Distributed October 4, 2001
For Immediate Release
News Service Contact: Kate Bramson



Inauguration of the 18th President

Visionary thinkers to discuss the evolution and role of universities

In The University As We Do Not Know It, moderator Frank Newman will engage former college and university presidents Johnnetta Cole, Vartan Gregorian, J. Jorge Klor de Alva and Frank Rhodes in a discussion about the future of higher education. Jasmine Waddell, a 1999 Brown graduate who was a Truman Scholar, Rhodes Scholar and student body president, will provide a student and young alumni perspective. (Return to Inauguration overview 01-036.)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — At 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13, Frank Newman, former president of the University of Rhode Island, will convene a panel of former college and university presidents and a recent Brown graduate to consider “The University As We Do Not Know It.” That symposium, in honor of the inauguration of Ruth J. Simmons as Brown’s 18th president, will be held in Sayles Hall.

Newman, who directs a research project on higher education policy in a changing world at Brown’s Taubman Center for Public Policy, will ask symposium panelists to grapple with the questions “What will happen to the university?” and “What should happen to the university?” among others, including questions about the role of higher education in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The panelists include:

  • Johnnetta Cole: presidential distinguished professor of anthropology, women’s studies and African American studies, Emory University; former president of Spelman College in Atlanta;


  • Vartan Gregorian: president, Carnegie Corporation; 16th president of Brown University;


  • J. Jorge Klor de Alva, president and chief executive officer, Apollo International; former president, University of Phoenix;


  • Frank Rhodes, president, American Philosophical Society; professor of geological sciences and president emeritus, Cornell University.

  • Jasmine Waddell, a 1999 Brown graduate, Truman Scholar, Rhodes Scholar and student body president.

The inaugural symposium is open to the public without charge.

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