IUPUI Chancellor Charles R. Bantz Joins New "Presidents' Trust" to Advance Liberal Education as Source of American Civic Vitality and Economic Innovation and Growth

IUPUI Chancellor Charles R. Bantz

IUPUI Chancellor Charles R. Bantz announced today that he has joined a new Presidents’ Trust formed by the Association of American Colleges and Universities to strongly and collectively make the case for liberal education and its value in today’s world.

The Presidents’ Trust is a leadership group within AAC&U’s national initiative, Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP): Excellence for Everyone as a Nation Goes To College.

“IUPUI’s commitment to liberal education for the 21st century is exemplified by our Hesburgh award-winning Principles of Undergraduate Learning,” Bantz said. “Adopted by our faculty more than a decade ago, the principles both define expectations for skills all our graduates should have and reinforce the value of a liberal education.”

The 82 members of the LEAP Presidents’ Trust are leaders from all sectors of higher education and are committed to advocating for the vision, values, and practices that connect liberal education with the individual and societal needs of the twenty-first-century. Through regional and national meetings and their own advocacy efforts, Trust members will engage with campus members and those outside of higher education about the core purposes and practices of liberal education. They are all also providing leadership for advancing reforms in the practice of liberal education both on campus and with other groups and organizations with which they are affiliated.

In 2009-10, the core priority areas for the Presidents Trust include:

-Making the economic case for liberal education
-Making—and fulfilling—the civic case for liberal education
-Engaging first-generation families and new Americans with the meaning and value of liberal education
-Integrating liberal arts and professional preparation on campus
-Charting a new direction for assessment and accountability

“Chancellor Bantz is already providing valuable leadership speaking out and ensuring that IUPUI students are receiving the kind of college education that will best prepare them for success in today’s competitive global economy—an engaged and practical liberal education,” said AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider.

See www.aacu.org/leap for full list of Presidents’ Trust members.

About LEAP

Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) is an initiative that champions the value of a liberal education—for individual students and for a nation dependent on economic creativity and democratic vitality. The initiative focuses campus practice on fostering essential learning outcomes for all students, whatever their chosen field of study. LEAP is AAC&U’s primary vehicle for advancing and communicating about the importance of undergraduate liberal education for all students. LEAP seeks to engage the public with core questions about what really matters in college, to give students a compass to guide their learning, and to make a set of essential learning outcomes the preferred framework for educational excellence, assessment of learning, and new alignments between school and college.
 

About AAC&U

AAC&U is the leading national association concerned with the quality, vitality, and public standing of undergraduate liberal education. Its members are committed to extending the advantages of a liberal education to all students, regardless of academic specialization or intended career. Founded in 1915, AAC&U now comprises 1200 member institutions--including accredited public and private colleges and universities of every type and size.