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AALE Holds Annual Elections

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Annual elections were held at the June 2025 Board meeting. Board of Trustees members Geoff Baum, Senior Policy Fellow at USC Center on Communication, Leadership and Policy, Los Angeles (CA) was elected to a third 4-year term and Dale Larson, Senior Advisor for Finance and Auditing at the Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas (TX) was elected to a fifth 4-year term. Robert Manzer was reappointed as President. Benjamin Storey, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Washington, DC was newly elected to serve a 4-year term.  

Benjamin Storey is a Senior Fellow in Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) where he focuses on the culture of higher education, the nature of liberal and civic education and efforts to enhance viewpoint diversity on college and university campuses. Prior to AEI, Benjamin served as Research Professor and Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Furman University. Benjamin is the coauthor of Why We Are Restless: On the Modern Quest for Contentment. 

He has a PhD and MA from the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago and a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

AALE President on Accreditation Reform

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At the March 2025 Board of Trustees meeting, President Robert Manzer reported on his most recent contribution to the on-going national conversation on post-secondary accreditation reform. Manzer informed the Board that his paper, “Depoliticizing the University: Reprioritizing Academic Excellence in Faculty Governance and Accreditation,” was due for release by the American Enterprise Institute at the end of March. In the report, Manzer argues that, “rather than trying to replace faculty governance, accreditors should focus on strengthening it by setting clear, well-designed standards and expectations. Supporting—not supplanting—faculty is essential to restoring academic excellence.”

AALE and Accreditation Reform

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At the October 2024 Board meeting, President Rob Manzer reported on his involvement with the national conversation on post-secondary accreditation reform. His work has included regular participation in the American Enterprise Institute (DC) Accreditation Reform Working Group and the Higher Education Working Group. His report, “The American University’s Path to Illiberalism” was published in the AEI Higher Education Policy Catalog. In April he provided a briefing on accreditation reform to the Defense of Freedom Policy Group and in May, he participated in the National Association of Scholars webinar, “The Future of Accreditation”. Rob concluded his report to the AALE Board stating that, “AALE remains a distinctive asset in the broader market of post-secondary and K-12 accreditation. National conversations focusing on reforms to post-secondary accreditation continue. However which reforms will be pursued or brought into play will be determined by the results of the upcoming national election.”

AALE Holds Annual Elections

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Annual elections were held at the June 2024 Board meeting. Board of Trustees members, Steve Balch, an independent scholar in Lubbock, TX was elected to a third 4-year term and Joshua Hochschild, Professor of Philosophy at Mount Saint Mary’s University (MD) was elected to a second 4-year term. Robert Manzer was reappointed as President.

Two new members were elected to the Council of Scholars – Dr. Karen Price and Dr. Peter Ulrickson. Karen is the Vice Provost and Dean of Instructional Effectiveness at Belmont Abbey College (NC). She has extensive experience with program evaluation, strategic planning and student learning outcomes assessment. Karen has published on alternate assessment in the Journal of Special Education and on measuring student engagement in the Journal of Continuing Higher Education. Peter is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the Catholic University of America (DC). He has published in Communications and Algebra and is the author of the math text A Brief Quadrivium and the companion text Teaching the Quadrivium-A Guide for Instructors.

AALE’s Newest Members

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AALE recently welcomed members under the Associate and the newly established Affiliate membership categories. Joining as an Associate member is the Honors Program at Montreat College (NC). The Honors Program is open to students from all majors and consists of 22 hours that replace courses in the General Education program. Honors students explore texts and topics from the Christian, Western, and World traditions from the perspective of multiple disciplines across the arts and sciences. Joining as an Affiliate member is Saint Constantine College (TX). Founded in 2016, Saint Constantine College is “dedicated to setting the standard for dialectical, Great Texts education in the classical model, and graduating students who are generous conversants, lifelong learners, and moral leaders in their communities.”

AALE Holds Annual Elections

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The American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE) held annual elections on June 13, 2023. Board of Trustee member Gary Kelly, a consultant and attorney in New York was reelected for a second four-year term and Robert Manzer was re-appointed as president. A new Council of Scholars member Rudy Hernandez was elected.
Rudy Hernandez is the Director of Undergraduate Studies-Truman School of Government and Public Affairs and Assistant Teaching Professor of Political Science at Missouri University, Columbia (MO). His research focuses on political theory and American political development. Recently his work has appeared in The Political Science Reviewer. He has prior government experience, including having been in AmeriCorps, having worked as a tax examiner in the U.S. Treasury Department, and eight years in the U.S. Army Reserve.  Rudy received his Ph.D. and M.A. from Louisiana State University and his B.A. from St. John’s College-Annapolis (MD).

AALE President Addresses Illiberalism

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AALE’s president, Dr. Robert Manzer is the author of a recent report “The American University’s Path to Illiberalism”, published by the American Enterprise Institute. The report examines the slide of American universities into illiberalism – a slide, which according to Manzer did not happen overnight. The report presents the view that “the current campus phenomena we are witnessing are partly a result of a decades-long assault on the faculty’s role and standing on campus. The full report is available at The American University’s Path to Illiberalism | American Enterprise Institute – AEI

AALE Panel at ACTC Conference

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AALE’s President, Dr. Robert Manzer attended the ACTC (Association of Core Texts and Courses) national conference in Dallas (TX) March 30-April 2 where he hosted the panel, “The Perfect Storm: Accreditation Reform and the Liberal Arts.” The panel was the result of the on-going partnership between AALE and ACTC designed to explore common goals in support of liberal education and to foster networks among the membership of both organizations.   

AALE/ACTC co-sponsor webinar 

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The American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE) and the Association of Core Texts and Courses (ACTC) co-sponsored a webinar entitled Supporting Liberal Education and Liberal Arts: Five Ways Accreditation Can Help on October 20, 2022. Co-hosts Mary Ann Powers, Executive Director of AALE, and Charlotte Thomas, Executive Director of ACTC, welcomed primary speaker Robert Manzer, President of AALE. The webinar addressed the latest challenges programs and institutions committed to genuine liberal education are facing in what is today a volatile and rapidly changing higher education environment. The importance of the webinar’s content was recognized by those in attendance, and AALE will be conducting a follow-up discussion session at the 2023 ACTC National Conference in Dallas (TX) March 30-April 2, 2023.

AALE President hosts K-12 Focus Group

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Dr. Robert Manzer, newly appointed president of AALE, attended the Classical Education Symposium: Festival of Ideas in Fort Collins, CO on October 1, 2022. Working with board member Terry Croy Lewis, Executive Director of the Colorado Charter School Initiative, Manzer hosted a focus group on How Accreditation Can Unlock Higher Education Resources for Classical Education Schools.The discussion with the focus group explored how accreditation can best support more transparent liberal education pathways, aligned dual enrollment opportunities, and dual-enrollment instructor credentialing.