David Paris, the Leonard C. Ferguson Professor of Government, has been appointed as a senior fellow with the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). He is working on AAC&U's campaign, Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP). AAC&U is the leading national association concerned with the quality, vitality and public standing of undergraduate liberal education.
Paris is also serving this year as a senior advisor for The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC). He will be organizing the second Kemper Foundation-funded symposium on business and the liberal arts for the organization.
CIC is the major national service organization for all small and mid-sized, independent, liberal arts colleges and universities in the United States. CIC focuses on providing services to campus leaders as well as seminars, workshops, and programs.
"We are very pleased to welcome David Paris to AAC&U's impressive cohort of senior fellows," said President Carol Geary Schneider. "David brings a wealth of campus experience and a deep knowledge of educational policies and practices that are important especially to AAC&U's ongoing Liberal Education and America's Promise campaign. The AAC&U community is lucky to have him working on our behalf as we continue our efforts to improve American undergraduate education and help the public better appreciate the role of liberal education in the new global economy."
In his role as AACU senior fellow, Paris will be developing Web resources related to the importance of liberal education in the new global economy. He also will work with senior fellow Robert Shoenberg in supporting selected advocacy and campus action efforts in Virginia, the second LEAP pilot state, and coordinating LEAP activities being planned by the U.S. military academies.
The LEAP Initiative on which Paris is working is a 10-year campaign to champion the value of a liberal education -- for individual students and for a nation dependent on economic creativity and democratic vitality. The campaign seeks to expand public and student understanding of what really matters in college --- the kinds of learning that will truly empower them to succeed and make a difference in the 21st century. Launched in 2005, on the occasion of AAC&U's 90th anniversary, LEAP is AAC&U's primary vehicle for advancing and communicating about the importance of undergraduate liberal education for all students.
In his role as CIC senior advisor Paris will create a second Kemper Foundation-funded symposium. He will examine how the leadership in both the corporate community and at independent higher education institutions can learn from each other and benefit from a better understanding of the relevance of the liberal arts to business. CIC's first symposium on this topic, also funded by the Kemper Foundation, brought 10 corporate CEOs together with 10 college and university presidents. The next meeting is scheduled for spring 2007.
