Penn’s Faculty Senate will host a three-part colloquium series on “The Future of American Universities” this spring.
The colloquium will invite speakers from universities and other academic institutions to discuss a variety of topics in American higher education including political pressures on universities, the value of college degrees, and potential changes to the future of higher education. Events will be held on Jan. 30, Feb. 26, and April 9.
In an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian, Faculty Senate Chair and University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School professor Eric Feldman emphasized the importance of hosting these panels, given the current social and political environment surrounding higher education.
“It is clear that higher education has been in the crossfire of various critics, going back 40 or 50 years,” Feldman said. “Some of the criticism has really accelerated in recent years.”
Feldman noted that the colloquium is a product of “long-term planning” and also said that while the colloquium was likely to address challenges emerging from 1968 Wharton graduate, former President, and President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming second term, the event was not a direct response to his election.
“This is a series that was planned before we knew who was going to win the election,” Feldman said. “These are issues that are going to stay on the table after this administration.”
The first panel, titled “Higher Education and the State: How Politics are Reshaping America’s Great Universities,” will take place at the Kleinman Center Energy Forum in Fisher Fine Arts Library on Jan. 30. The conversation will be moderated by Annenberg Public Policy Center Director and Elizabeth Ware Packard Professor of Communication Kathleen Hall Jamieson.
The panel will aim to address recent state and federal action on higher education. The Faculty Senate website also states that the panel will look into “current threats to the academy that could transform the future of higher education.”
The second panel, titled “The Price of Knowledge: Is a College Degree Worth the Cost?” will take place at the Agora in Annenberg Public Policy Center on Feb. 26. The conversation will be moderated by George W. Taylor Professor of Management Peter Cappelli.
The third panel, titled “The Opening of the American Mind: Higher Education in the Future,” will take place at the Kleinman Center Energy Forum in Fisher Fine Arts Library on April 9. The conversation will be moderated by Provost John Jackson Jr.
The panel will address possible ways to “reconceptualize” the standard model of higher education amid political pressures on universities and a decreased public confidence in universities.
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