National Academic Leaders Discuss Future of Higher Education This Friday

UCI

University of California, Irvine

NEWS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEFROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINELIVE WEBSTREAM AVAILABLE: www.livestream.com/accounts/867536/uci

Contact: Janet Wilson 949-824-3969 213-880-8948 (cell) [email protected]

MEDIA ADVISORY

National academic leaders discuss future of higher education this Friday

Newswise — EVENT:What is the future of the American university? How should we rethink our vision in the face of slashed state funding, $1 trillion-plus in student debt, demographic transformations, breakthrough teaching methods, challenges to the research mission, and other structural changes?

WHEN/WHERE:1-4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26, Beckman Center of the National Academies of Sciences & Engineering, 100 Academy, Irvine (bldg. 80, grid C4 on campus map: http://communications.uci.edu//documents/pdf/UCI_14_map_campus_core.pdf)

INFORMATION:Media planning to attend should contact Janet Wilson at 949-824-3969 or [email protected]. Attendance and parking are complimentary.

Moderated by:

Michael Riley, Editor-in-Chief and CEO, The Chronicle of Higher Education

Panelists: Ralph Cicerone, President, National Academy of SciencesHoward Gillman, Chancellor, University of California, IrvineJames E.K. Hildreth, President, Meharry Medical College Maria Klawe, President, Harvey Mudd College BACKGROUND: Faced with sharp cuts in funding, many campuses are fighting to survive or expand. Less than a third of college professors are tenured, and the average student owes tens of thousands of dollars upon graduation. So what is the future of higher education? At the capstone event of UCI’s 50th Anniversary Academic Symposia, academic leaders will discuss the path forward for American campuses.

“The work of great research universities has never been more urgently needed,” said UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman. “Our responsibility now is to figure out how to sustain this vital work in the face of unmanageable cost increases and dramatic declines in state support for public universities and federal support for research.”