Bay, Hope College, Skidmore College, and University of Kansas

"Educating Citizens: Civic Education, Ethics, and the Liberal Arts" -- $65,000

New York University, Miami University of Ohio, Northwestern University, Oberlin College, Princeton University, Stanford University, and University of Michigan

"Civic Engagement Courses" -- $100,000

Project Pericles, Allegheny College, Bates College, Berea College, Bethune-Cookman College, Chatham College, Occidental College, Pace University, St. Mary's College of Maryland, Spelman College, Swarthmore College, Ursinus College, Wagner College, and Widener University

"Teaching Big Science at Small Colleges: A Genomics Collaboration" -- $97,884

Williams College, Barnard College, Carleton College, and Vassar College

"What College Teachers Should Know about the Religious Engagements of Today's Undergraduates" Dissemination of pamphlet -- $23,500

Social Science Research Council

Assessment and Related Projects

Planning grant to investigate the root causes of students' chronic underachievement in mathematics, to develop interventions that will increase their skills, and to measure the impact of the interventions" (over 6 months) -- $25,000

Appalachian College Association

To extend the work of the Council of Independent Colleges / Council for Aid to Education Consortium (over 36 months) -- $545,714

Council of Independent Colleges

Teagle's Fresh Thinking initiative encourages in-depth analysis of new ideas and issues that can help strengthen liberal education. Over the past two years, Teagle has awarded 36 Fresh Thinking grants totaling over $ 3.2 million. White papers from the first round of Fresh Thinking grants can be found on Teagle's web site. The Foundation's Outcomes and Assessment initiative seeks to promote the development and use of faculty-driven value added assessment to improve learning outcomes and teaching methods. Teagle has funded 31 grants as part of its Outcomes and Assessment initiative, which totals over $5.7 million and has involved over 100 institutions around the country.

Please visit  www.teaglefoundation.org to read detailed descriptions for these projects as well as for more information on the Foundation and all its programs.

The Teagle Foundation is committed to providing intellectual and financial leadership in the effort to promote and strengthen liberal education.