Posts Tagged ‘Liberal Arts’

Jack Miller Center to Hold National Summit on Higher Education

Philadelphia

Philadelphia, Pa., October 30, 2009—The Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History will hold a National Summit on Higher Education, November 5-7, to bring together distinguished scholars who are engaged in building academic centers and programs that advance the teaching of America’s founding principles on college campuses across the United States.

Scholars who are developing new initiatives on their campus to enrich civic education will have the opportunity to benefit from the insights of others who have successfully established programs at some of the nation’s leading universities and colleges. These include Harvard, Duke, University of Virginia, Cornell, Notre Dame, Georgetown, University of Texas-Austin, University of Chicago, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Villanova, Ursinus and Gettysburg. The conference will be held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and the Union League in Center City, Philadelphia.

Conference attendees will become part of the Jack Miller Center’s national network of more than 300 scholars and teachers committed to a rigorous, intellectually diverse and innovative approach to strengthening undergraduate education in America’s founding principles, history and Western civilization.

Pennsylvania’s First Lady, the Honorable Marjorie O. Rendell, will attend the conference luncheon on November 6 and talk about her efforts to strengthen civic education through her leadership role in the Pennsylvania Coalition for Representative Democracy (PennCORD), a coalition of educational, advocacy and governmental organizations who are committed to improving civic learning for students in grades K-12.

Conference highlights include:

• President’s Forum, “The Liberal Arts and Education for Citizenship,” featuring current and former college presidents who will discuss the value of a classical liberal arts education to prepare students to be good citizens. Participants are Dr. John Strassburger, Ursinus College; Dr. Steven Schutt, Lake Forest College; Dr. Lee Fritschler, former president of Dickinson College; and Dr. John Agresto, former president of St. John’s College. Michael Ratliff, president of the Jack Miller Center, will be the forum moderator;

• Lectures by John Strassburger on “A Wish for the Liberal Arts, ” Lee Fritschler on the “Civic Education Project” at George Mason University, and Professor Allen Guelzo, Gettysburg College, on “Mr. Lincoln’s Enlightenment;”

• Presentation of the Jack Miller Center Award for Academic Excellence.

Program Schedule

The Union League

“Our annual National Summit on Higher Education has developed into a much anticipated event by scholars, and prominent civic and business leaders, who want to do more to enrich learning opportunities for students across America,” said Mike Ratliff, president of the Jack Miller Center. “We are very pleased to have Judge Rendell join us for this year’s program here in Philadelphia.

“We are really looking forward to the Presidents’ Forum, in which the theme is similar to a conference held in 1998 at Dickinson College, ‘The Liberal Arts and Education for Citizenship in the Twenty-First Century.’ Participants in our national summit will have much to gain by learning from a distinguished panel of academic leaders who have significantly contributed to strengthening civic education during the past ten years on their respective campuses.”

About the Jack Miller Center The Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, educational organization, works with educators in response to requests for resources to strengthen the teaching of America’s founding principles and history. The Jack Miller Center provides programs and resources on college campuses across the United State that support and increase the number of college professors in the humanities and social sciences who teach these principles and who inspire and cultivate an atmosphere of civil discussion. The goal of the Jack Miller Center is to ensure college students receive the best possible education and are prepared to be good stewards of our nation’s freedoms and the free institutions that protect all Americans’ liberties. The center’s headquarters are located in Philadelphia, Pa. More information is available at www.jackmillercenter.org.