The Liberal Education of Students of Faith

The Ninth Annual Conversation on the Liberal Arts

February 27-28, 2009

 

Overview Speakers Program
Registration Accommodations

Getting to Westmont

Conversation Speakers

a_astin Alexander W. Astin is Allan M. Cartter Professor of Higher Education Emeritus at the University of California , Los Angeles and Founding Director of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. He has served as Director of Research for both the American Council on Education and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. He is also the Founding Director of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, an ongoing national study of some twelve million students, 250,000 faculty and staff, and 1,800 higher education institutions.

Dr. Astin has authored 20 books and more than 300 other publications in the field of higher education, and has been a recipient of awards for outstanding research from more than a dozen national associations and professional societies. He has also been elected to membership in the National Academy of Education, a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University , and a recipient of eleven honorary degrees.

A 1990 study in the Journal of Higher Education identified Dr. Astin as the most frequently-cited author in the field of higher education. In 1985 readers of Change magazine selected Dr. Astin as the person "most admired for creative, insightful thinking" in the field of higher education. His latest book is (with H.S. Astin) Leadership Reconsidered :Engaging Higher Education in Social Change (W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 2000).

Dr. Astin is currently Principal Investigator on two major HERI research projects: A long-term longitudinal study of the impact of the undergraduate service learning experience on the post-college life of former college students (funded by the Atlantic Philanthropies) and (with Helen Astin) a national study of students’ spiritual development (funded by the John Templeton Foundation).

 
Helen

Helen S. Astin, a psychologist, is Professor Emerita of Higher Education and Senior Scholar at the Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA. She served as the Associate Provost of the College of Letters and Science at UCLA from 1983 to 1987.
Helen Astin has been a trustee of Mt. St. Mary's College since 1985, and served as a trustee of Hampshire College from 1972 to 1979. She has served on the Board of Governors of the Center for Creative Leadership, and on the Board of the National Council for Research on Women. In the American Psychological Association Dr. Astin has served on its Boards of Policy and Planning and Education and Training. She has also served as a member of the Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable of the National Academy of Sciences, and as Chair of the Board of the American Association for Higher Education. She is a recipient of three honorary degrees, numerous other awards including the Howard Bowen Distinguished Career award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE).
Dr. Astin's major books include: Women of Influence, Women of Vision; Human Resources and Higher Education; The Woman Doctorate in America; Higher Education and the Disadvantaged Student; Some Action on Her Own: The Adult Woman and Higher Education; Sex Discrimination in Career Counseling and Education; The Higher Education of Women: Essays in Honor of Rosemary Park.

Her current research is on Spirituality in Higher Education. She has coauthored a monograph on the Meaning & Spirituality in the Lives of College Faculty, and two reports, The Spiritual Life of College Student and Spirituality and The Professoriate. Before coming to UCLA, she was director of research and education for the University Research Corporation in Washington, D.C.

 
stan

Stan D. Gaede (Westmont, B.A.; Vanderbilt, Ph.D.) is currently the President of the Christian College Consortium and Scholar-in-Residence at Gordon College.  Prior to his current position, he served ten years at Westmont; first as Provost from 1996-2001, and then as President from 2001-2006.  From 1974-1996 he was on the faculty at Gordon College, rising to the rank of full professor in 1985, and serving as department chair, division chair and provost.  A three-time recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award at Gordon, he has been a regular speaker in chapel at both Gordon and Westmont.

Dr. Gaede is a sociologist by training, focusing on the sociology of knowledge and the sociological intersection of history, philosophy and religion.  He is the author of seven books and multiple articles, and a frequent speaker on college campuses, conferences and churches.  His books include An Incomplete Guide to the Rest of Your Life and When Tolerance is No Virtue, both published by InterVarsity Press; and Life in the Slow Lane and For All Who Have Been Forsaken, published by Zondervan (Harper Collins).  In a forthcoming article in The American Sociologist (Practicing What We Teach), he argues for the benefits of a faithful sociology, whereby sociologists (and indeed all scholars) live out the implications of their teaching (including the author of the article).