At the October 2024 Board meeting, President Rob Manzer reported on his involvement with the national conversation on post-secondary accreditation reform. His work has included regular participation in the American Enterprise Institute (DC) Accreditation Reform Working Group and the Higher Education Working Group. His report, “The American University’s Path to Illiberalism” was published in the AEI Higher Education Policy Catalog. In April he provided a briefing on accreditation reform to the Defense of Freedom Policy Group and in May, he participated in the National Association of Scholars webinar, “The Future of Accreditation”. Rob concluded his report to the AALE Board stating that, “AALE remains a distinctive asset in the broader market of post-secondary and K-12 accreditation. National conversations focusing on reforms to post-secondary accreditation continue. However which reforms will be pursued or brought into play will be determined by the results of the upcoming national election.”
Year: 2024
AALE Holds Annual Elections
Annual elections were held at the June 2024 Board meeting. Board of Trustees members, Steve Balch, an independent scholar in Lubbock, TX was elected to a third 4-year term and Joshua Hochschild, Professor of Philosophy at Mount Saint Mary’s University (MD) was elected to a second 4-year term. Robert Manzer was reappointed as President.
Two new members were elected to the Council of Scholars – Dr. Karen Price and Dr. Peter Ulrickson. Karen is the Vice Provost and Dean of Instructional Effectiveness at Belmont Abbey College (NC). She has extensive experience with program evaluation, strategic planning and student learning outcomes assessment. Karen has published on alternate assessment in the Journal of Special Education and on measuring student engagement in the Journal of Continuing Higher Education. Peter is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the Catholic University of America (DC). He has published in Communications and Algebra and is the author of the math text A Brief Quadrivium and the companion text Teaching the Quadrivium-A Guide for Instructors.
AALE’s Newest Members
AALE recently welcomed members under the Associate and the newly established Affiliate membership categories. Joining as an Associate member is the Honors Program at Montreat College (NC). The Honors Program is open to students from all majors and consists of 22 hours that replace courses in the General Education program. Honors students explore texts and topic from the Christian, Western, and World traditions from the perspective of multiple disciplines across the arts and sciences. Joining as an Affiliate member is Saint Constantine College (TX). Founded in 2016, Saint Constantine College is “dedicated to setting the standard for dialectical, Great Texts education in the classical model, and graduating students who are generous conversants, lifelong learners, and moral leaders in their communities.”