Keene State Chosen for Global Century Education Project

KEENE, N.H., 11/01/10 - Keene State College is one of 32 colleges and universities chosen to participate in General Education for a Global Century, a curriculum and faculty development project that will provide students with the skills and knowledge essential for socially responsible citizenship. More than 140 institutions applied to be part of the initiative, part of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U;) “Shared Futures” initiative, funded by the Henry Luce Foundation.

The selected institutions, from all regions of the country, include two-year and four-year public and private institutions. Keene State is one of four New England schools participating in the project, joining Worcester Polytechnic Institute (MA), University of Massachusetts Amherst (MA), and Southern Connecticut State University (CT).

“Keene State College is preparing our students to enter a world in which an understanding of global concerns and the global economy will be essential,” said Keene State College Provost Emile Netzhammer. “The Shared Futures project allows us to bring greater focus to these issues on our campus and to partner with other campuses to improve global education.”

“Increasingly, in their mission statements and strategic plans, colleges and universities promise that their graduates will develop the knowledge, skills, and values necessary to act as responsible and productive global citizens in an interconnected and interdependent world. Yet in most cases, general education curricular designs have not kept pace with the rhetoric,” said AAC&U; director of Global Learning and Curricular Change Kevin Hovland. “These selected institutions will all be working together to create clear and creative pathways - horizontally and vertically - through which students can connect their learning and achieve essential global learning outcomes. Many of these schools have already made significant progress in reimagining general education for a global century and, in this project, they will be able to test new curricular models, assess global learning outcomes, and share insights with each other and with the larger higher education community.”

Additional information about the initiative.

Information about AAC&U; membership, programs, and publications.