2021 Programming



In 2021, The Aspen Institute; Franklin & Marshall College; The Freeman College of Management at Bucknell University; and The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania hosted 100+ educators in a boundary-spanning conversation about the liberal arts and business.

Through vibrant peer exchange and deep dives into exemplary teaching, our agenda featured curricular examples and initiatives that blend the liberal arts and business disciplines, as well as explorations of how change happens in our institutions of higher education.

Schools participating in the Consortium each brought their unique intellectual interests and culture to our gatherings and faculty members each contributed knowledge and perspectives specific to their disciplines. All of this led to a rich exchange of ideas and measurable impact.

Un-Distancing

Each year, our annual convening is organized around a theme that functions as a call-to-action to participants: namely, if we were to teach this theme in our classrooms and at our institutions, how might we call upon the content and pedagogies of the liberal arts and business education to do so?

COVID-19 introduced “social distancing” into our vocabulary and lives—keeping us apart from family, friends, colleagues, and students—and disrupting almost everything normal in our day-to-day. But distance can also provide perspective. As we slowly come back together, what have we learned? How have the very human impacts of business become more visible to us all and what does this mean for the classroom?

For more on our theme, please see here.

What will we do?

  • This year, rather than our typical, 2.5-day conference, we are taking advantage of our newfound capacity to connect virtually to create a sustained learning community, with more time and space to exchange ideas and co-create.

  • The new structure includes opening and closing sessions in June and October, as well as new summer learning pods, which will give participants the chance to delve deeply into sub-topics relevant to our theme. Each pod will orient around questions including: how is their respective topic being taught now – and how might we build from that teaching? What do the liberal arts and business each contribute to the teaching of this topic?

  • We are starting with a new end in mind. Given the profound and cascading crises of 2020-21, we see an opportunity for the Undergraduate Consortium to share resources and thought leadership that speak to the relevance of our agenda in this moment. And so our 2021 programming will, in part, drive toward sharing inspiration and practical ideas with the larger community of undergraduate educators. Possibilities we’ve imagined include a statement of principles, a webinar series to highlight exemplary curricula that embody those principles, and more.

  • Mark your calendars for:

    • June 14 & 15 (~5 hours per day)

    • Summer learning pods (~10 hours, in total, over periodic sessions)

    • October 15 (~5 hours)

We’re so looking forward to connecting with you in this new structure. We’ve tried to answer a few common questions here, but as always, we’d love to hear from you directly with any questions and ideas you may have. Please feel free to get in touch with us at UndergradConsortium@AspenInstitute.org.

This convening and its theme are in part an outcome of an ongoing collaboration, supported by the Teagle Foundation, between Franklin & Marshall, Bucknell University, and the University of Pennsylvania—aimed at exploring how liberal arts content, skills, and pedagogies can illuminate the study of business and commerce.