Press Release

Contact: Debra Humphreys
Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs
202-387-3760
Humphreys@aacu.org

Fred Winter Appointed Senior Director of Advancement and Leadership Development at Association of American Colleges and Universities

Winter Will Join AAC&U’s Senior Staff To Coordinate Advancement Efforts and Develop National Leadership for Liberal Education

Washington, DC—May 28, 2008—The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) announced today the appointment of Frederick A. Winter as senior director of advancement and leadership development. Winter currently holds the position of senior program officer in the Office of Challenge Grants at the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). He will begin his work at AAC&U in July 2008.

In his role as senior director, Winter will oversee advancement efforts in support of AAC&U’s LEAP initiative and its other strategic priorities. In addition, Winter will serve as a member of the LEAP leadership team and will work with the president and other senior staff to develop national leadership to ensure an expanding pool of champions for liberal education—including influential leaders from the business and philanthropic communities as well as from across all parts of AAC&U’s membership.

“Fred Winter has a deep understanding of AAC&U’s history and its current strategic direction and will bring to AAC&U a wealth of experience and insights into liberal education, its practice on campus and its impact on students and our society,” said AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider. “We are very pleased that a person with his extensive experience and strong commitments will be joining AAC&U’s senior leadership group.”

"I am delighted to be joining AAC&U at such a key moment in the association's history,” said Winter. “LEAP and the AAC&U's other initiatives define what is best in American higher education. These imaginative programs and the association's forthcoming centennial offer a perfect opportunity to build the collaborations that will bring these critical initiatives to fruition."

Winter joined the staff at NEH in 1993, serving initially in the Endowment’s Higher Education in the Humanities Program and overseeing projects involving core curricula and the use of emerging technologies in undergraduate education. Winter joined the Office of Challenge Grants in 1995. Within that office, he works with higher education applicants, as well as historical societies and sites, museums, and public media centers. He was the founding coordinator for the NEH We the People Challenge Grants in American History, Institutions and Culture and currently serves on the NEH task force for its Digital Humanities Initiative.

Winter received his B.A. in classical Greek language from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York and his Ph.D. in classical archaeology from the University of Pennsylvania. Just prior to joining the NEH staff, he served as a tenured professor of Classics with a joint appointment in the doctoral program in classics at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York and the undergraduate program at Brooklyn College. He also served at Brooklyn College as chair of the college’s Faculty Council Core Curriculum Committee and as Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations at Hood College in Maryland. Winter’s knowledge of AAC&U extends back to his involvement in the Engaging Cultural Legacies initiative funded by NEH from 1989 to 1993. Winter served as a team leader from Brooklyn College, where faculty and administrators worked together to revise a core course that addressed the cultures of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

AAC&U is the leading national association concerned with the quality, vitality, and public standing of undergraduate liberal education. Its members are committed to extending the advantages of a liberal education to all students, regardless of academic specialization or intended career. Founded in 1915, AAC&U now comprises more than 1,150 accredited public and private colleges and universities of every type and size.

AAC&U functions as a catalyst and facilitator, forging links among presidents, administrators, and faculty members who are engaged in institutional and curricular planning. Its mission is to reinforce the collective commitment to liberal education at both the national and local levels and to help individual institutions keep the quality of student learning at the core of their work as they evolve to meet new economic and social challenges.

Information about AAC&U membership, programs, and publications can be found on the AAC&U Web site.