Intergenerational Scholars Symposium
The National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good partnered with the Higher Education and Organizational Change Division of the School of Education at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), University of Michigan's Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education, and Michigan State University's Higher, Adult and Lifelong Education Program to create a series of symposia. Scholars came together in discussion, share research, and create action plans that confront issues of higher education and the public good.
While these national symposia retained the mission of the National Forum, "higher education for the public good," one of their distinctive hallmarks was the linking of established scholars within higher education with prominent emerging researchers. The National Forum believes that throughout various stages of their careers, scholars can equally contribute to, and benefit from, conversations as well as the body of research that promote higher education for the public good. Each conference session is tied to the overarching theme of education for the public good. To this end, through their participation in the conference, attendees engaged in in-depth analyses of scholarship related to the public good, formulated research agendas that more intentionally connect academic scholarship to broader societal needs and issues, and identified avenues for disseminating research focusing on the public good.
The first symposium was hosted in the October of 2002, by Drs. Helen Astin and Alexander Astin at the University of California, Los Angeles and by Drs. Syliva Hurtado and Eric Dey from the University of Michigan.
The second annual symposium occurred in February 2004 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The program committee members were Dr. Ann Austin from Michigan State University and Drs. Eric Dey, Anthony Chambers, and Larry Rowley from the University of Michigan.
Theme in Action & Research: Higher Education for the Public Good