Mission and History
Mission
COLLABORATION GOALS
- To better understand the nature of resilience in our students’ lives and work
- To develop and implement interventions/programs to promote academic resilience
- To support research, disseminate information, share materials, and provide consultation among members and within the larger field of higher education regarding issues related to academic resilience
STATEMENT OF VALUES
- Participants welcome and respect diverse cultural and personal assumptions, values, circumstances, and perspectives.
- Participants strive for collaboration among students, faculty, staff, and alumni within their own campus communities.
- Participants strive for social justice and equity.
GUIDING QUESTIONS
- What are the habits, attitudes, and skills associated with resilience in the college/university setting?
- To what extent can resilience be learned in young adulthood? What pedagogies and learning contexts influence students’ conceptions of success, failure, and risk? What promotes or inhibits the development of resilience?
- What is the long term impact for young people in their academic and professional endeavors, when they are provided with opportunities to develop their capacities for resilience during their college/university years?
- How can institutions of higher education reduce or eliminate socio-cultural and institutional impediments to student learning and success?
Community Standards
- Professionalism. Our standards of conduct as a community include treating everyone with respect and generosity and behaving in a professional, ethical, and legal manner.
- Participation. Membership/participation in the ARC community is by mutual agreement, and can be ended at will, at any time, by either the member or the ARC.
- Payments to the ARC. Payments to the ARC are designated at the time of payment either as gifts/donations or as fees for goods or services. All payments to the ARC are non-refundable.
- Use of Lists. ARC members do not use the member list, event participation lists, listerv, or other ARC lists to send unsolicited mass communications, for example for commercial, political, or religious purposes.
History
The Academic Resilience Consortium (ARC) emerged from a shared sense that today’s students encounter unprecedented challenges in their lives and work that require them to exercise capacities for resilience. Institutions of higher education have an important role to play, both in helping young people develop these capacities and in removing systemic barriers that stand in their way.
The ARC began among a group of Ivy+ Learning Services colleagues in 2014. The founding participants included representatives from Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Harvard University, Princeton University, Stanford University, University of Chicago, and University of Pennsylvania. We came together to share with one another our various initiatives, articles, and other resources, and to support one another in our efforts to understand and promote academic resilience.
A steering committee was formed and the first ARC website was created to provide a format for collaboration. Immediately after launch, the ARC began to receive inquiries and requests from a wide range of colleagues and institutions interested in resilience. Membership was opened to all institutions of higher education. Participating institutions determined independently how to address issues of resilience on their own campuses, given their unique resources, interests, and student populations.
Today the ARC includes 600+ members from over 360+ institutions in 45 US states and 17 countries. The ARC is a fiscally sponsored program of Community Initiatives, allowing us to operate as a 501(c)(3) non-profit.
Our Founders (2014-2021)
The ARC has always been a member-led organization. As of 2021, a member-elected governance structure took effect, providing new opportunities for participation and leadership. But we will always remain grateful to our original founders and past transition leadership.
Abigail Lipson
Co-Founder, Academic Resilience Consortium
(retired Director of the Bureau of Study Counsel, Harvard University and Coordinator of Harvard’s Success-Failure Project)
[email protected]
Adina Glickman
Co-Founder, Academic Resilience Consortium
(retired Director of Student Learning Strategy Programs, Stanford University)
Co-Founder and CEO, Affinity Coaching
[email protected]
Myrna Cohen
(retired Executive Director of the Weingarten Learning Resources Center, UPenn)
Adjunct Associate Professor of Education
University of Pennsylvania
[email protected]
Nic Voge
Senior Associate Director
McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning
Princeton University
[email protected]
Steering Committee (2021-2022)
During the 2021-2022 term, ARC advanced in its efforts to promote resilience in higher education by hosting nine webinars and two international conferences (“What Works” Symposium and A More Resilient Future). ARC introduced its triannual newsletter, ARConnections, and grew its community to include over 300 new members through institutional and individual memberships.
Karen Oehme, J.D.
Chair
Director, Institute for Family Violence Studies
Distinguished University Scholar
Florida State University
[email protected]
Laura Johnson, Ph.D.
Vice-Chair
Assistant Provost, Undergraduate Affairs
Boston University
[email protected]
Margaret Mbindyo, Ph.D.
Secretary
Assistant Professor
Advisement Coordinator, Center for Advisement and Student Support
Millersville University
[email protected]
Judit Török, Ph.D.
Treasurer
Director, Center for Teaching and Learning
Pratt Institute
[email protected]