EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

DATE: May 22-24, 2013

EVENT: At a time when the value of the liberal arts is under much debate, more than 50 deans at large research universities around the country will gather for an unprecedented national conversation about “The Liberal Arts and Sciences in the Research University Today: Histories, Challenges, Futures.”

The public is invited to join the discussion at two evening panels:

At 7 p.m. May 22, Earl Lewis, president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and former vice provost and dean of U-M’s Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies, will join Carol Geary Schneider, president of the Association of American Colleges & Universities, and Pauline Yu, president of the American Council of Learned Societies, to discuss the current status of liberal arts and sciences at research universities from their perspectives as leaders of major national foundations and professional organizations supporting the liberal arts.

At 7 p.m. May 23, U-M President Mary Sue Coleman will be joined by former U-M President James Duderstadt and former U-M Provost Teresa Sullivan, now president of the University of Virginia, to discuss their answers to the question: “Are the Liberal Arts and Basic Sciences Still the Heart of the Research University?”

“Today, the national conversation about higher education centers around crisis, failure, fraud and pressure for research universities to expand training in entrepreneurship and applied learning,” said Terrence McDonald, dean of U-M’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. “This conference will provide a forum for educational leaders to discuss the value, contributions and future of the liberal arts. They are the foundation of intellectual creativity and civil society in America and a model of college education for the world.”

PLACE: Rackham School of Graduate Studies, 915 W. Washington St., Ann Arbor

SPONSORS: U-M College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; U-M Rackham School of Graduate Studies; U-M Michigan Meetings program; and Liberal Arts and Sciences Deans of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, a consortium of all of the Big 10 universities and the University of Chicago.

INFORMATION: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/las/about/theconference