Challenges Facing Higher Education: A Conversation with a University President
We’ll explore the complex and evolving landscape of higher education through a conversation with a sitting university president who is a faithful member of our congregation. This session will address critical issues such as rising costs, enrollment pressures, diversity and inclusion, the impact of technology, and the future of academic institutions in a rapidly changing world. We’ll hear insights into the decisions, dilemmas, and opportunities shaping the future of colleges and universities.
Jonathan Alger (B.A., Swarthmore College, Phi Beta Kappa; J.D., Harvard Law School, with Honors) is the 16th president of American University. He is an experienced and visionary higher education leader who spent the last 12 years as president of James Madison University (JMU). Under his leadership, JMU created and implemented a bold and visionary strategic plan focused on engaged learning, community engagement, and civic engagement, and developed many new initiatives such as the Valley Scholars Program for first-generation students, the comprehensive and highly successful Unleashed fundraising campaign, and the comprehensive Task Force on Racial Equity. President Alger also led JMU to achieve the R2 national research university designation and helped to grow the university’s external research funding by 92 percent from 2019 to 2023.
Jon is a nationally recognized scholar and speaker on higher education policy and law, who has published numerous articles for scholarly journals and publications such as The Journal of College and University Law and The Law of Higher Education.
A national leader in the field of civic engagement in higher education, he received the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge Standout Campus President Award in 2019 and is past chair of that organization’s Presidents Council. He co-taught a leadership seminar in JMU’s Honors College and previously taught graduate and undergraduate courses at Rutgers University and the University of Michigan in law, higher education, public policy, and diversity.
Jon currently serves as chair of the national board of directors for the American Association of Colleges and Universities, as chair of the Association of Governing Boards’ Council of Presidents, and on the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. He also is a member of the Council on Competitiveness, Council on Foreign Relations, and Institute of Citizens and Scholars’ College Presidents for Civic Preparedness. He is past board chair of Campus Compact and the National Association of College and University Attorneys and has served in many other higher education board and national leadership roles.
He previously served as senior vice president and general counsel at Rutgers University, and as assistant general counsel at the University of Michigan, where he played a key leadership role in the university’s efforts in two important Supreme Court cases on diversity and admissions and coordinated one of the largest amicus brief coalitions in Supreme Court history. Earlier in his career he worked for the American Association of University Professors and the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
Jonathan Alger is an ordained elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA). He and his wife Marianne returned to NPC last fall after many years away.
