Geography in US Higher Education

1. Geography in US Higher Education Growth, Change, and Development Sarah Witham Bednarz Texas A&M University

2. Agenda • The US Higher Education Scene • Context of growth, development, and change • Geography in This Context… • Growth, development, and change • New research funding directions • Curriculum development opportunities • Geographic Information Sciences

3. US Higher Education Scene: Background • Complex system of public and private colleges and universities, two- and four- institutions, non-profit and for-profit • 622 public four-year institutions • 1,220 public and private two-year institutions • 1,551 private four-year institutions • 789 private two-and four-year for-profit institutions • State controlled; no federal authority per se

6. US Higher Education Scene: Background • Extensive doctoral/research universities • Offer a wide range of baccalaureate programs; committed to graduate education through the doctorate; award 50 or more doctoral degrees per year across at least 15 disciplines • Intensive doctoral/research universities • Similar but smaller in scale; at least 10 PhDs per year across three or more disciplines • Public comprehensive institutions • “Normal” schools grown up

7. US Higher Education Scene: Change • Enrollments have grown • Expanding opportunities to new populations • Changes in how students pursue degrees

8. US Higher Education Scene: Change • Wider range of socio-economic, racial, ethnic groups • Entering with a different level of academic preparation

9. US Higher Education Scene: Change • Student access to higher education has expanded… • Changes in technology… • Changes in demography… • Changes in the demand for education…

10. US Higher Education Scene: Status • Sense of urgency about higher education following thirty years of extensive change • Broad public support but less public investment • Changes in funding structures • Decline in state appropriations • Shift to student tuition and fees • Questions about what college students learn • Competing purposes for higher education • Workers vs an educated citizenry

11. US Higher Education Scene: Status • Sense of urgency about higher education following thirty years of extensive change • Broad public support but less public investment • Changes in funding structures • Decline in state appropriations • Shift to student tuition and fees • Questions about what college students learn • Competing purposes for higher education • Workers vs an educated citizenry

12. US Higher Education Scene: Status • Sense of urgency about higher education following thirty years of extensive change • Little connection between K-12 and 13-16 and beyond • Increasing interference from policy makers • Faculty productivity measures • High stakes testing • Metrics for teacher education

13. US Higher Education Scene: Status • Sense of urgency about higher education following thirty years of extensive change • Weak links between teaching and learning • Changing demographics of academic workforce • Decline in proportion of tenured faculty • Aging population • Disconnect between research and teaching

14. US Higher Education Scene: Status • Sense of urgency about higher education following thirty years of extensive change • Changes in the social charter that links higher education to the nation

15. US Higher Education Scene: Implications for Geography • College as high school… • Need for teaching more important than ever • K-12 situation

16. National Geography Standards • Standards for geography K-12 • Institutionalized in state social studies standards • No Child Left Behind emphasis on reading, math, science

17. US Higher Education Scene: Implications for Geography • College as high school… • Need for teaching more important than ever • K-12 situation • Demographics of faculty • Full- time being replaced by part-time • Need for articulation between two-and four-year institutions

18. Whither Geography?

19. Whither Geography? • Driving Forces • Geographic Information Sciences and related spatial technologies • Shared across the mapping sciences • Environmental sciences • Shared across the geosciences • Resisting Forces • Aging faculty • Lack of curricular relevance in some contexts

20. Growth • Geographic Information Sciences • 179 out of 195 geography programs list GIS as a specialty • Proliferation of courses, degrees, and certificate programs • Issues of pedagogy • UCGIS Model Curriculum? • Issues of quality assurance • “buttonology” vs GIScience • Workforce issues: Minorities? Women?

21. Growth • Geographic Information Sciences • 179 out of 195 geography programs list GIS as a specialty • Proliferation of courses, degrees, and certificate programs • Issues of pedagogy • UCGIS Model Curriculum? • Issues of quality assurance • “buttonology” vs GIScience • Workforce issues: Minorities? Women?

22. Change • National Science Foundation Initiatives • Promoting interdisciplinary initiatives • Complex environmental systems • Synthesis for Earth, Life, and Society • Human dimensions of global change • Social and behavioral processes that shape and influence interactions • Biocomplexity in the environment • Integrated investigations of environmental systems using advanced scientific and engineering methods • Human and social dynamics • Causes and ramifications of change

23. Development • National Geography Alliances • Association of American Geographers: Shift from developing resources to developing faculty • Geography Faculty Development Alliance • Active pedagogy, inquiry-based learning, teaching with technology • Course planning, student assessment, • Grant writing, publication, tenure and promotion issues

25. Development • Curriculum Project

26. Development • Curriculum Project • Global Learning for All • American Council on Education • Funded by Ford Foundation • Strategies to make international/global learning an integral part of undergraduate education

27. Conclusions… • A new landscape… • Conflicting priorities… • Scale issues • Growing need for scholarship of learning/teaching • Increasingly less important to policymakers