Vincent Tinto, Distinguished Professor of Education in the Syracuse University School of Education, has been named a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Commission for the Advancement of Teaching, a Carnegie Foundation program, for the Spring 2008 semester.
Tinto is one of a select group of distinguished scholars invited to work on their own research projects while in residence at the foundation's Palo Alto, Calif., campus. "I will use the time to complete a book," says Tinto. "I will also participate in a variety of commission conversations, in particular those that involve the commission's initiatives on the improvement of community college teaching and learning. Tinto says he also may be asked to lead seminars on the research that he and Cathy Engstrom, associate professor of higher education and chair of SU's Department of Higher Education, are conducting for the Lumina Foundation for Education and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Tinto studies social inequality in higher education and the character and causes of student attrition in colleges and universities. He has authored more than 50 publications, including books, research reports and journal articles, and has lectured across the United States, Australia, Europe and the Middle East. From 1990-96, Tinto was associate director of the National Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment.
Founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is an independent policy and research center charged with promoting the teaching profession and the cause of higher education. The foundation brings together researchers, teachers, policymakers and members of organizations with common interests in education to develop tools and ideas that enhance learning in colleges and schools.