Up until the 20th century, "adolescence" was not a meaningful concept to our cultural ancestors. Psychologists are now seeing the development of another new stage in life for American youth: Emerging Adulthood.

During the ... emerging adulthood ... young men and women are more self-focused than at any other time of life, less certain about the future and yet also more optimistic, no matter what their economic background. This is where the “sense of possibilities” comes in ... they have not yet tempered their ideal istic visions of what awaits. “The dreary, dead-end jobs, the bitter divorces, the disappointing and disrespectful children . . . none of them imagine that this is what the future holds for them,” he wrote. Ask them if they agree with the statement “I am very sure that someday I will get to where I want to be in life,” and 96 percent of them will say yes. But despite elements that are exciting, even exhilarating, about being this age, there is a downside, too: dread, frustration, uncertainty, a sense of not quite understanding the rules of the game ... .

Some scientists would argue that this ambivalence reflects what is going on in the brain, which is also both grown-up and not-quite-grown-up. Neuroscientists once thought the brain stops growing shortly after puberty, but now they know it keeps maturing well into the 20s. This new understanding comes largely from a longitudinal study of brain development sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health, which started following nearly 5,000 children at ages 3 to 16 (the average age at enrollment was about 10). The scientists found the children’s brains were not fully mature until at least 25. “In retrospect I wouldn’t call it shocking, but it was at the time,” Jay Giedd, the director of the study, told me. “The only people who got this right were the car-rental companies.”

Don't miss out on joining nearly 1,500 of your colleagues and peers at higher education's premier planning event of 2010, SCUP–45. The Society for College and University Planning's 45th annual, international conference and idea marketplace is July 10–14 in Minneapolis!

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Here's your SCUP Link to "The Cultural Landscape of the UW-Madison Campus"

 We discovered this gem of a website through The Scout Report, an Internet newsletter that we've followed for more than 10 years and which consistently shares quality descriptions of quality Web-based resources:

The University of Wisconsin-Madison campus includes one massive football stadium, several greenhouses, a building that housed John Muir during his student days, and a large statue of Abraham Lincoln sitting atop Bascom Hill. This digital collection from the University of Wisconsin Digital Collections group presents almost 500 images which document the cultural landscape of the campus from the middle of the 19th century to the present day. The items are arranged chronologically into three separate eras, and visitors can also just click on "View all images" to browse around as they see fit. Here visitors will find images of the first agricultural campus, Camp Randall (a Civil War training camp), and the Memorial Union Terrace. Visitors shouldn't miss the aerial shots of campus or the shots of the Armory, also known locally as the Red Gym. [KMG]

 

The Florida State University (FSU) Heritage Protocol was created to preserve the history of FSU through collections of various ephemeral items, including yearbooks, photographs, items of clothing, audio recordings, and films. The materials on the site are divided into six primary sections that include: "Virtual Museum", "Photo Galleries", "Mixed Media", and "Publications". In the "Virtual Museum", visitors can look at the mortar board of physical education professor, Katherine W. Montgomery, and the 1913 commencement announcement for the Florida State College for Women. Moving on, the "Photo Galleries" area includes a photo of the week feature, a collection of images from the Florida State College for Women and some unique photos of one Burt Reynolds, who went to Florida State University in the 1950s. The "Mixed Media" area is quite interesting, and visitors can view a FSU circus rehearsal film from the early 1950s and listen to an album of performances from FSU's School of Music. Finally, the "Publications" area includes primary documents like an article on the FSU Circus from the March 31, 1952 issue of Life magazine and a piece from 1955 on the FSU Marine Lab. [KMG] Copyright 2009 Internet Scout Project - http://scout.wisc.edu

This recent article is from Assessment UPdate: Progress, Trends, and Practices in Higher Education. Assessment UPdate is a commercial publication from Wiley Interscience but you may find that your institution has a subscription, in which case the website will recognize your IP address and permit you to have access. This article is in the May/une 2008 issue #3 of Volume 20:

In considering the issue of transforming higher education, people tend to think of the university in the abstract: the idea of providing education and what that means in these changing times. The authors suggest that the physical university should also be considered. At Ferris State University, educators have made a comprehensive effort to transform the university by creating a learning-centered culture focused on three central elements: (1) classrooms; (2) learning spaces outside the classroom; and (3) professional development. They undertook a multistage project to renovate learning spaces in a systematic fashion, combining the renovations with professional development efforts for faculty and administrators. They transformed the academic milieu both physically and intellectually with the primary purpose made of fostering a more learning-centered culture and environment. In this article, the author discusses the multistage renovation project and the role of assessment in creating a learner-centered environment.