Presidents' Forum

Changing Understandings of Liberal Education: an Action Agenda
A Special Program for Presidents, Foundation Officers, and Business Leaders

Thursday, January 27, 2005

For most of history, the advantages of a liberal education were reserved for a privileged few. Today, that situation has fundamentally changed. A dynamic and globally interdependent economy is placing a new premium on complex intellectual skills and understandings. In response, Americans are flocking to college. Postsecondary learning has become the new standard for educational accomplishment and economic opportunity.

There are both challenges and opportunities in these unprecedented developments. One challenge, AAC&U members understand, is to help an entire generation of students recognize that liberal education will be their strongest preparation to live and work in the twenty-first century. Indeed, many campuses have already embarked on far-reaching educational changes intended to help students connect their learning with the challenges of a complex world.

However, public preferences, policy choices, and students’ own expectations are moving in the opposite direction; and a lack of funding in every sector threatens to put a sharp brake on educational creativity. New AAC&U research on high school and college students’ views of college—to be reported at the Annual Meeting—finds an alarming disconnect between faculty/employer views of important learning and students’ own perceptions of what matters in their college education.

Facing these contradictions directly, AAC&U invites presidents, business leaders, and foundation officers to work together on an action agenda to raise public expectations about the kinds of learning that matter in college.

Preliminary Program

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2005

7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
Opening Night Forum: Degrees of Mediocrity, Degrees of Excellence
A Conversation With Producer John Merrow about his forthcoming PBS Documentary on today's students and their experiences of college
Note: This session will include clips from the documentary and is open to all annual meeting attendees

8:45 - 10:30 p.m.
Invitational Reception for Presidents and Foundation Officers With John Merrow
Hosted by the President and Board of Directors of AAC&U

THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 2005

7:00 - 8:30 a.m.
Presidents' Breakfast and Discussion: Overview of the Leadership Campaign for Liberal Education
Messages from the Global Economy:
The Economic Value of Liberal Education Outcomes
Roberts T. Jones, President, Education and Workforce Policy LLC and MTC Institute

8:45 - 10:15 a.m.
Presidents are warmly encouraged to attend the Annual Meeting Opening Plenary
Pedagogies of Uncertainty
Lee Shulman, President, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Forum Session: Research Report and Discussion
Students' Mixed Understandings of Liberal Education and Its Value in the New Economy:
Reports from National Focus Groups
Abigail Davenport, Peter D. Hart Research Associates and Debra Humphreys, Vice President, Office of Communications and Public Affairs, AAC&U

The Campaign on Campuses: Focusing Students on Liberal Education Outcomes
Discussion Leaders: Rosemary De Paolo, President, University of North Carolina Wilmington; Jamienne S. Studley, President, Public Advocates, Inc.

12:15 - 2:00 p.m.
Luncheon and Address for Presidents and Foundation Officers
Against the Odds: Supporting the Educational Success of Underserved Students
Martha D. Lamkin, President and CEO, Lumina Foundation for Education

2:15 - 4:00 p.m.
Discussion of the Campaign with AAC&U Presidents
Shaping a Leadership Campaign for Liberal Education
Elisabeth Zinser, President, Southern Oregon University and Chair, AAC&U Board of Directors; Carol Geary Schneider, President, AAC&U

How Presidents and Campuses Can Take the Lead in:

• Forming Alliances with the Business Community
• Providing Evidence on Liberal Education Outcomes
• Creating Advocacy Alliances in Pilot States/Regions

Recommendations from the Presidents' Forum will help AAC&U lead an effective campaign. Please join us for these discussions.

Presidents are warmly invited to attend the 90th Anniversary Celebration of AAC&U

4:15 - 5:00 p.m.
Anniversary Address and Special Acknowledgments
Making Excellence Inclusive: The Decade Ahead
Carol Geary Schneider, President, AAC&U

5:00 - 6:30 p.m.
AAC&U's 90th Anniversary Champagne Reception
A Celebration of our 200 Founding Members and 1,000 Current Members

FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 2004

7:00 - 8:30 a.m.
Special Breakfast Meeting of Presidents
Bringing Theory to Practice: Engaged Learning and Presidential Leadership for Student Health
Don W. Harward, Project Director and President Emeritus, Bates College and members of the Bringing Theory to Practice (BTtoP) Planning Group

NOTE: To register for this breakfast, please contact Jennifer Reynolds at 202-884-0815 or reynolds@aacu.org by January 10, 2004.

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If you have questions, please e-mail us at meetings@aacu.org.