What Universities Can Be: A New Model for Preparing Students for Active Concerned Citizenship and Ethical Leadership

Robert J. Sternberg

jul 2016 · Cornell University Press

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In What Universities Can Be, the high-profile educator Robert J. Sternberg writes thoughtfully about the direction of higher education in this country and its potential to achieve future excellence. Sternberg presents, for the first time, his concept of the ACCEL model, in which institutions of higher education are places where students learn to become Active Concerned Citizens and Ethical Leaders. One of the greatest problems in our society is a lack of leaders who understand the importance of behaving in ethical ways for the common good of all. At a time when new models of education are sorely needed, universities have the opportunity to claim the education of future leaders as their mission.

In the course of laying out the ACCEL concept and how such a model might be achieved, Sternberg offers many insights into the realities of higher education as it is practiced today and suggests ways that we could move in a better direction, one that would produce graduates who make the world a better place in which to live. Sternberg’s compelling narrative and convincing argument address all aspects of universities, such as admissions, financial aid, instruction and assessment, retention and graduation, student life, diversity, finances, athletics, governance, and marketing. This book is essential reading for educators and laypeople who are interested in learning how our universities work and how they could work better.

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Robert J. Sternberg is Professor of Human Development at Cornell University and Honorary Professor of Psychology at Heidelberg University. He is the author of College Admissions for the 21st Century. He holds thirteen honorary doctorates. Before moving to Cornell, Sternberg was President and Professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Wyoming; Provost, Senior Vice President, Regents Professor of Psychology and Education, and George Kaiser Family Foundation Chair of Ethical Leadership at Oklahoma State University; Dean of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Psychology and Education at Tufts University; and IBM Professor of Psychology and Education, Professor of Management, and Director of the Center for the Psychology of Abilities, Competencies, and Expertise at Yale University. He is a past president of the American Psychological Association, the Eastern Psychological Association, the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences, and the International Association for Cognitive Education and Psychology, and is currently editor of Perspectives on Psychological Science. He previously was treasurer and board member of the Association of American Colleges and Universities.