ACLS Hosts 2024 Research University Consortium Meeting

The 2024 ACLS Research University Consortium Meeting was held on Thursday and Friday, November 7 and 8, on the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island in New York City.

Representatives from 30 member schools gathered for intensive discussions and cross-institutional exchange related to some of the most pressing issues facing the humanities and social sciences in higher education today.

The 2024 meeting commenced with a roundtable discussion on philanthropic strategy and the role of deans in individual fundraising with Brian Edwards, Dean of the School of Liberal Arts, Tulane University; Fred Van Sickle, VP for Alumni Affairs and Development, Cornell University; and Kathryn Van Sickle, Director of Parent Gifts, Yale University, and host of The Development Debrief podcast; and moderated by Sara Shulman of educational consultants Carney, Sandoe & Associates.

ACLS President Joy Connolly then moderated a discussion focused on the perspectives of institutional funders. That panel featured Tade Aina, Senior Program Director, Higher Education and Research in Africa, Carnegie Corporation of New York; Phillip Brian Harper, Director, Higher Learning Program, Mellon Foundation; Darrell Meadows, Deputy Executive Director, National Historical Publications & Records Commission; and Isabel Roche, Executive Director of Special Programs in Higher Education, The Endeavor Foundation.

The meeting continued Friday with perspectives shared by medical and architecture education leaders. Thomas McGinn, MD, Chief Physician Executive Officer, CommonSpirit Health, who majored in philosophy as an undergraduate, shared commonalities and sharable lessons from his experiences in the evolving medical education and practice industries. Deborah Berke, Dean, Yale School of Architecture, discussed the relationship between conceptual and applied work and strengthening the humanities and interpretive social sciences through cross-school collaboration.

Participants also engaged with each other in collective solutions around specific topics ranging from recruiting students for humanities and social sciences majors to the expected impacts of the incoming presidential administration.

ACLS convenes the Research University Consortium each fall in New York City. This invitation-only group offers singular opportunities for deans leading humanities and social sciences schools at leading US research universities can connect and learn from each other. It also allows ACLS to stay on the pulse of the issues facing these institutions.