Presidents To Discuss Higher Education's Future
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND — University of Richmond President Kevin F. Hallock will moderate a panel of distinguished presidents from Washington and Lee University, Shenandoah University, Union College, and Cornell University, who will discuss the future of higher education.
The “Conversation with University Presidents” will be held at 3:30 p.m. on April 8, following the ceremony inaugurating Hallock as UR’s 11th president earlier in the day.
Hallock, whose priorities include academic excellence, access and affordability, belonging, well-being, and strengthening connections with the greater community, will moderate the conversation. He is a labor market economist who, prior to coming to Richmond, spent a total of 26 years on the faculties of the University of Illinois and Cornell University. Most recently, he was dean of Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business.
The panel includes:
Will Dudley, 27th president of Washington and Lee University.
Dudley came to W&L from Williams College, where he served as the provost from 2011 through 2016. After college, he received a fellowship to study philosophy at Cambridge University and then worked in energy finance for AES Corporation. Dudley received a gubernatorial appointment to the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in 2010 and became the vice chair in 2015. He also served six years on the board of the Williamstown Community Chest, including a term as president from 2007 to 2009.
Tracy Fitzsimmons, 16th president of Shenandoah University.
Fitzsimmons is the institution’s first female president since its founding in 1875. She came to Shenandoah in 2001 as dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, became vice president for Academic Affairs in 2002, and was named senior vice president in 2006. Previously, Fitzsimmons was a tenured faculty member and faculty leader at the University of Redlands in California. She is past president of the ODAC Conference and past chair of the Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia.
David R. Harris, 19th president of Union College.
Harris has led the creation of a strategic plan supported by the $300 million Powering Union campaign to ensure access, develop students beyond the classroom, and further integrate liberal arts and engineering. Harris has promoted broad-based initiatives to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion. Before joining Union, Harris was chief academic officer at Tufts University and held academic and administrative positions at Cornell University. From 2010 to 2011, he served as deputy assistant secretary for human services policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A sociologist, his scholarship has focused on race and ethnicity, social stratification, and public policy.
Martha E. Pollack, 14th president of Cornell University.
Pollack is an expert in artificial intelligence with a research focus on natural-language processing, automated planning, and the design of assistive technology for people with cognitive impairment. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for Computing Machinery, and the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence.
The event will be held in the Queally Center for Admission and Career Services, Breed Pavilion. Registration is required for the event, which is free and open to the public. The conversation also will be livestreamed.
###