William M. Sullivan positions The Power of Integrated Learning: Higher Education for Success in Life, Work, and Society as a call and a model for higher education administrators and educators to consider how integrating liberal arts, professional studies, and civic responsibility into an institutional curriculum could not only better prepare students for success in work but also in life and society. Most importantly, Sullivan discusses how this type of integration could help higher education leaders rethink ‘the model of American undergraduate education more broadly."
Sullivan concludes the book by re-sharing a model that can be used to reimagine higher education. The examples throughout the book are engaging insights into what NAC&U ( New American Colleges and Universities consortium) institutions are doing to fulfill their mission.”
Teachers College Press
"AAC&U has declared integrative learning the '21st century liberal art.' Working intensively with faculty, students and leaders from the New American Colleges and Universities, Bill Sullivan brings this far-reaching idea brilliantly to life. Through dozens of curricular, pedagogical and student vignettes, he shows liberal education at its finest. Readers will find in these pages compelling evidence that creating connections across disciplines, between the liberal arts and professional studies, and between college and the wider community is the most powerful way to help students chart a course for life and develop their capacities to make a positive difference in the wider world."
Carol Geary Schneider, President
Association of American Colleges and Universities
"This volume tells the story of the first group of colleges in the US to recognize that it is possible for a college to provide high quality education in both the liberal arts and the professions and that this admixture also can increase the exercise of civic responsibility by students and recent graduates. Since those early days, the NAC&U model has been adopted by hundreds of other colleges, while the core NAC&U group continue to prosper. William Sullivan tells an inspiring story that counters the false claims of declining quality in American higher education."
Richard Ekman, President
Council of Independent Colleges
"With his usual grace and clarity, William Sullivan has made a compelling case for integrated learning. His study of twenty-five higher education institutions that comprise the organization of New American Colleges & Universities illustrates the value not only of these institutions, but also of an engaged liberal arts for students and society in general. This is a most useful book for prospective students, parents, teachers, and counselors, as well as anyone interested in learning about the potential of American higher education to contribute to a better world."
Ira Harkavy, Associate Vice President, Founding Director, Barbara and Edward Netter Center for Community Partnerships
University of Pennsylvania
"I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in fostering and building a more integrated and coherent college experience."
Ken Bain, Author: What the Best College Teachers Do and What the Best College Students Do
“Anyone who wants to see the best that American higher education can offer will find it on display in this fine book. By telling stories from the diverse institutions in the New American Colleges and Universities consortium, William Sullivan shows high ideals at work every day.”
Edward L. Ayers, President Emeritus
University of Richmond
