President Crutcher invited to national summit on higher education

Wheaton President Ronald Crutcher has been invited to participate in a national summit on reform in higher education with U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.

The Department of Education is sponsoring the daylong session to consult with leaders in higher education, business and philanthropy as a follow-up to recommendations for reform made by her Commission on the Future of Higher Education in September. The panel's report focused on recommendations to improve access, affordability and accountability in higher education.

President Crutcher is playing a leadership role in efforts aimed at measuring the effectiveness of a college education, and in demonstrating the value of the liberal arts. He is co-chair of Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP), a national initiative promoting liberal education.
Wheaton's president also serves on the board of American Council on Education and recently spoke about the need for a culture of accountability in higher education.

''If we are to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse population, make education accessible, and make excellence inclusive, then we have no choice but to promote change,'' he told the assembled higher education leaders. ''We need to challenge traditional structures, to take risks with new models, and to establish a student-centered culture of rigorous assessment of outcomes and self-directed (not externally imposed) continuous improvement.''

The summit will be held in Washington on March 22 and will include some 300 selected participants from the worlds of academe, business, philanthropy, and elementary and secondary education. Over the course of the day, participants will complete a list of 25 initiatives for states, colleges, and other groups to implement.