Summer 2003 Feature

Pine Manor College to Participate in AAHE/Carnegie Foundation Project

by Nia Lane Chester, Dean of the College

Dr. Robert Shea (Director for Faculty and Curriculum Development, Center for Inclusive Leadership and Social Respon-sibility, Coordinator of the Community Healthcare Outreach Program, and Assistant Professor of Sociology) and Dr. Michele Ramirez (Associate Professor of Psychology) have been invited to represent Pine Manor College in a three-year project aimed at expanding the scholarly work on teaching and learning. This project is jointly sponsored by the American Association of Higher Education (AAHE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. PMC has been accepted as a core member of the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) Campus Program. As a core member of the CASTL Campus Program, PMC will participate in a regional “community of practice” to be led by colleagues at Middlesex Community College. The objectives of this “community of practice” include:

• connecting with others to establish a broader learning community that will improve our collective communities of practice;
• generating a thematic focus to facilitate growth and continuance of this community; and
• implementing and disseminating activities and materials about the thematic focus.

As a first step in the development of the regional “community of practice,” Shea and Ramirez will join other core members at the AAHE Summer Academy in Snowbird, Utah (July 16–20). Shea will also participate in the Carnegie Colloquium on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in March 2004.