Access and Success: Undergraduate Education for the Twenty-First Century: Conference - Crytal City, VA, November 9-10, 2012

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This project is a two-day conference designed and sponsored by the national Reinvention Center (RC). Its title and focus is on "Access and Success: Undergraduate Education in the 21st Century." The RC is an outgrowth of the Boyer Commission Report that called for more attention to and improvement of undergraduate education in the nation's largest research universities. Currently, the RC comprises 67 dues-paying member institutions, each represented by its Undergraduate Dean or Vice Provost. These educators constitute the "Undergraduate Vice Provosts Network (UVP)," the intellectual core of the Center. The 2012 National Conference is focused on undergraduate education in three broad areas identified by the RC membership as critical issues facing undergraduate education at research campuses nationwide: (i) accreditation, assessment and accountability; (ii) increasing persistence to graduation in the STEM fields; and (iii) administrative best practices for supporting undergraduate education in an era of diminishing resources (time and money). The conference is comprising four plenary sessions and 15 topical sessions on these themes. These themes are broadly supporting of the new NSF program for Widening Implementation and Demonstration of Evidence-based Reforms (WIDER). The 2012 conference is connecting attendees with the architects and implementers of highly visible efforts to improve useful STEM endeavors, including the American Association of Universities (AAU) STEM initiative, a five-year initiative that kicked off in the fall of 2011 to improve the quality of undergraduate teaching and learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields at its member institutions. It is also connecting participants to representatives from the nation's six regional accrediting bodies. These accreditors profoundly impact undergraduate education and have the potential to support national efforts to improve the effectiveness of undergraduate STEM education.