University of New Haven Becomes Newest NAC&U Member

"We are excited to welcome the University of New Haven as an NAC&U member," said Nancy Hensel, president of NAC&U. "The University’s strength in combining experiential education with a strong liberal arts foundation makes them a valuable addition to our current membership."

Although regionally diverse, NAC&U members are like-minded peers in terms of size and mission and therefore can come together to collaborate on projects and share best practices in a warm, collegial manner.

"I am thrilled that NAC&U recognized that UNH is a university on the move and thus voted to include us," UNH President Steven H. Kaplan said. "We will benefit a great deal from this affiliation as the current members are what we would consider role models in the area of engaged learning.  All of these schools rank among the very best in their respective regions and our interactions with them will strengthen us as we continue the transformation of UNH."

Recently NAC&U published "Redefining the Paradigm: Faculty Models to Support Student Learning" – a monograph that encourages colleges and universities to more effectively structure departments to address changes in higher education and better support student learning. The Teagle Foundation-funded project on forming holistic departments and updating methods used to evaluate faculty was a collaboration across 16 NAC&U members. This fall, NAC&U will launch a collaborative civic engagement project involving more than half of its membership.

About the University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a private, top-tier comprehensive institution recognized as a national leader in experiential education. Founded in 1920 on the campus of Yale University in cooperation with Northeastern University, UNH moved to its current West Haven campus in 1960. The University operates a satellite campus in Tuscany, Italy, a graduate business campus in Orange, Conn., and the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts in Old Lyme, Conn., as well as programs at other locations in Connecticut, California and New Mexico. UNH provides its students with a unique combination - a solid liberal arts education, plus real-world, hands-on career and research opportunities. Through its five colleges, UNH offers 80 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. UNH students have access to hundreds of study abroad programs worldwide, and its student-athletes compete in 16 varsity sports in the NCAA Division II’s highly competitive Northeast-10 Conference. The University has nearly 53,000 alumni.

About the New American Colleges and Universities

Founded in 1995, The New American Colleges and Universities is a national consortium of selective, small to mid-size (2,000-7,500 students) independent colleges and universities dedicated to the purposeful integration of liberal education, professional studies, and civic engagement. To improve the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning among its members, The New American Colleges and Universities sponsors projects and conferences, administrator and faculty affinity groups, surveys and data benchmarking, and international study programs. The New American Colleges and Universities collectively and individually are often cited as models of the intentional integration of teaching and learning, scholarship, and service. Follow them on Twitter @NACandU.