USM Chancellor William Kirwan, Senior Vice Chancellor Irwin Goldstein Appointed to National Commission on University Accountability
ADELPHI, Md. (February 5, 2007) — William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the University
System of Maryland (USM), and Irwin L. Goldstein, senior vice chancellor of
academic affairs for USM, will join 76 other administrators from public
colleges and universities across the nation to develop recommendations for a
voluntary system of accountability. The system is an initiative of the American
Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and the National
Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC).
“I speak for both Irv and
myself when I say we are honored to join colleagues from around the nation on
this worthy endeavor,” said Kirwan. “Over the past decade, there has been
ever-growing demand from policymakers and the public alike to make higher
education more accountable in demonstrable, easy-to-understand ways. A
voluntary system of accountability is a step in the right direction.
Ultimately, prospective students and their families will benefit from a system
that is more transparent, standardized, and accessible as they go through the
college selection process.”
Kirwan has been selected to
chair the presidential advisory commission that will give guidance to the
project’s task forces and work groups. Goldstein will serve as a member of the
project’s core educational outcomes task force that will determine how colleges
and universities can better develop useful and credible evidence to benchmark the
value of higher education to students.
The voluntary system of accountability
project responds to a call from the Commission on the Future of Higher
Education (convened by U.S. Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings) for the
nation’s colleges and universities to provide a clear and standardized system
of information that “allows comparison among institutions regarding learning
outcomes and other performance measures.”
With the help of a $267,900 grant
from the Lumina Foundation for Education, the project’s task forces and technical
work groups will meet during 2007 to develop detailed recommendations for a system
that can be adopted and used by any public college or university.
For more information, visit .
Contact: John Buettner
Phone: 301.445.2719
Email: jbuettner@usmd.edu
