Conference on Bowdoin College and Global Citizenship in Brunswick, Maine

Press Release:

New York, NY (February 3, 2014)—The National Association of Scholars (NAS) will examine global citizenship and higher education at the conference, “Global Illusions: Bowdoin’s Post-Citizens and the Future of American Higher Education” in Brunswick, Maine, on February 6^th. Sponsored by the Maine Heritage Policy Center, the conference follows the NAS’s 2013 report What Does Bowdoin Teach? How a Contemporary Liberal Arts College Shapes Students.

Peter Wood, president of the National Association of Scholars and co-author of the report, will speak on Bowdoin College’s affinity for “global” responsibility over American citizenship and on the deterioration of Bowdoin’s curriculum. In a letter published in The Bowdoin Orient on January 31^st, Dr. Wood invited Bowdoin faculty members and students to further discuss the study and to attend the conference.

The conference will be held at the Inn at Brunswick Station in Brunswick, Maine. Herbert London, chairman of the board of the NAS and president of the London Center for Policy Research, will deliver the keynote luncheon address. Morning and afternoon panelists include:

• KC Johnson, professor of history at Brooklyn College, on “U.S. History and the Obligations of Citizenship.”
• John Fonte, senior fellow and director of the Center for American Common Culture at the Hudson Institute, on “As a Global Citizen to Whom Do I Pledge Allegiance?”
• Peter Wood, president of the National Association of Scholars and co-author of What Does Bowdoin Teach, on “Dreams of Conquest.” 
• Michael Poliakoff, vice president of policy at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, on “Liberal Arts ‘Lite.’”
• Susan Shell, professor of political science at Boston College, on “World Citizenship and Higher Education:  The (Misunderstood) Case of Immanuel Kant.”  

Full schedule and speakers’ bios >

The morning panel, 9:00-10:30 AM, is open to the public. The second panel, 1:00-2:30 PM, requires an rsvp. Tickets to the luncheon address are available for $35 (press members may attend the lunchtime address for free, but must pay if they would like the meal). Contact Kate Clark at kclark@mainepolicy.org or 207-321-2550 to rsvp and to check availability.

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