Experts to examine future of research universities at Rice Feb. 27-28

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Jade Boyd
713-348-6778
jadeboyd@rice.edu

Experts to examine future of research universities at Rice Feb. 27-28
Media, public invited to hear preeminent group of speakers at De Lange Conference VIII

A blue-ribbon panel commissioned to examine U.S. higher education in 2006 by former Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings wrote, “History is littered with examples of industries that, at their peril, failed to respond to — or even to notice — changes in the world around them, from railroads to steel manufacturers. Without serious self-examination and reform, institutions of higher education risk falling into the same trap, seeing their market share substantially reduced and their services increasingly characterized by obsolescence.”

On Feb. 27-28, more than a dozen leading U.S. experts — including three members of the Spellings Commission — will meet at Rice University for the eighth triennial De Lange Conference, “The Future of the Research University in a Global Age.”

The media and public are invited to attend in person or via webcast to hear the questions, concerns, hopes, visions and strategies of a preeminent group of current or former presidents from Rice University, the University of Michigan, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University, as well as the president of the Association of American Universities, the president of the National Academy of Engineering and more.

Information on the program, speakers and registration is available athttp://delange.rice.edu/conference_VIII/.

News media who want to attend should RSVP to Jade Boyd at jadeboyd@rice.edu or 713-348-6778.