Leading the Way: Student Engagement and Nationally Competitive Awards

Introduction

ix Introduction Increasingly, universities across the country view the educational mission as extending beyond the classroom. Volunteer service programs, memberships in Campus Compact, and service-learning courses that have a community-based component are becoming commonplace. Study abroad has become an increasingly important educational tool. Universities advertise the percentage of their students who participate, understanding that studying abroad has the potential to provide a more intimate understanding of the world’s political and economic complexities than can be gained in the campus classroom. Study abroad is no longer restricted to the few who can afford it as institutions raise funds to open the opportunity to more and more students. Undergraduate research is becoming the norm instead of the exception. Talented undergraduates across the country are getting involved in research earlier in their undergraduate careers. At state institutions, honors programs and colleges usually require some sort of capstone experience, if not a research-based thesis, and departments , especially in the sciences, often require a senior thesis of all their students. Universities are also working to break down the traditional boundaries between fields, as academic inquiry becomes more and more interdisciplinary. Students frequently find themselves majoring in one discipline , conducting research in another department, or working collaboratively across several departments. Given technological advances in the last several decades, available information on any given topic seems nearly unlimited, and mastering any subject in its entirety is becoming less and less possible. Learning how to frame questions, approach problems, think critically, and access appropriate information is becoming more important than ever, and often this kind of learning is enhanced by experiences beyond the traditional classroom. Fellowship advisors help facilitate these experiences. Many advisors are faculty members who engage with students in the classroom, but faculty member or not, advising on fellowships is very much a teaching activity, and when done energetically and appropriately, it contributes to a university ’s mission of providing students with a broad, interdisciplinary education that prepares them to engage effectively in a developing world. The National Association of Fellowships Advisors held its fourth biennial conference in Washington, DC, in 2007. NAFA in Washington: Scholarships in a National Context focused on student learning outside the classroom and how that engagement can help develop future leaders. Paul Clement, then solicitor general of the United States, discussed how his own experiences as a Marshall Scholarship candidate influenced his understanding of the importance of public service. NAFA also hosted an embassy and international foundations scholarship fair, as well as an internship fair. Many of the sessions led by faculty representatives dealt with advising as an educational enterprise: teaching students to write effective personal statements, advising students on reshaping a loss into an opportunity, developing models of faculty involvement in the process, integrating research and scholarship advising, establishing fellowship preparation courses on “enduring pedagogical and philosophical bases,” expanding the core curriculum, and more. The essays in this collection arise in large part from these discussions. The book’s title, Leading the Way: Student Engagement and Nationally Competitive Awards, refers to the various groups involved in the scholarship process: foundations, universities, advisors, and (most importantly) the students they help educate. Providing opportunities for student engagement at the national and international levels increases understanding of global economic, social, and political issues. Universities and foundations both work to this end. Advisors provide information about and encourage participation in a variety of educational and service activities, while student leaders find and often create their own opportunities, embracing the chance to engage. The first article in this volume is based on a keynote address by Marianne Craven, Managing Director of Academic Programs, Bureau of Cultural Affairs. In “State Department Initiatives for International Academic Exchange,” she writes about the State Department’s emphasis on partnering with key players in higher education, which resulted in the Summit of U.S. College and University Presidents on International Education. Former Harvard president Derek Bok, in Our Underachieving Colleges, outlines the x • Introduction current higher-education position on study abroad experiences. According to Bok, when study abroad lasts more than a semester, it usually produces important results, such as, “a lost parochialism, a greater realism about other societies, and an abiding sense of their complexity and the hazards of easy generalizations. There is evidence that education abroad can produce significant attitudinal changes as well: greater interest in world affairs, greater commitment to peace and international cooperation, and greater appreciation of the differing...