Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr., president of Purdue University, paid tribute to the transformative nature of the liberal arts when studied rigorously and in an atmosphere where the robust clash of ideas is allowed to flourish. He gave this speech upon accepting ACTA’s 2018 Philip Merrill Award for Outstanding Contributions to Liberal Arts Education on October 12, 2018.
The Honorable José A. Cabranes, United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, warns of the destructive synergy of non-academic administrators and student activists on freedom of expression at America’s colleges and universities. He gave this speech upon accepting ACTA’s 2019 Philip Merrill Award for Outstanding Contributions to […]
University of Chicago President Robert J. Zimmer delivers remarks upon accepting the 2017 Philip Merrill Award for Outstanding Contributions to Liberal Arts Education. He spoke of how the “openness of universities to divergent and clashing ideas, to analytic debate, to rigor, and to questioning, is a critical ingredient in illuminating societal, scientific, and humanistic issues.” […]
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a fellow of the Future of Democracy Project at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and founder of the AHA Foundation, and Niall Ferguson, senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and a senior fellow of the Center for European Studies at Harvard University, received the 2016 Philip […]
The advancement of empirical science, the Industrial Revolution, and then the technological revolution, the development of representative government, Homer, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare, Michelangelo’s David and Da Vinci’s masterpieces. Bach, Beethoven, Chopin. It’s been a rather remarkable run. And how remarkable that this engine of human progress seems strangely to be faltering. Seventy-one years ago, French […]
School may be out, but America’s teachers are hard at work, building out their curriculums for the upcoming academic year. From algebra to history and psychology, the foundation for the U.S. education system is laid long before school is back in session. However, there is one subject in particular that demands our utmost attention: Civic […]
College graduates still learn more than high school graduates over the course of their careers. But a recent PayScale survey found that managers increasingly say recent grads lack basic writing, speaking, and problem solving skills. Traditionally, students have developed these skills through general education programs, which make up roughly one-third of most students’ academic programs. […]
Launched in 1995, we are the only organization that works with alumni, donors, trustees, and education leaders across the United States to support liberal arts education, uphold high academic standards, safeguard the free exchange of ideas on campus, and ensure that the next generation receives an intellectually rich, high-quality college education at an affordable price.
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