Associated Colleges of the South (ACS) Home

Associated Colleges of the South (ACS) is a consortium of sixteen distinguished liberal arts colleges and universities. They are nationally recognized institutions located in the South, encompassing twelve states. Read more about the mission of ACS.

News fom Member Institutions

Birmingham-Southern College has received a generous $3 million bequest from the estate of Ruby S. Ansley. The gift is part of a $9.3 million donation to the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, the second-largest in that organization’s history. The $3 million will establish a fund that will remain at the Community Foundation to support scholarship and faculty compensation at BSC. The remainder will go to support Community Foundation programs in health, human services and the visual and performing arts. Full Story

Centre College recently approved a new major in environmental studies that will be available as an option for students in the 2013-14 school year. The new major will give students the freedom to apply their interest in environmental issues to other subjects. The major is very interdisciplinary. In addition to a core set of courses, students will also select a focus in one of three tracks: humanities, social studies or natural sciences. Full Story

Davidson College announced the largest gift in its history: a $45 million grant from The Duke Endowment to transform the academic heart of its campus.The gift will enable Davidson to restructure the main academic portion of its campus to create learning spaces that foster new methods of interdisciplinary learning. Full Story

Hendrix College was awarded a $1,118,063 grant from the National Science Foundation in September. The grant will support a five-year education research project to recruit, prepare and support 19 outstanding STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) majors to teach in secondary high-need schools (grades 7-12) in the Arkansas Delta. Full Story

Millsaps College has received a $1.4 million grant from the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute to redesign its science curriculum. The new curriculum is aimed at expanding the number of students interested in pre-medical education and deepening scientific training for all students. Full Story

Southwestern University has received an $800,000
grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that will be used by the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE) to support new initiatives in digital humanities. NITLE, which is headquartered at Southwestern, supports a network of 118 small colleges across the country. Full Story

Job Opportunity: The Consortium Seeks a Director of its Blended Learning Initiative
Description and Application Procedure

Blended Learning Grants Available
Request for pre-proposals - Deadline September 12, 2013
Request for full proposals - Deadline November 22, 2013

Faculty Advancement Grants Available
Request for pre-proposals - Deadline September 12, 2013
Request for full proposals - Deadline November 22, 2013

Seventh Annual Conference on Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum (CLAC)
University of Richmond - September 19-20, 2013

Consortium Describes New Paradigm Initiative

Modules Created by ACS Faculty for Blended Teaching and Learning

Tim Chartier, Davidson College - Exploring Applications of Linear Algebra
Learning to solve a linear system Ax = b is an important part of the undergraduate mathematical curriculum. Linear algebra is also widely used in a variety of applications. Helping students see how math is used or relates to the world around them can be inspiring, motivating and eye opening. This blended course explored applications of linear algebra accessible to undergraduates and suitable for classroom use. The webinars and supplementary materials of this blended course are available at http://lifeislinear.wordpress.com/.
Mike Winiski, Furman University and Jeremy Donald, Trinity University - Blended Learning - A Design-Based Approach
A set of digital learning materials focused on understanding and creating maps using Geographic Information Systems. These modules address best practices for reading and interpreting maps and histograms, basic elements of spatial and statistical literacy (i.e., measures of central tendency and data classification), and the ability to choose a classification scheme and create a choropleth map appropriate to a given research question. Project tutorials and assignments are available at https ://sites .google .com /a /trinity .edu /acs _grant _gis /.
David Wright, Furman University and Joe Essid, University of Richmond - Beyond the (Online) Handbook: Writing Resources Designed for the Digital Environment
A collaboration between the Writing Center at the University of Richmond and the Center for Teaching & Learning at Furman University to begin to develop robust, informative, and interactive writing resources for students and instructors that go beyond the traditional writing “handbook” model. The "handbook" is available at http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb.html.

NITLE Opportunity:

Intercampus Teaching, Networked Teaching - June 4, 2013

Spring 2013 Palladian -- our most recent newsletter (PDF)

Sweet Sixteen: Great Colleges of the South -- new book published by ACS

For questions, please contact ww@colleges.org
Associated Colleges of the South 1975 Century Blvd. NE Suite 10
Atlanta GA 30345 p:404 636-9533 f:404 636-9558

This page updated on 5/15/13

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