The American Conference of Academic Deans and the Phi Beta Kappa Society are hosting their fourth biennial conference this fall. “Are the Humanities Now a Luxury?” will be held November 10-12 at the Francis Marion Hotel in Charleston, South Carolina.
The conference is designed to promote sustained inquiry about the role of the humanities in American higher education. Within the academy, colleges and universities make cuts in order to focus on programs with more enrollment appeal and apparent practical relevance. At the same time, the humanities also receive wider public critique, and conservatives and liberals alike, differing in their perceptions of the humanities’ role, stand to share an imputation of shortcoming, even failure. Questions abound, and we hope you will join us in South Carolina for lively, thought-provoking conversations that will attempt to answer the question “Are the humanities now a luxury?”
Featured plenary speakers include:
Lynn Pasquerella, President of Mt. Holyoke College
Ronald A. Crutcher, President of Wheaton College
Mark Bauerlein, Professor of English, Emory University
For more information about the conference, including a preliminary program, please visit the ACAD website where you can register online, download a form to mail in with payment, and view the conference hotel rate and relevant contact information.
If you have any questions, please e-mail Rhiana Quick at rquick@pbk.org.
ACAD and ΦBK have successfully co-sponsored three previous conferences on matters of importance to the intellectual and pedagogical work of the academy; “Promoting the Liberal Sciences: Science as Liberal Education” was held in 2007, “Liberal Education in America and the World” in 2005, and “Intellectual Leadership in the Liberal Arts” in 2003.