Press Release
Contact: Debra Humphreys
Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs
202-387-3760
Humphreys@aacu.org
44 Colleges and Universities Send Faculty to Civic Seminar Co-Sponsored by AAC&U and the Aspen Institute
Washington DC – June 13, 2008 – Forty-eight faculty members from 44 different colleges and universities will attend the Wye Faculty Seminar on Citizenship and the American Polity July 19-25, 2008, on the Aspen Wye campus in Queenstown, Maryland. Selected by the presidents of their institutions because of their distinctive contributions to the quality of liberal education, these faculty members will study together the broad issues of civic engagement, individual rights and responsibilities both nationally and globally, and the public purposes of education in a democracy.
“Every summer at the faculty seminar, educators from all disciplines consider what students need to learn to take leadership in America,” said David Townsend, director of Wye Programs. “Wrestling with challenging classic and contemporary texts, they reflect on the rights and diversity, equality and liberty, prosperity and democracy as they investigate the relationship of America to the world in an age of technology and communication.”
“The Wye Faculty Seminar provides a powerful source of reflection and renewal for faculty members,” said Carol Geary Schneider, president of AAC&U. “Participants probe ‘big questions’ – both enduring and contemporary. The benefits to them and to their students are far-reaching.”
The seminar seeks to gather a diverse group of thoughtful men and women from colleges and universities all across the country to explore significant texts about fundamental issues in our society and to translate ideas into action suitable to the challenge of our age. The week’s readings focus on topics such as individual rights and responsibilities both nationally and globally, and the public purposes of education in a free, democratic republic. Authors range from Plato to Martha Nussbaum to Edward Siad.
The Aspen Institute,
founded in 1950, is an international nonprofit organization
dedicated to fostering enlightened leadership and open-minded
dialogue. Through seminars, policy programs, conferences and
leadership development initiatives, the Institute and its international
partners seek to promote nonpartisan inquiry and an appreciation
for timeless values. The Institute is headquartered in Washington,
DC, and has campuses in Aspen, Colorado, and on the Wye River
near the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. Its international
network includes partner Aspen Institutes in Berlin, Rome, Lyon,
Tokyo, New Delhi, and Bucharest, and leadership initiatives
in Africa, Central America, and India.
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 1200 member institutions—including 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.
|
 |
|
