AHEA “The Futures of Adult Higher Education”
October 10-12, 2007
Sinclair Community College
David H. Ponitz Sinclair Center – Building 12 Directions/Map
The 2007 Annual Conference theme is The Futures of Adult Higher Education. We have chosen this topic because of its immediate relevance to our students and to ourselves. Many adult-friendly programs are expanding and offering more flexible and academically sound opportunities for working adults to begin or complete a college degree. Other programs are changing course and losing some of the spirit of their original missions, and still others are closing.
We thus need to come together think about a range of critical questions:
Who are our students now and who will they be in the future?
What are the goals and hopes that inform our programs?
What new models of learning, advising and mentoring can respond to the diverse needs of a diverse group of learners?
Can we identify and carefully examine the myriad ways in which institutional and broader social changes have affected students, faculty, and others devoted to adult learning?
The featured speaker for the conference is Paula Peinovich, former president of Walden University and who serves on the Board of Directors, Council for Higher Education Accreditation. Peinovich will talk about The Future of Higher Education for Adult Learners: Is Past Prologue? The landscape of higher education over the last thirty years has changed dramatically, in part because of the emergence of the large learning force of adults. Trends that have shaped our current landscape include the integration of technology into daily life, the importance of economic development in a global society. Will these trends continue to shape the future? Or will new trends emerge to create a future for the adult learning force and the higher education enterprise that cannot be forecast from looking at the past?
It is our hope that the 2007 Conference will help us think about the multiple factors that influence our “futures,” and thus about the nature of our communities, the quality our programs, and the core values and critical commitments upon which our work as adult educators is grounded.
The conferences fees are:
Two day non-member rate: $250
Two day AHEA member rate: $210
One day non-member rate: $150
One day AHEA Member rate: $110
To learn about AHEA membership, contact Sue Currey.
The Spirit of our Annual Conference
In the spirit of past AHEA gatherings, this meeting will be organized around a set of topics and questions brought to us by members. Proposed sessions should be organized in the best spirit of adult learning; they should invite conversation and questioning, they should be interactive, they should enhance our work as scholars-practitioners, and they should allow for a range of ideas and points of view to be expressed. We look forward to these days of spirited conversation among colleagues, and to new ideas and practices that will strengthen our work with our students and with each other.
Pre-conference Workshop
Creating Contexts for Transformation
Wednesday October 10, 2007
1:00-4:30pm
Sinclair Community College
This workshop will provide opportunities for participants to discuss and consider strategies relating to learning and change. For example, we will ask:
How do we help ourselves and our students think about change?
What is the relationship between learning and personal, social, and institutional transformation?
What steps can we take as educators and administrators to encourage reflection and actions that will lead to new ways of making meaning?
Please join us for conversation, as we consider these questions and begin to develop concrete steps to enhance our programs and our students' learning.
Workshop facilitators:
Joan Dolamore, Dean of Lifelong Learning, Wentworth Institute of Technology
Alan Mandell, College Professor of Adult Learning & Mentoring, SUNY Empire State College
Barbara Vacarr, Director, Learning Community Bachelor's, Lesley University
The pre-conference workshop fee is $30.00 (includes afternoon refreshment).
