Friday, October 09, 2009
Retired AASCU president to lead inauguration symposium on higher education
Dr. Constantine W. Curris
Contact for more information:
Wendy Knipe Bredhold Media Relations Specialist, News & Information Services 812/461-5259 Curris will offer "The Public's Universities: Continuity and Change" at 3 p.m. in Carter Hall in the University Center. Symposium panelists responding to the lecture will be Dr. J. Wayne Rinks, chair of the Department of Communications, Dr. Kathy Rodgers, chair of the Department of Mathematics, and Dr. Karen Sprouls, director of Faculty Development. The event is free and open to the public. "Dr. Curris has been an effective leader and spokesman for state public colleges and universities," Bennett said. "Because he has been a university president and has led the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, he knows the challenges ahead for institutions like USI. I hope faculty will come to the symposium to hear Dr. Curris and to take part in a conversation about what is happening in higher education today." Curris served as president of the AASCU, a national association of over 400 public colleges and universities, for 10 years. Prior to that, he served as president at three universities. He was president of Murray State University for 10 years, president of the University of Northern Iowa for 12 years, and president of Clemson University until his selection as AASCU president four years later. The Murray State Student Center and the Northern Iowa Business Building bear his name. He is a strong advocate for public higher education and its students and a proponent of the qualitative strengthening of higher education institutions in order to meet public needs and expectations in the 21st century. He joined AASCU in 1973 and has severed on several committees, the Board of Directors, and as chairman of the board. His other professional experiences includes appointments to the 1998 Commission on the Future of the South, the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities, the Education Commission of the States, the Iowa Board of Economic Development, the South Carolina Research Authority, The Sigma Chi Foundation, and the chairmanships of American Humanics and the Iowa Task Force on Teacher Education and Certification. Curris received his baccalaureate and doctorate degrees from the University of Kentucky and his master's degree from the University of Illinois. The inauguration ceremony and formal installation of Bennett as USI president will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday, October 15, in the Physical Activities Center. Bennett will give her inaugural address, "Engaging the Future: Higher Education and the Common Good." Delegates from more than 50 colleges and universities are expected to attend. A reception in Carter Hall will follow the ceremony. For the complete schedule of Inauguration Week events, click here |
Copyright © 2013 University of Southern Indiana. All rights reserved.
