Press Release

Contact: Debra Humphreys
Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs
202-387-3760 ext. 422
Humphreys@aacu.org

Association of American Colleges and Universities Announces Three New Directors and a New Slate of Officers for Its Board of Directors

Ronald Crutcher, President of Wheaton College, to Serve as Board Chair

Washington, DC—March 16, 2005—At its recent annual meeting, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) named three new directors and elected a new slate of officers. Ronald Crutcher, president of Wheaton College (in Norton, Massachusetts), is assuming the role of chair of the board, taking over from Elisabeth Zinser, president of Southern Oregon University.

"The high-quality liberal education that AAC&U member schools provide to students is the best preparation for professional success, personal satisfaction, and the civic engagement upon which our democratic nation depends," President Crutcher said. "There is an emerging consensus among business, civic, and public policy leaders about the value of liberal education in our fast-moving, global economy. I look forward to collaborating with my fellow board members and our member schools in raising public awareness about the quality education that AAC&U institutions offer."

In addition to the appointment of Ronald Crutcher as chair of the board, AAC&U appointed Robert Corrigan, president of San Francisco State University, as vice chair of the board. Elisabeth Zinser continues to serve as an officer of the board as past chair. The new directors include two college presidents, Bobby Fong and Shirley Strum Kenny, and Arnold Rampersad, a leading scholar and dean.

Bobby Fong became the twentieth president of Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 2001. At that time, he was one of only twenty Asian American college presidents in the country. The first American-born child of his Chinese immigrant parents, Fong grew up in Chinatown in Oakland, California. He began his academic career at Berea College in Kentucky and later served as professor of English and dean of arts and humanities at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and dean of the faculty and professor of English at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. Fong served as a fellow at AAC&U in the 1980s and on its board from 1990 to 1996. In addition to his membership on the AAC&U board of directors, he currently serves on the boards of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, and the Simon Youth Foundation, and nationally on the boards of USA Funds and the American Council on Education.

Shirley Strum Kenny is president of the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook and is widely recognized for her initiatives to build bridges between the academic and business communities. Before coming to Stony Brook as its president in 1994, Kenny taught at the University of Texas, Gallaudet University, the Catholic University of America, the University of Delaware, and the University of Maryland. While at Maryland, Kenny served as chair of the English department and provost of arts and humanities. She also served as president of Queens College from 1985 to 1994. Dr. Kenny has been a leader in advocating reform of undergraduate education, especially at research universities. She established the Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research Universities, which in 1998 published the influential report Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for American Research Universities. Kenny serves on many corporate and nonprofit boards of directors, including the boards of Toys "R" Us, Computer Associates International, Goodwill Industries of Greater New York, and the Long Island Association. She is also chair of the board of directors of the Brookhaven Science Associates, which oversees the Brookhaven National Laboratory. She previously has served as chair of AAC&U's board of directors and a board member of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Arnold Rampersad is cognizant dean for the humanities at Stanford University. He served as a professor in Stanford's Department of English from 1974 to 1983. He has taught English, American studies, and African American studies at Rutgers University, Columbia University, and Princeton University. While at Princeton, he held the Woodrow Wilson Professorship of Literature and served as director of the Program in American Studies and the Program in African American Studies. Rampersad's many books include The Art and Imagination of W. E. B. DuBois, The Life of Langston Hughes, and Jackie Robinson: A Biography. He also is coeditor of the widely acclaimed anthology Slavery and the Literary Imagination and of the Race and American Culture book series published by Oxford University Press. Rampersad is currently working on a biography of the novelist Ralph Ellison.

AAC&U is the leading national association concerned with the quality, vitality, and public standing of undergraduate liberal education. Its members are committed to extending the advantages of a liberal education to all students, regardless of academic specialization or intended career. Since its founding in 1915, AAC&U's membership has grown to more than 1,000 accredited public and private colleges and universities of every type and size.

AAC&U functions as a catalyst and facilitator, forging links among presidents, administrators, and faculty members who are engaged in institutional and curricular planning. Its mission is to reinforce the collective commitment to liberal education at both the national and local levels and to help individual institutions keep the quality of student learning at the core of their work as they evolve to meet new economic and social challenges.

Information about AAC&U membership, programs, and publications can be found at www.aacu.org.