“Work and Learning in Higher Education in the 21st Century” Symposium at Berea College May 31-June 2
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5-26-09
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| Students holding jobs while going to college isn’t anything new or unusual. But Berea College is one of only seven colleges in the United States, collectively called Work Colleges, where all students are required to participate in a comprehensive work-learning-service program as part of the school’s educational program and philosophy.May 31 – June 2 Berea College will host a Symposium titled “Work and Learning in Higher Education in the 21st Century.” Sponsored by the Work Colleges with support from the Kellogg Foundation, the symposium will give invited teams from other colleges and universities an opportunity to examine work-learning as an educational approach to prepare students for the complex realities of the 21st century. Conference speakers and symposium workshops will challenge participants to rethink student work as having educational outcomes that include lifelong learning, personal development, service and vocation.
Keynote speakers will be David Sawyer and William Coplin, recognized leaders in the fields of work and learning. Sawyer, president of Context, consults widely with corporations and non-profit organizations on strategy, citizen engagement, leadership, sustainability and culture change. For a decade Sawyer directed leadership and service-learning programs at Berea College, receiving the nation’s highest award for voluntary service from the White House and The Servant Leader Award from the National Youth Leadership Council. He designed Save the Children Federation’s Appalachian Teen Leadership Program, traveled to India to meet with the Dalai Lama to help design a Tibetan refugee education program and worked with the Clinton administration to help launch the nation’s AmeriCorps program. Bill Coplin, Ph.D. has been the Director and Professor of the Public Affairs Program of the Maxwell School and College of Arts and Sciences of Syracuse University since 1976, where he has won most of the teaching and advising awards given by Syracuse. Among the more than 110 books and articles he has published are “10 things Employers Want You to Learn in College” (2003). His latest book is “25 Ways to Make College Pay Off: Advice for Anxious Parents from a Professor Who’s Seen It All.” Member institutions of the Work Colleges Consortium include: Alice Lloyd College, Pippa Passes, Ky; Berea College, Berea, Ky.; Blackburn College, Carlinville, Ill.; College of the Ozarks, Point Lookout, Mo.; Ecclesia College, Springdale, Ark.; Sterling College, Craftsbury Common, Vt.; and Warren Wilson College, Asheville, N.C. Berea is the oldest work college in the nation and the first interracial and coeducational school in the South. Institutions presenting at the symposium, in addition to the Work Colleges, include Rhodes College, Berry College, Keuka College and Maryville. Attending the symposium are teams from Wilmington College, Davis and Elkins, Montreat College, Lindenwood University, Quincy University, Washington and Lee University, Morehead State University, Spelman College, Campus Compact and the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education. For additional information, visit www.workcolleges.org |
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| CONTACT: Robin Taffler, Executive Director Work Colleges Consortium (859)985-3154 |
