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Association of American Colleges and Universities Announces Six New Directors and New Slate of Officers for Board of Directors

Dr. Eduardo Padrón, President of Miami Dade College to Serve as Chair

Washington, DC - February 3, 2009 - At its recent annual meeting in Seattle, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) named six new directors and elected a new slate of officers. Dr. Eduardo Padrón, president of Miami Dade College, assumed the chair of the board, taking over from Daniel Sullivan, president of St. Lawrence University (NY). Sullivan will continue to serve on AAC&U's Board Executive Committee as Past Chair. Padrón has served for fourteen years as president of Miami Dade College.

''I am extremely honored and humbled by this recognition from my colleagues,'' said Dr. Padrón. ''As we embark on one of the most challenging years ever for higher education, I look forward to serving with them as we advance a comprehensive agenda that will help maintain the nation's colleges and universities as the best in the world.''

In addition to the appointment of Dr. Eduardo Padrón, AAC&U appointed David Oxtoby, president of Pomona College, as Vice Chair of the Board. At Pomona College, David Oxtoby holds a coterminous appointment as president and professor of chemistry.

New Directors appointed to AAC&U's board include six educational leaders from a wide array of institutions. They include:

Ramón Gutiérrez, University of Chicago
Leo Lambert, Elon University
David Maxwell, Drake University
Gail Mellow, LaGuardia Community College
David Shi, Furman University
John Simpson, University at Buffalo, State University at New York

Ramón Gutiérrez, a historian of race and ethnic relations in American life, is Director of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago. Dr. Gutiérrez was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellowship, the John Hope Franklin Prize from the American Studies Association, and the Frederick Jackson Turner Prize from the Organization of American Historians. Leo Lambert became Elon's eighth president in January 1999. Dr. Lambert has written extensively about post-secondary education and is co-editor of a book about university teaching that was published by Syracuse University Press in 2005. David Maxwell has been president of Drake University since May 1999. Dr. Maxwell was director of the National Foreign Language Center in Washington, DC from 1993 to 1999. Gail O. Mellow was appointed president of LaGuardia Community College in August 2000. Dr. Mellow has served in various capacities at community colleges in Maryland, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey: and was director of the Women’s Center at the University of Connecticut. Dr. David Shi was named president of Furman University in 1994. In 1999, he was among an elite group of 50 college and university presidents who were recognized by the John Templeton Foundation for their outstanding leadership in the development of student character. Dr. John Simpson was appointed president of the University at Buffalo in January 2004. An accomplished research scientist, he is appointed to the faculty of the University at Buffalo's Department of Physiology and Biophysics.

Helen Giles-Gee, Evelyn Hammonds, M. Lee Pelton, and Robert J. Sternberg serve on AAC&U's board of directors and were reappointed last month for a second two-year term.

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.