Leader in liberal arts education to speak Nov. 17
Carol Geary Schneider, president emerita of the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), will give a public lecture, “Liberal Learning: Preparing Students to Create Solutions for the Future,” on Nov. 17, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the Charles Chu Room, Charles E. Shain Library. A question and answer period will follow the talk, which is sponsored by the offices of the President and the Dean of the College.
An early modern historian, Schneider has worked throughout her career to ensure that all college students receive a broad and empowering liberal education, whatever their career interests or socio-economic circumstances.
“We are very pleased to welcome Carol Geary Schneider to our campus. Carol’s eloquent articulation of the goals of a 21st Century liberal arts education reflect so well the goals of our own new Connections curriculum, which helps to integrate what students learn and do and helps them develop into leaders who are intellectually courageous, resourceful, resilient and inventive,” said Jefferson Singer, Dean of the College and the Faulk Foundation Professor of Psychology.
Schneider served as AAC&U president from 1998 until June 2016. With more than 1,350 member institutions drawn from the entire higher education community, large, small, two-year, four-year, selective and open admission, AAC&U is the leading national organization devoted to advancing and strengthening undergraduate liberal education. During her presidency, AAC&U became widely recognized as a powerful force and voice for strengthening the quality of student learning in college for all students and especially those historically underserved in U.S. higher education.
Schneider is also a Fellow with Lumina Foundation, where she continues working on initiatives related to equitable access to high quality learning. Because of her leadership on braiding equity and quality together, Lumina Foundation enlisted Carol Schneider in 2010 as part of a small design team to create what became the Degree Qualifications Profile (DQP), a framework for quality learning intended to provide broad guidance on the essential components of college learning across multiple degree levels. Several hundred institutions now are using the DQP to guide their work on quality and equity.
Schneider is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College with a bachelor’s degree in history. She studied at the University of London’s Institute for Historical Research and earned a doctorate in history from Harvard University. She has taught at the University of Chicago, DePaul University, Chicago State University and Boston University and has been a visiting scholar at The Getty Institute and the American University of Cairo.
A recipient of 14 honorary degrees, Schneider was the 2011 recipient of the ACPA’s Contribution to Higher Education Award, the 2013 recipient of the NAC&U Ernest L. Boyer Award, the 2014 recipient of the University of Pennsylvania’s Zemsky Medal for Innovation in Higher Education, the 2016 President’s Medal recipient from the Charles and Stella Guttman Community College, and has been honored as one of Diverse Magazine’s “25 Leading Women in Higher Education.”
Learn more about Carol Geary Schneider.
November 11, 2016