Liberal Education and America's Promise

National Leadership Council

As part of Liberal Education and America’s Promise, AAC&U formed the National Leadership Council (NLC) in 2006.  It is comprised of educational, business, community, and policy leaders who exercise strong leadership for liberal education in their own spheres of influence and advocate for an empowering, inclusive, and public-spirited liberal education for all students.

NLC LEAP Reports Available

See High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter, the latest report from AAC&U's LEAP initiative. This publication defines a set of educational practices that research has demonstrated have a significant impact on student success. Author George Kuh presents data from the National Survey of Student Engagement about these practices and explains why they benefit all students, but also seem to benefit underserved students even more than their more-advantaged peers.

Read College Learning for the New Global Century (pdf), a report from the LEAP National Leadership Council, identifies the essential aims, learning outcomes, and guiding principles for a 21st century college education. Download full report, executive summary, or purchase printed copies.

Also see results of national polls of business leaders and recent graduates and examples of LEAP Principles of Excellence in Practice.

Members of the National Leadership Council:

Derek Bok
President Emeritus
Harvard University

Mark Bradley
Attorney
Ruder Ware LLSC

Scott A. Brown
Vice President, Worldwide Distribution
Cisco

Anthony P. Carnevale
Research Professor and Director
Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce

John Casteen
President Emeritus
University of Virginia

Mary Sue Coleman
President
University of Michigan Ann Arbor

Michelle Asha Cooper
President
Institute for Higher Education Policy

Ronald A. Crutcher, Co-chair
President
Wheaton College (MA)

Troy Duster
Director, Institute for the History of the Production
of Knowledge, New York University

Judith Eaton
President
Council for Higher Education Accreditation

James Gentile
President
Research Corporation for Science Advancement

Gina Glantz
Fellow, Institute on Politics
Harvard University

Freeman A. Hrabowski, III
President
University of Maryland Baltimore County

Sylvia Hurtado
Director, Higher Education Research Institute
University of California, Los Angeles

Wayne C. Johnson
Assistant Vice President for Institute Corporate Relations
California Institute of Technology

Roberts T. Jones
President
Education & Workforce Policy, LLC

George D. Kuh
Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus of Higher Education
Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research

Barbara Lawton
Former Lieutenant Governor
State of Wisconsin

Eric Liu
Co- Founder
The True Patriot Network

Azar Nafisi
Visiting Fellow, Foreign Policy Institute
Johns Hopkins University

Martha Nussbaum
Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics
The University of Chicago

Peggy O’Brien
Former Chief, Office of Family and Public Engagement
District of Columbia Public Schools

Keith J. Peden
Senior Vice President of Human Resources
Raytheon Company

Christi M. Pedra
Senior Vice President, Marketing, Pharmaceutical Distribution
Cardinal Health

Sally E. Pingree
Trustee
Charles Engelhard Foundation

Carol Geary Schneider
President
Association of American Colleges and Universities

Lee S. Shulman
President Emeritus
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

Donald M. Stewart
Visiting Professor
University of Chicago
Former President, The College Board and Spelman College

Diana Chapman Walsh
President Emerita
Wellesley College

Blenda J. Wilson
President and CEO (retired)
Nellie Mae Foundation

Jack M. Wilson
President
University of Massachusetts System

In Memoriam

AAC&U issued a statement of remembrance marking the passing of Myles Brand, president of the NCAA and former president of AAC&U member institutions, the University of Oregon and Indiana University. In part, the statement notes that Brand served on AAC&U’s LEAP National Leadership Council and expresses gratitude “for his long history of leadership in higher education.” AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider expressed her deep gratitude “for his leadership and commitment to liberal education and to academic integrity.”

AAC&U deeply regrets the passing of National Leadership Council member, Stephen Weiss on April 16, 2008. At the time of his death, he was a managing director and senior portfolio manager of Neuberger Berman LLC and also was a member of the Board of Tulane University. Mr. Weiss also was a long-time member of the Board of Trustees at Cornell University and served on the board of the Teagle Foundation. As a member of the National Leadership Council for LEAP, Mr. Weiss helped craft the 2007 report, College Learning for the New Global Century. He also spoke on the value of liberal education in today’s society and in the role of trustee in advising liberal education at the AAC&U Annual Meeting in New Orleans in January, 2007.

NLC Staff Contact at AAC&U

Coordinating Director: Bethany Zecher Sutton