Conference: What Does It Mean to Be a Fully Educated Member of the 21st Century Workforce

What does it mean to be fully educated . especially in the sciences, engineering, and technology

-- in our pluralistic 21st century society? To explore this question, Syracuse University proposes

hosting a workshop, using the intergroup-dialogue model (IGD), to draw together select leaders

from prominent research universities, corporations, government and non- profit organizations.

The inaugural workshop will take place at Syracuse University in spring, 2005, with the

possibility of one or more workshops to follow subsequently. We will extend invitations to

twenty university participants, including institutional presidents, provosts and eminent scholars.

Centrally important to this intergroup-dialogue approach will be inclusion of contrasting -- and

perhaps conflicting -- perspectives within research universities (e.g., public, private and

technological institutions; geographically dispersed; with and without medical schools). The

individual scholars from sciences and engineering selected for this workshop will have

evidenced both deep knowledge of specific domains and considerable breadth across field

boundaries. We will also invite select leaders from major corporations, government agencies,

and non-profit entities (e.g., FASEB, AAAS, NAE, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and

Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and NACME). The National Science Foundation will play a key

role in these workshops.

Use of the intergroup model applied to our core question . what does it mean to be a fully

educated member of the 21st century workforce . will impact both higher education and society

through the following project objectives: (1) create a forum for diverse stakeholders to engage in

intergroup dialogue addressing the question .what does it mean to be a fully educated member of

the 21st century Workforce?. (2) develop recommendations and possible strategies for higher

education, government agencies, and other key stakeholders to use to achieve this goal; and (3)

assess the effectiveness of the intergroup dialogue model in a new application.

The dissemination plan for this workshop will include distribution of the written

recommendations and the video recordings from the sessions through the Syracuse University

web site.