Notes from the Director

Research in a Time of Transformation

Dana Lundell
CRDEUL Director

CRDEUL is continuing another academic year with a focus on research, publications, grants, events, and awards. Along with the upcoming changes in the General College related to Strategic Positioning at the University of Minnesota, we continue to transform our own work to meet the future needs of students and teachers in higher education and at urban postsecondary institutions.

Let’s celebrate! Our publications continue at an unprecedented pace. Co-editors Jeanne Higbee, Dana Lundell, and David Arendale are pleased to announce the September publication of a new book that was over two years in the making, The General College Vision: Integrating Intellectual Growth, Multicultural Perspectives, and Student Development. The book includes 25 chapters by GC faculty and staff describing the vision of the General College through its 73-year history, academic programs, research, and student voices. Copies are available through the Center’s Web site or in 340 Appleby Hall.

Proceedings from the CRDEUL-sponsored January 2005 conference of the Metropolitan Higher Education Consortium, are forthcoming very soon: Building Bridges for Access and Success from High School to College: Proceedings of the Metropolitan Higher Education Consortium’s Developmental Education Initiative is co-edited by Dana Lundell, Jeanne Higbee, and Susan Hipp of Century College.

We are also editing the upcoming monograph Student Standpoints on Access in Higher Education, co-edited by Dana Lundell, Jeanne Higbee, and Irene Duranczyk, which will be available in spring 2006.

Perhaps the greatest news to date is the grant recently awarded to Jeanne Higbee, CRDEUL senior advisor. The project is “Pedagogy and Student Services for Institutional Transformation (PASS IT): Implementing Universal Instructional Design by Training Professionals to Train Others” from the U.S. Department of Education for a total of $904,483 over three years. Congratulations, Jeanne! We are also working on new grants and research for the future.

This past summer I also conducted research on “Oral Histories of Minnesota Developmental Educators,” focusing on in-depth interviews with past presidents of the Minnesota Association for Developmental Education. I collaborated with my colleague, Patty Wheeler-Andrews, reading faculty at Anoka Ramsey Community College. We will be presenting and writing about this project in the future.

I end this report with a note about Strategic Positioning at the University of Minnesota and its impact on CRDEUL. Like others, we are engaged in the same review process as all other units in our college at the University of Minnesota. Though we are uncertain of our future at this time, we certainly hope to continue our work through grants and other projects, which we are currently generating. Stay tuned for future news on CRDEUL as it becomes available this spring.

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