Announcements

Bowen Delivers Jefferson Lectures at the University of Virginia

In April 2004, William G. Bowen, president of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, delivered a series of lectures on “Equity and Excellence in Higher Education” as the Jefferson Foundation Distinguished Lecturer at the University of Virginia. In the lectures, Bowen integrated prior work with new evidence from a recently collected dataset to explore the achievements and remaining challenges of American higher education in attaining “excellence with equity.” The well-attended lectures were sponsored by the University of Virginia, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, and the University’s Curry School of Education. Transcripts of the lectures are available as follows:

• “In Pursuit of Excellence (pdf)” (Lecture I, April 6) examines American higher education’s provision of personal, economic, and civic benefits—and current challenges to achieving these objectives.

• “The Quest for Equity: ‘Class’ (Socio-Economic Status) in American Higher Education (pdf)” (Lecture II, April 7) presents evidence on how family income and parental education impact admission and academic performance at some of America’s most selective colleges and universities.

• “Stand and Prosper! Race and American Higher Education (pdf)" (Lecture III, April 13) focuses on race and affirmative action—where we have been, where we are now, and where we are going as a nation.