Press Release

Contact: Debra Humphreys
202-387-3760 ext. 422
Humphreys@aacu.org

Association of American Colleges and Universities Presents 2007 Frederic W. Ness Book Award to James Engell and Anthony Dangerfield for Saving Higher Education in the Age of Money

Washington, DC—February 8, 2007—The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has announced that the winners of its Frederic W. Ness Book Award are writers James Engell and Anthony Dangerfield for their book, Saving Higher Education in the Age of Money. The Ness award is given annually for the book that best illuminates the goals and practices of a contemporary liberal education.

Engell and Dangerfield’s analysis of the growing influence of money on educational priorities in higher education raises timely issues about the perceived “value” of education in today’s world.  Engell is a professor of English and Comparative Literature, and Chair of the Department of English and American Literature and Language at Harvard University; Dangerfield has taught at Cornell University, Dartmouth College, and Harvard University, and is a writer and actor.

The book, published in 2005, was selected by a committee of higher education leaders, includingStan Hales (chair), president of the College of Wooster; Rebecca Chopp, president of Colgate University; David Maxwell, president of Drake University; and Cora Marrett, currently assistant director of education and human resources at the National Science Foundation and former senior vice president of the University of Wisconsin System.

“Engell and Dangerfield make a powerful case that there is an increasing danger in our midst, and that danger is money,” says Stan Hales, chair of the selection committee. “While many of us might wish to believe that money is no danger to higher education but rather one of our best friends, the authors persuasively demonstrate that the marketplace ethic has transformed for the worse many of our best colleges and universities and that a primary casualty in this transformation is our ethical foundation.”

“We are deeply moved and pleased to receive the Ness Book Award honoring liberal education," says Engell. "For today's students, becoming a liberally educated individual is a growing challenge as certain academic fields are being denigrated by lack of funding and as students are, more and more, using perceived earning-potential to decide a course of study. These developments are changing higher education from a pluralistic, balanced institution into one increasingly driven by the force of the market.”

This book award was established by AAC&U in 1979 to honor AAC&U's president emeritus, Frederic W. Ness. Recent award winners have included Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Reform in Liberal Education by Martha Nussbaum, Idealism and Liberal Education by James O. Freedman, and Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts by Sam Wineburg.

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. Founded in 1915, AAC&U now comprises more than 1,150 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 on the AAC&U Web site.