Land-grant law keys wide-ranging talks
URBANA – U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and several leaders at the University of Illinois are joining a host of government leaders, presidents of public universities and Lincoln scholars on the campus this weekend to discuss the future of higher education in the United States.
The conference, which kicked off Friday evening, is called "Lincoln's Unfinished Work: The Morrill Act and the Future of Higher Education."
The conference examines the lasting impact of the Morrill Act on our nation's higher education system, as well as the responsibility of public higher education to address the broader societal issues of the 21st century.
The original 1862 Morrill Act has been brought to the university from the National Archives in Washington D.C.
Additional details and a full conference schedule can be found at www.morrillact.illinois.edu.
Saturday's speakers and panelists include Jim Leach, chair, National Endowment for the Humanities; Sam Pitroda, adviser to the Indian prime minister; UI Chancellor Richard Herman; Eileen Mackevich, executive director, Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission; M. Peter McPherson, president, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities; and Stanley Ikenberry, UI interim president designate.
Saturday's schedule includes:
– 8:30 a.m., Welcome and Opening Remarks.
– 9:15 a.m., The Morrill Act: What Has Expanded Access Achieved?
– 10:45 a.m., Expanded Access to Public Higher Education: Challenges for the 21st Century.
– Noon, lunch and keynote speech by Pitroda.
– 1:30 p.m., A Framework for Revitalizing the Land Grant Mission: An Illinois Perspective.
– 3 p.m., Expanded Access to Public Higher Education: Challenges for the 21st Century.
– 4:15 p.m., Public Higher Education for Societal Purposes.
All of Saturday's events take place in Illini Union Ballrooms A, B & C, 1401 W. Green St., U.
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