"What Makes the Liberal Arts Essential for the Next 50 Years?" Panel Discussion
Start Date
12-7-2016 3:00 PM
End Date
12-7-2016 4:30 PM
Description
Liberal arts education, and each small college that delivers it quintessentially well, now occupies a tenuous position in our society. If the liberal arts are to be as foundational to our future as our past – capable of effecting a more connected, informed, and civic-minded nation and a more humane and just world – then what must we do differently, and how might we shape a new conversation with the public? In this discussion session, liberal arts college leaders will look to the future of liberal arts colleges. What is changing, what needs to change, and what are commitments that should endure even in the midst of change?
Speaker Bio
Eric P. Blackhurst
Mr. Eric P. Blackhurst is Assistant General Counsel of The Dow Chemical Company and serves as the Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees for Alma College. He specializes in creating, structuring and implementing strategic alliances, joint ventures and mergers within the non-profit and for-profit sectors. Over the last 30 years, he has overseen the design and execution of multiple innovative collaborations, from Dow's sponsorship of the Olympics to the $110 billion merger between Dow and DuPont. As chair of MidMichigan Health, a 15-county, $1.4 billion health system, Blackhurst led the affiliation with the University of Michigan Health System. As a board member, speaker and advisor, he has shared his expertise and perspective with numerous community and corporate organizations, including Wolverine Bancorp, Northwood University and The Episcopal Church USA. Blackhurst earned a bachelor's from Alma College and juris doctorate from the University of Kentucky.
Georgia Nugent
S. Georgia Nugent is the interim president of The College of Wooster. She assumed her duties on July 1, 2015, and will guide Wooster through the 2015-16 academic year as the college conducts a search for its next permanent leader. Nugent comes to Wooster from the Council of Independent Colleges, where she has been a senior fellow since 2013. In that role, she led a public information campaign, "Securing America's Future: The Power of Liberal Arts Education," which won national awards for its innovative use of social media, as well as print media. Nugent served as president of Kenyon College from 2003 to 2013. Prior to her service at Kenyon, Nugent held a series of positions at Princeton University from 1992 to 2003, including assistant to the president, associate provost, and dean of the Harold W. McGraw Jr. Center for Teaching and Learning. She taught classics at Brown University from 1985 to 1992, and at Princeton from 1979 to 1985. Nugent earned her bachelor's from Princeton in 1973 and doctorate from Cornell University in 1978.
Steven G. Poskanzer
Mr. Steven G. Poskanzer became Carleton College’s eleventh president in August 2010. A scholar of higher education law, his research focuses on issues of academic freedom and how colleges and universities seek to achieve educational goals in a complex legal and policy environment. Poskanzer received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and a law degree from Harvard University. Among his professional roles, he has served as Associate General Counsel at the University of Pennsylvania, executive assistant to the president at the University of Chicago, vice Provost for the State University of New York’s 64-campus System, and president of SUNY New Paltz. 
Debra Humphreys
Dr. Debra Humphreys is the senior vice president for Academic Planning and Public Engagement at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). Prior to this position, she served as vice president for Policy and Public Engagement and as director of programs in the Office of Diversity, Equity and Global Initiatives at AAC&U where she directed programs on women's issues and diversity in higher education. Humphreys leads AAC&U's national and state-level advocacy and policy efforts and coordinates all of AAC&U's academic programs and strategic planning efforts related to issues of student success and the quality of liberal learning in higher education. As part of AAC&U's campaign, "Liberal Education and America's Promise: Excellence for Everyone as a Nation Goes to College," she has led efforts to educate the public about the value of an engaged liberal education to prepare for the changing global economy. Humphreys received her bachelor's degree from Williams College and her doctorate in English from Rutgers University.
"What Makes the Liberal Arts Essential for the Next 50 Years?" Panel Discussion
Liberal arts education, and each small college that delivers it quintessentially well, now occupies a tenuous position in our society. If the liberal arts are to be as foundational to our future as our past – capable of effecting a more connected, informed, and civic-minded nation and a more humane and just world – then what must we do differently, and how might we shape a new conversation with the public? In this discussion session, liberal arts college leaders will look to the future of liberal arts colleges. What is changing, what needs to change, and what are commitments that should endure even in the midst of change?
Comments
Moderated by Dr. Debra Humphreys, AAC&U.