MEADVILLE, Pa. – June 30, 2008 – Allegheny College has joined with other colleges and universities around the country in the Campus Action Network of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) initiative Liberal Education and America's Promise: Excellence for Everyone as a Nation Goes to College (LEAP).
AAC&U launched the decade-long campaign to champion the value of an engaged liberal education—for individual students and for a nation dependent on economic creativity and democratic vitality.
“Allegheny is eager to become an active participant in Liberal Education and America's Promise,” said Dean of the College Linda DeMeritt. “The campaign's vision of expanding public and student understanding of what really matters in college—the kinds of learning that will truly empower individuals to succeed and make a difference in the 21st century—dovetails beautifully with Allegheny's mission.”
Earlier this year, Allegheny was one of 25 schools nationwide invited to participate in the AAC&U Core Commitments program, which explores how higher education can foster engaged citizenship, teach personal and social responsibility, encourage a respect for diversity, cultivate excellence, and implement programs that support community engagement.
“As a participant in the Core Commitments Leadership Consortium, Allegheny is a leader in advancing precisely the kind of engaged and practical liberal education this campaign hopes to champion,” said AAC&U president Carol Geary Schneider.
LEAP's national leadership council—made up of educational, business, community and policy leaders—will exercise leadership for liberal education in their own spheres of influence and advocate for an empowering, inclusive and public-spirited liberal education for all students.
The initiative's Campus Action Network brings together campuses and organizations committed to liberal education, helps them to improve their efforts to ensure all students achieve essential liberal education outcomes, and shines a light on campus practices that work.
LEAP is supported by major grants from the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation, Charles Engelhard Foundation, Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education and the State Farm Companies. Additional funding has been provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Johnson Foundation, the Teagle Foundation and individual donors.
AAC&U is the leading national association concerned with the quality, vitality and public standing of undergraduate liberal education. Its members are committed to extending the advantages of a liberal education to all students, regardless of academic specialization or intended career. Founded in 1915, AAC&U now comprises 1,150 accredited public and private colleges and universities of every type and size.
For information about the national campaign, its planned activities and a list of the campus partners, visit www.aacu.org/leap.
