The Association of American Colleges is established at a meeting of college presidents in Chicago. Robert L. Kelly, president of Earlham College, is appointed AAC's first president. While most of its 179 founding member schools are small liberal arts colleges, from the outset, AAC is composed of colleges and universities from all sectors of higher education, including public or tax-supported institutions.

At the 3rd AAC Annual Meeting, President Henry Churchill King (also president of Oberlin College) delivers an address defining the aims of a college education. He argues that colleges should teach students "judgment, adaptability, discernment, interpretive power, and the culture adequate to enter into great spheres of social value..."

At its 9th Annual Meeting, AAC votes to admit new members and amends its original charter to read "College of Liberal Arts of" in the case of universities or other institutions that have several departments, ensuring that many types of colleges and universities would be included among AAC membership.

The members of AAC form the Commission on Liberal Education to assess the state of liberal education. A consultant to the commission argues that "Colleges have lost sight of the value of liberal education and their curricula have deteriorated into a hodge-podge of training in technical skills."

With support from the Rockefeller Foundation, the AAC Commission on Liberal Education issues a report on "The Post-War Responsibilities of Liberal Education." The report argues, among other things, that "Education, to be liberal, must be cumulative and integrative."

AAC Moves its headquarters from New York City to Lafayette Square in Washington, DC.

When the Executive Office of the President of the United States preempts its space, AAC purchases a residence at 1818 R Street, NW from the estate of Senator Hiram Bingham, where it is housed to the present day.

AAC's quarterly, The Bulletin, (Launched in 1915) acquires its present title, Liberal Education.

AAC releases a statement "Racial Problems and Academic Programs" asserting, in part, that "The nation owes a debt of gratitude to its minorities for giving a fresh and morally compelling impetus to the movement for restoring relevance to academic programs, not in any trivial or opportunistic sense but in the sense that the worth of an educational system is ultimately measured by the quality of the society it serves.

AAC launches the Project on the Status and Education on Women, the first such office in a Washington-based association. The project's first director, Bernice R. Sandler, coins the phrase "chilly climate" to describe the campus environment for many women and minority men.

Acting on recommendations of a blue-ribbon committee, AAC votes to withdraw from all formal federal lobbying activities and rededicate itself to its mission of being the "voice for liberal learning" in the United States. AAC assists in establishing the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities to work on federal relations on behalf of private or independent institutions.

AAC issues a report to the academic community, Integrity in the College Curriculum. The New York Times features it in a front page article titled "3-year Survey Finds College Curriculums in U.S. in 'Disarray'."

Paula Brownlee, president of Hollins College, is appointed AAC's first woman president. Brownlee is also the first woman to head a major higher education association.

To better reflect the diversity of its member institutions, the Association of American Colleges officially changes its name to the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

AAC&U publishes Greater Expectations: A New Vision for Learning as a Nation Goes to College--a report that maps the changing nature of higher education and calls for a renewed commitment to providing an engaged and practical liberal education to all students.

AAC&U launches Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP), a national campaign for liberal education, and forms the LEAP National Leadership Council, advocates making the case for the importance of liberal education in the 21st century.

AAC&U publishes College Learning for the New Global Century, a report from the LEAP National Leadership Council that identifies the essential aims, learning outcomes, and guiding principles for a 21st century college education.