Panel to Explore the Financial Landscape and Liberal Arts Colleges

Members of the Smith community are invited to a panel discussion, “The Financial Landscape and Liberal Arts Colleges,” at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 24, in Neilson Browsing Room, featuring Jill Tiefenthaler, president of Colorado College, and Cecilia Conrad, former vice president for academic affairs and Dean of Pomona College, who was recently appointed to direct the MacArthur Fellows Program.

The panel will be moderated by Smith Trustee James Shulman, president of ARTstor.

Tiefenthaler is a leading scholar in the field of economics of higher education, and is guiding Colorado College in a strategic planning process focused on furthering the college’s impact and engagement with teaching and learning, capitalizing on the college’s Rocky Mountain West location, and extending the college’s reach. Tiefenthaler has presented her research on the economics of higher education broadly, and published numerous articles on labor economics, economics of the family, and development economics.

Conrad, an economist with a focus on economic inequality, began this month as director of the MacArthur Fellows Program. In her previous post as vice president for academic affairs and Dean of Pomona College, Conrad guided a series of conversations regarding the value and assessment of a liberal arts college education, worked with academic departments to improve the campus climate for diversity, and championed the college’s summer undergraduate research program. Conrad was recognized in 2002 as California’s Carnegie Professor of the Year.

The panel is presented as part of the Board of Trustees’ annual retreat.