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NEA Higher Ed Conference

2005 NEA Higher Education Conference examined teaching and learning on the nation's campuses in the age of diversity.

Nearly 350 NEA higher education faculty and staff from across the nation gathered in San Antonio, Texas, March 4–6 for the annual NEA Higher Education Conference.

Conference participants explored the topic of diversity in the academy from a variety of perspectives, including the diversity of the current student body and projections for the echo-boomers, diversity in the workforce, and the impact of recent federal and state policy changes on the ability of higher education institutions to educate a diverse student body and employ a diverse workforce.

In addition to more than 20 conference sessions on topics ranging from collective bargaining to recent assaults on academic freedom to the impact of globalization on the academy, attendees honored the third graduating class of the NEA Emerging Leader Academy and recipients of the Davenport Award, which honors NEA members for outstanding contributions to higher education.

Conference participants also took time to honor winners of the 2004 Excellence in the Academy awards. Nancy Hanna, a psychology professor at Rowan University in New Jersey, won the NEA Excellence in the Academy Art of Teaching Award for her article "One Professor's Philosophy of Teaching from Both Sides of the Desk." William Tierney, professor of higher education and director of the Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis at the University of Southern California, and Vicente Lechuga, a post-doctoral researcher also at the USC Center, won the NEA Excellence in the Academy Democracy in Higher Education Award for their article, "Academic Freedom in the 21st Century."

The deadline for the 2005 NEA Excellence in the Academy awards is September 30, 2005.

The NEA 2005 Almanac of Higher Education is now available. This issue looks at the challenges facing higher education, such as domestic and foreign competition, cuts in federal and state domestic spending and its impact on faculty salaries, and the academic workforce. The Almanac authors also respond to the challenges of globalization, bargaining for contingent faculty, and the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.

Order a copy, which includes a CD-ROM containing the 2003–04 faculty report, at HigherEd@nea.org or view it online at www.nea.org/he/almanac.html.