Athens, Ga. – Carol Geary Schneider, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), will give the 16th annual Louise McBee Lecture on Wednesday, Dec. 8, at 11 a.m. in the University Chapel. The title of Schneider’s lecture is “Liberal Education in an Era of Greater Expectations.”
With a membership of about 1,000 colleges and universities, AAC&U is the leading national organization devoted to advancing and strengthening undergraduate liberal education. Since becoming president of AAC&U, Schneider has initiated several major initiatives, including “Greater Expectations: The Commitment to Quality as a Nation Goes to College,” and the “Presidents’ Campaign for the Advancement of Liberal Learning” (Presidents’ CALL). Under Schneider’s leadership, AAC&U has also expanded its work on diversity, launched several new projects on civic engagement and the disciplines, and deepened its capacity to support campuses working on educational change.
“Dr. Schneider is at the forefront of those advocating a better learning environment for college students, said Del Dunn, vice president for instruction at UGA. “Students and faculty will find her ideas challenging and interesting.”
Prior to her appointment at AAC&U, Schneider spent ten years at the University of Chicago where she directed the Midwest Faculty Seminar – a scholarly and educational collaboration between the University of Chicago and 50 Midwest colleges. She was a founding director of the University of Chicago Institutes on Teaching and Learning and also helped establish the Chicago Teaching Program, a pioneering effort to deepen graduate students’ preparation for college teaching.
Schneider has published extensively on all the major areas of her educational work. Some of her recent articles include “Changing Practices in Liberal Education: What Future Faculty Need to Know ”; “Setting Greater Expectations for the College Curriculum”; and “Core Missions and Civic Responsibility: Toward the Engaged Academy.”
Schneider is a magna cum laude graduate and current member of the board of trustees of Mount Holyoke College where she received the bachelor’s degree in history and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She studied at the University of London’s Institute for Historical Research and earned a Ph.D. in early modern history from Harvard University, where she held a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, a Harvard Prize Fellowship and a Kent Fellowship from the Danforth Foundation.
