Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges director to make public presentation at Fort Lewis College

DURANGO, CO – Dr. Bill Spellman, director of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC), will visit Fort Lewis College on Thursday, March 31, 2011. Beginning at 5 p.m. in Noble Hall, Rm. 125, Dr. Spellman will be giving a presentation followed by a Q&A. The presentation is free and open to the public.
 
The current status and future of higher education in the United States is a widely debated issue in today’s society. Colleges and universities must grapple with issues like providing a rigorous academic experience while maintaining financial access for students as costs increase and budgets tighten. Dr. Spellman’s presentation will cover some of the issues and concerns that liberal arts colleges are dealing with today and will have to deal with in the future.
 
COPLAC is an organization dedicated to advancing liberal arts and sciences education by acting as an advocate and collaborator with state legislatures and the federal government, as well as higher education entities like the Association of American College and Universities. Today there are 26 institutions in the U.S. and Canada, including Fort Lewis College, that belong to COPLAC.
 

Dr. Spellman holds a bachelor’s degree in European history from Suffolk University, as well as a master’s degree in colonial American history and a Ph.D. in early modern English history from Syracuse University. In addition to his duties a director of COPLAC, he also teaches history at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.