Elizabeth Kamarck Minnich is Senior Scholar at the Association of American Colleges & University: Office of Diversity, Equity, and Global Initiatives. She has dedicated her professional life to transformational development in education and democratic practices, through her service in higher education as well as through writing, speaking, board memberships, special projects, and consulting. 

Dr. Minnich's 2003 article in Change, "Teaching Thinking: Moral and Political Considerations," provides an excellent introduction to the importance of teaching thinking in higher education. In this essay she suggests many ways in which thinking itself can be the focus of teaching and learning, including a general shift in approach to teaching as being about “awakening interest and informing capacities over stocking minds in a world in which store houses are ever more accessible;” the assignment of thinking papers, in which students trace the development of their thinking about a particular issue; and careful attention to texts, because “texts of whatever sort are […] examples of someone else’s thinking with which to converse.”

Indeed a great deal of Dr. Minnich’s pedagogy involves thinking with students, being a conversational partner for students which they can carry with them throughout their lives, providing good company for the journey (Baxter Magolda, 2002). We are sure that Dr. Minnich will be excellent company for the participants of the Elon Research Seminar as well.