University Park, Pa. -- Penn State will hold a national symposium Feb. 25-26, 2005, to examine the future of one of America's most precious assets -- its public research universities.
"Public research universities play a major role in educating America's future leaders and in producing new discoveries," said Penn State President Graham B. Spanier. "Yet state investment in public higher education is faltering. Through this symposium, we hope to tap the insights of leading scholars to explore the challenges and opportunities facing these institutions."
The symposium, part of Penn State's yearlong slate of activities observing the University's sesquicentennial, will address substantive issues about the future of public research universities with respect to new social, political and economic realities. Main topics such as teaching and learning, service and outreach, students, roles and structure, financing, and academic research will be addressed in six sessions over two days by a panel of speakers qualified to address current and future challenges facing public research universities.
The two-day event will feature presentations by Richard T. Ingram, president of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges; Stanley Ikenberry, regent professor and president emeritus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and former president of the American Council on Education; and Nils Hasselmo, president of the Association of American Universities and former president of the University of Minnesota.
In addition to the keynote speakers, invited speakers include Steven Brint of the University of California, Riverside; David Dill of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Sylvia Hurtado of the University of California, Los Angeles; D. Bruce Johnstone of the State University of New York at Buffalo; Judith Ramaley of the National Science Foundation; Gary Rhoades of the University of Arizona; and Jeremy Cohen, Carol Colbeck, Irwin Feller, Roger Geiger, Donald E. Heller, Lisa Lattuca, Robert Reason and Patrick Terenzini, all from Penn State.
Penn State President Graham B. Spanier will provide opening remarks.
The symposium, titled "Future of the American Public Research University," is sponsored by the Penn State Alumni Association and Penn State's Center for the Study of Higher Education. The event will take place at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel on the University Park campus.
For more information, or to register for the symposium, visit http://www.alumni.psu.edu/symposium or call (800) 548-5466.