College President James Freedman was awarded the 1997 Association of American College and University's Ness Book Award last week for his book, "Idealism and Liberal Education."
The Ness Award, established in honor of former AAC&U President Frederic W. Ness, is awarded "to an author of a book published during the preceding year that is judged as having made the most significant contribution to studies on liberal education," according to an AAC&U press release.
Freedman will travel to Atlanta to receive the award on Thursday. By coincidence, he had previously scheduled an alumni dinner in Atlanta for Thursday night, so he will be able to attend the luncheon and receive the award, which includes a plaque and a $1,000 prize.
Freedman said he hoped the award "will bring the book to the attention of more people."
Although Freedman said he did not expect to win any accolades for the book, he still called the Ness Award "the icing on the cake."
"You don't expect to win an award, but it's very nice when it happens," he said.
AAC&U President Paula Brownlee said in the press release that Freedman's book is extremely hopeful about the state of higher education.
"It is refreshing to find a book about higher education that is devoid of cynicism and rancor," she said. "The Ness Award proudly recognizes this book's ability to inspire and motivate us to uphold the highest ideals in providing a contemporary liberal education for all of our students."
"Idealism and Liberal Education" was published last January by the University of Michigan Press. Freedman wrote much of the book while on sabbatical from the College in 1994 and 1995.
The book is an autobiography of Freedman's intellectual career in the world of higher education.
It consists of a collection of essays which are grouped into three sections: Life and Letters, Content and Character in Liberal Education and Models for Shaping a Life.
The AAC&U was founded in 1915 as a membership of institutions of higher education, according to AAC&U Vice President for Communications Joann Stevens.
"Its primary mission," Stevens said in a telephone interview yesterday, "is to improve undergraduate liberal education."
