Academy Evening Talks Address Access Crisis in Higher Education

MADISON—In recent years, as college costs nationwide have spiraled upward, the accessibility and affordability of higher education have been threatened. In an Academy Evening talk titled Keeping College Accessible: Charting a New Course for Higher Education, professor Gary Rhoades will provide a seasoned, national perspective on the key factors affecting college affordability, social stratification, and educational quality.

Rhodes will host two free, public Academy Evening talks, focusing on current patterns in state policy and the paths of higher education institutions. Rhodes will also offer suggestions for charting a new course, and, following the talk, take questions from the audience:

Tuesday, February 21, at 7:00 pm at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art lecture hall, 227 State Street, Madison
Wednesday, February 22, at 5:00 pm at the UW–Parkside Student Center Cinema, 900 Wood Road, Kenosha

TUNE IN TO THE LIVE STREAM: For those unable to attend either Academy Evening talk in person, the Wisconsin Academy will provide online live streaming video of the February 21, 7:00 pm, talk with Gary Rhodes at the Wisconsin Academy website: wisconsinacacademy.org.

These Academy Evening talks are presented by the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters in partnership with the Wisconsin Alumni Association and UW–Parkside.

Gary Rhoades is Professor of Higher Education at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he has been a faculty member since 1986 and directed the university’s Center for the Study of Higher Education from 1997 to 2009. From January 2009 to June 2011, Rhoades served as General Secretary of the American Association of University Professors in Washington, D.C. He holds BA, MA and PhD degrees in sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles. His writings include the books Managed Professionals: Unionized Faculty and Restructuring Academic Labor (1998, SUNY Press), and Academic Capitalism and the New Economy: Markets, State and Higher Education (with Sheila Slaughter, 2004, Johns Hopkins University Press).

About Academy Evenings
Academy Evening talks engage the public in a wide variety of topics of public interest and feature leading thinkers, scholars, and artists. These free forums are intended to encourage interaction with these leaders in an intimate atmosphere that fosters discussion and builds community. The Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters sponsors Academy Evenings regularly in Overture Center for the Arts in Madison and at other venues across the state. For more information on Academy Evenings, visit wisconsinacademy.org/talks.

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