Category: Announcements

The American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE) held annual elections on June 13, 2017. The Board of Trustees welcomes new members: Geoffrey Baum, Joshua Hochschild, Gary Kelly, and Amy Richards.  Joining the Council of Scholars are Melissa Matthes and Kelly Sorensen.

Mr. Geoffrey Baum is the Director of Media Relations at the Milken Institute in Santa Monica (CA).  A former C-SPAN executive producer, he has also worked for Public Radio’s Marketplace and ABC News, and served as assistant dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism.  Baum is a member and past president of the California Community Colleges Board of Governors and has served as a governing board member of Pasadena City College.  He holds an M.A. in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Southern California and a B.A. in Economics and Literature from Claremont McKenna College (CA). 

Mr. Joshua Hochschild is Monsignor Robert R. Kline Professor of Philosophy at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg (MD).  He served as inaugural Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Mount St. Mary’s University and Director of the university’s freshman liberal arts seminar, the Veritas Symposium.  Hochschild is the author of The Semantics of Analogy: Rereading Cajetan’s De Nominum Analogia (University of Notre Dame Press, 2010) and co-editor of Virtue’s End (St. Augustine’s Press, 2008) and Ethics Without God? (St. Augustine’s Press, 2008).  He received a Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame (IN) and a B.A from Yale University (CT). 

Mr. Gary Kelly is a private consultant, attorney and political scientist who resides in New York (NY).  He has held assignments for the Asian Development Bank, the United States Agency for International Development and the World Bank.  Kelly served as a consultant in the formulation of the successful World Trade Organization accession strategy for Georgia, and creator of a World Bank model for civil society input into parliamentary process in Albania in the development of reform legislation. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Fordham University (NY), a JD from the University of Maryland School of Law, and a B.A. from the University of Maryland-College Park. 

Ms. Amy Richards is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Templeton Honors College-Eastern University in Saint Davids (PA).  Her area of specialization is Ethics. Richards’ administrative responsibilities include the design and implementation of a new M.A.T. in Classical Education at Templeton Honors College and admissions assessment for Templeton Honors College and its Summer Scholars Program.  She holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Virginia, and a B.A. in Biochemistry and Philosophy from Eastern University-Templeton Honors College (PA).  

Ms. Melissa Matthes is Professor of Government and Humanities at the US Coast Guard Academy in New London (CT), where she teaches courses in the History of Political Theory, African American Political Thought (Modern), Religion and Politics, Feminist Political Thought, and Women, Religion and Globalization.  She is the author of The Rape of Lucretia and the Founding of Republics: Readings in Livy, Machiavelli, and Rousseau (Penn State Press, 2000).  She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Foote School (CT).  Matthes received a Ph.D. from the University of California-Santa Cruz, a M.Div. from Yale Divinity School (CT) and a B.A. from Williams College (MA). 

Mr. Kelly Sorensen is an Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion, and Assistant Dean at Ursinus College in Collegeville (PA).   He teaches and writes about ethical theory, biomedical ethics, environmental ethics, and metaethics.  His work has appeared in The Journal of Philosophy, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, Kantian Review, the Journal of Moral Philosophy, Bioethics, Neuroethics, Criminal Justice Ethics, and the Journal of Medical Ethics.   Sorensen holds a Ph.D. from Yale University, a M.S. from the University of Utah, and a B.S. from Brigham Young University (UT).

The American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE) held annual elections on June 10, 2016. The Board of Trustees welcomes for a first-term of office on the Board, Steve Balch, Adam Kissel, Philip Lively, Barbara Oakley and for a one-year replacement position, Christine von Renesse. Returning for a third term is Donald D’Amour. Joining the Council of Scholars for a first-term are Steven Meyer and William Schmitt. Returning to the Council of Scholars for a third-term is James Beall.

Mr. Steve Balch is the Director of the Institute for the Study of Western Civilization at Texas Tech University. Previously he served for twenty-five years as founding president and chairman of the National Association of Scholars (NAS), a Princeton (NJ) based organization of higher education professionals dedicated to the traditional principles of liberal arts education. He has written on higher education issues for a variety of publications and co-authored The Vanishing West: 1964-2010, a report that documents the decline of the study of Western civilization in America’s universities. Balch received a Ph.D. and an M.A. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley.

Mr. Adam Kissel is Senior Program Officer for University Investments at the Charles Koch Foundation in Arlington (VA). Formerly he served as the Vice-President of Programs for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) in Philadelphia (PA). Kissel is an active public speaker and writer on the topics of academic freedom, free speech, due process, and individual rights in higher education. Kissel completed doctoral coursework at the University of Chicago, and received a M.A. in Social Thought from the University of Chicago, and a B.A. in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University.

Mr. Philip Lively is Vice-President of Finance and Administration and Treasurer at the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International. Prior to his appointment as Vice-President of Finance and Administration, he served as ASTM International’s Vice-President of Information Technology Development and Application. Currently he also serves on the Board of Directors of the Clinical and Laboratories Standards Institute. Lively received his M.B.A. in Finance from Drexel University (PA), completed graduate studies in Political Philosophy at the University of Chicago, and received a B.A. in Politics from Assumption College (MA).

Ms. Barbara Oakley is Professor of Engineering at Oakland University (MI). Her research interests range from STEM education, to Engineering education, to learning practices. Oakley lectures internationally on STEM education, ‘Learning How to Learn’, and ‘Shaping Careers and Learning-21st Century Skills’. She is the author of A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra). She is an elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. Oakley received a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering from Oakland University (MI), a M.S. in Electrical Computing Engineering from Oakland University (MI), a B.A. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington, and a B.A. in Slavic Languages and Literature from the University of Washington.

Ms. Christine von Renesse is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Westfield State University (MA) and is an author and principal investigator for the project, Discovering the Art of Mathematics, which provides resources to support college faculty teaching Mathematics for Liberal Arts. She has also served as a principal investigator for project PRIME: Promoting Resources for the use of Inquiry throughout Mathematics Education, and has published specifically on inquiry-based learning and the art of mathematical discourse. Von Renesse received her Ph.D. and M.S. in Mathematics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, a M.Ed. and a M.S. in Mathematics from the Technical University in Berlin, and completed undergraduate studies at the Hochschule der Künste, Berlin (Music Conservatory).

Mr. Steven Meyer is Assistant Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas, Houston (TX). He is the author of the forthcoming book, Theology of Christian Faith in the work of Cardinal Avery Dulles (Fordham University Press). He has taught on the secondary level and served as a certified accreditation visitor for the Texas Catholic Conference Education Department. Meyer received a Ph.D. from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, a Licentiate in Theology from the Dominican House of Studies in Washington DC, an M.A. in Theology from Franciscan University, Steubenville (OH) and a B.A. in History and Theology from Franciscan University, Steubenville (OH).

Mr. William Schmitt is headmaster of Trivium School, an independent co-educational day school in Lancaster (MA). He is the 2014 Recipient of the Henry Salvatori Prize for Excellence in Teaching, awarded through Hillsdale College for the purpose of focusing attention on teaching as the core ingredient of education reform. He has taught at the Thomas More College for Liberal Arts Rome campus and was the Managing Editor of Communio: International Catholic Review. Schmitt received a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from Pontifical John Paul II Institute, a B.A. and Licentiate in Theology (S.T.B. and S.T.L.) from the Pontifical Gregorian University, and a B.A. in History from the University of Dallas (TX).

Todd Breyfogle, Director of Seminars at The Aspen Institute and Chair of the American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE) served as a keynote speaker at the first Alliance for Liberal Learning Conference (ALL) held in Chicago November 6-7, 2015. Breyfogle has served on the AALE Board of Trustees since 2009 and was elected Chair in 2013. The ALL conference brought together representatives from educational organizations, schools and colleges with formal great books and core texts curricula, residential and travel learning programs, and degree-granting and non-degree granting programs, who share a common interest in the value of lifelong liberal education. Breyfogle’s presentation, entitled Navigating the Contours of Complexity, addressed the contemporary relevance of liberal learning in clarifying professional and personal priorities as part of a lifelong journey of learning.

The Alliance for Liberal Learning was founded in 2014/2015 when representatives working in discussion-based liberal education met in Chicago to discuss common challenges and opportunities. The mission of the new initiative (www.allianceforliberallearning.org) is to increase public awareness, understanding and appreciation for lifelong liberal education through enhanced collaborations.

The American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE) has moved its national office to Washington DC effective November 1, 2015. The move once again situates AALE in the Nation’s capital. The Board of Trustees approved the relocation in an effort to place its administrative operations in a more convenient location to conduct business with various national educational associations, non-profits, and government departments. The new national office also provides a more centralized location for AALE’s work with international institutions and organizations of higher learning. The new address of AALE’s national office is: 1200 G Street NW, Suite 833, Washington DC 20005.

The American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE) Board of Trustees is pleased to announce the appointment of Diane Auer Jones to the position of President. Ms. Auer Jones joined the AALE Board in 2009 and has served as Secretary of the Board since 2010. Auer Jones has been instrumental in refining AALE accreditation policies and has provided strong leadership during AALE’s most recent strategic planning effort focusing on a soon-to-be released new AALE membership and value statement. 

Ms. Diane Auer Jones is currently the President of AJsquared Consulting which services clients from the elementary school to the post-secondary level providing counsel on a range of educational issues including charter school development, post-secondary assessment practices, and on-line learning. She has served as Senior Vice-President for External and Regulatory Affairs at the Career Education Corporation, Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education, Director of Government Affairs at Princeton University and was CEO of The Washington Campus, a non-profit organization that serves as the Washington, DC campus for 16 of the nation’s leading graduate schools of business. A molecular biologist by training, Ms. Auer Jones is a graduate of Salisbury University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in biology, and of the University of Maryland Baltimore County, where she completed a master’s degree in Applied Molecular Biology and doctoral coursework in Cellular and Molecular Biology.

In the coming months Ms. Auer Jones will guide plans to expand AALE’s scope of accreditation to better address the needs of current and new members. She will lead initiatives to develop new membership services particularly in ways that support innovation in liberal education including learning models, delivery models, cost models and admission practices and in establishing quality assessments that align institutional mission and goals, and liberal arts learning objectives. 

The American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE) held annual elections on June 12, 2015. The Board of Trustees welcomes for a first-term of office on the Board, Robert Eitel and for a first-term of office on the Council of Scholars, Robert A. Manzer. Returning to the Council of Scholars for a second-term is Joseph M. Knippenberg.

Mr. Robert Eitel is Vice President of Federal Regulatory Affairs and Compliance at Bridgepoint Education Inc. (Washington DC). Mr. Eitel has an extensive background in the area of education and employment law. In his position as a member of Talbert and Eitel, P.L.L.C., he provided legal, policy and strategic advice on key legislation and regulations, and guidance affecting elementary and secondary education and post-secondary institutions, the student loan industry and other groups with an interest in education. While serving as Deputy General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Education, Eitel supervised the Division of Business and Administrative Law and the Division of Legislative Counsel. He managed the Department’s bill drafting and legal review before Congress and provided legal advice on reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act and the Higher Education Act. In his most recent position as Vice President of Regulatory Operations at Career Education Corporation he worked to ensure that nationally and regionally accredited campus institutions operated in accordance with federal, state, accreditor, and company standards. He is the author of The U.S. Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid Program Integrity Final Regulations (Engage, 2011) and The Road to a National Curriculum: The Legal Aspects of the Common Core Standards, Race to the Top, and Conditional Waivers (Pioneer Institute, Federalist Society, and Pacific Research Institute, 2012). Mr. Eitel holds a J.D. degree from Tulane School of Law (LA) and an A.B. from Georgetown University (DC).

Mr. Robert A. Manzer is Provost and Chief Academic Officer of American Intercontinental University (AIU) an online and ground campus university. In his current role at AIU, Manzer is responsible for curriculum, faculty, accreditation, and student support services. He has served in several administrative positions at liberal arts institutions, including Associate Dean of the Constantin College at the University of Dallas (TX), Dean of the Getty College of Arts and Sciences at Ohio Northern University, and Vice President for Academic Affairs at St. Edward’s University, Austin (TX). In addition to his administrative experience managing academic programming and personnel affairs, Manzer founded the Center for Academic and Career Development at Constantin College, and a Washington DC-based Capitol Hill Internship Program at Nebraska Wesleyan University, supported by a 10-college United Methodist College Washington Consortium. Prior to entering higher education administration, Manzer held an appointment as Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Dallas. Mr. Manzer earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago (IL) and B.A. from Carleton College (MN).

Mr. Joseph Knippenberg is Professor of Politics and Director of the Rich Foundation Urban Leadership Program at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta (GA). His teaching and research areas include: history of political philosophy, constitutional law –principally the First Amendment religion clauses, religion and politics, and contemporary liberal theory. Knippenberg has published extensively and his essays and reviews have appeared in a variety of venues, including edited collections, scholarly journals, the Weekly Standard, the Claremont Review of Books, The City: A Journal of Christian Thought, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He is a contributing scholar to the Georgia Center for Opportunity. Currently he is working on and writing about issues in higher education including a series of commentaries addressing topics such as accreditation and religious colleges, and higher education and social mobility, which have appeared in First Things (online). Knippenberg is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Beta Kappa, and Omicron Delta Kappa, and sits on the Georgia Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission of Civil Rights. Mr. Knippenberg earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in Politics from the University of Toronto and a B.A. degree from the James Madison College at Michigan State University.

The American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE) has renewed its membership in the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) International Quality Group (CIQG). Formed in September 2012, CIQG provides a forum for colleges and universities, accrediting organizations and higher education associations, businesses, governments, foundations and individuals to reflect on and exchange ideas concerning major issues relating to quality assurance in an international setting. Membership in CIQG reflects AALE’s commitment to its international members to remain current on topics particularly relevant to quality assurance of post-secondary general education within the international community.

As a CIQG member, AALE receives policy briefs and newsletters throughout the year which provide information on topics such as: public accountability, student learning, new modes of education delivery, international quality expectation, the role of government, academic freedom, non-institutional education and a single set of quality standards. An annual meeting, held during the CHEA Annual Conference in Washington, DC focuses on a current issue of relevance to all members. The topic chosen for this year’s annual meeting held January 27, 2015 was, Quality Assurance: Whose Responsibility?

Further information about CIQG is available at http://www.cheainternational.org

The American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE) held annual elections on June 13, 2014. Returning to the Board of Trustees for a second-term of office are Diane Auer Jones and John B. Tieder, Jr., and returning to the Council of Scholars for a second-term is Richard Myers.

Ms. Diane Auer Jones is the Senior Vice President and Chief External Affairs Officer at Career Education Corporation (CEC) and President of the Career Education Scholarship Fund (CESF). Prior to joining CEC Ms. Auer Jones served as the Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education. She also served as the Director of Government Affairs at Princeton University and was CEO of The Washington Campus, a non-profit organization that serves as the Washington, DC campus for 16 of the nation’s leading graduate schools of business. A molecular biologist by training, Ms. Auer Jones is a graduate of Salisbury University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in biology, and of the University of Maryland Baltimore County, where she completed a master’s degree in Applied Molecular Biology and doctoral coursework in Cellular and Molecular Biology. Ms. Auer Jones brings to AALE an extensive background in higher education and public policy.

Mr. John B. Tieder, Jr. is Senior Partner at Watt, Tieder, Hoffar, Fitzgerald, LLP, Maclean (VA). Mr. Tieder’s practice focuses on a broad range of issues related to construction of major infrastructure and energy projects worldwide. He is recognized in the International Who’s Who of Construction Lawyers and Business Lawyers and holds the Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent Rating. Mr. Tieder is a graduate of Syracuse University and American University, where he received his J.D. degree and of John Hopkins University, where he received his bachelor’s degree. He is a regular participant in the Executive Seminars at St. John’s College in Annapolis (MD). The author of numerous articles and an active lecturer on international commercial law, Mr. Tieder brings to AALE an avid commitment to liberal education in addition to his legal expertise. He serves as a public member on the AALE Board of Trustees.

Dr. Richard Myers is President of Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. He sits on the boards of the Sault Ste. Marie Economic Development Corporation, the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre, and Destiny Sault Ste. Marie. Dr. Myers is a graduate of the University of Toronto, where he received his undergraduate and master’s degrees and his Ph.D. in political science. Fluent in French, Greek, German and Italian, he has taught at Hokusei Gakuen University (Japan) and Wenzhou University (China). Dr. Myers brings to his work on the Council of Scholars experience in post-secondary educational administration as well as a combined strength in the practice of liberal education and international teaching.