Remaking College: Innovation and the Liberal Arts

Preface

Preface The essays gathered within this volume represent a shared vision of liberal arts colleges in the United States at a time of profound change and in the face of great opportunity. The twenty contributors are all sitting presidents or other educational leaders who have reflected carefully on the future of liberal arts education and the responsibility of liberal arts colleges to the future of higher education in the United States and around the world. This project began as a collaboration between Rebecca Chopp and Daniel H. Weiss, who, with the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, convened a number of our colleagues for a conference held in April 2012 at Lafayette College called “The Future of the Liberal Arts College in America and Its Leadership Role in Education around the World.” The objective of the forum was to provide a context for thinking together about issues that were emerging as game-changers for us all. Although we recognized that all institutions—public and private, large and small—are facing comparable challenges, we held the view that liberal arts colleges, by virtue of their scale and their focused mission, are especially well positioned to lead in developing new approaches for an uncertain future. The conference was intended to support the development of shared learning, innovative thinking, and bold proposals as part of a comprehensive process of review and assessment. Although we imagined a small audience for the meeting, we were greatly surprised that more than two hundred presidents, faculty members, professional staff, students, board members, and others attended. The meeting attracted so much interest because the issues that were being discussed were widely acknowledged to be urgent and consequential. These included the problems of a distressed economic model and the related issue of declining affordability, the purposes of a liberal education in a world increasingly focused on professional training and x Preface vocationalism, the challenges and opportunities presented by new technologies and changing demographics, and the place of the small residential liberal arts college within our vast educational system. The essays that constitute this volume are an outgrowth of the presentations made at the Lafayette/Swarthmore conference. As we proceeded toward publication , we were grateful to enlist a third partner, Susan Frost, a seasoned writer, higher education leader, and conference presenter. She shared our belief that these chapters offer a valuable resource for communicating the many ways in which liberal arts colleges are engaging the world and, in so doing, have become centers of innovation. Those of us who work as presidents and other leaders at liberal arts colleges recognize the importance of this moment in higher education, and we understand the power of a strong foundation in the liberal arts for transforming people and communities. At the same time, we who oversee budgets, personnel, academic programs, admissions, and all of the other components of our institutions know that this is a time of great challenge and of public criticism. In many ways, this book explores the nature of this dualism in a changing environment and the ways in which liberal arts colleges are evolving, even transforming, to meet the needs of individuals and society. To remain effective educational leaders in such a challenging environment, our institutions must adapt, and we must embrace change. Within the pages of this book, we make the case that this is exactly what we are doing. ...