This lecture series was established in 2001 under the auspices of the Center for Studies in Higher Education on the Berkeley campus. Initial funding for the lectures was provided by the Carnegie Corporation and subsequently major complementary funding has been received from the University of California's Office of the President. The Center for Studies in Higher Education has established an agreement with the University of California Press for publication of the second and future lectures.
The Clark Kerr Lectures series honors Clark Kerr, president of the University of California from 1958 to 1967 and long recognized as one of the great leaders of American higher education in the twentieth century. Kerr headed the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education and then the Carnegie Council on Policy Studies in Higher Education from 1967 until 1979. He came to UC Berkeley in 1945 as an associate professor of industrial relations and was chancellor at Berkeley from 1952 until 1958.
The Lectures provide a forum for analysis and reflection about the forces shaping universities and the complex roles they play in modern society. Recipients of the honor are selected once every two years and are sponsored by Center for Studies in Higher Education. Lectures are given at one or more of the university's ten campuses. Previous holders of the lectureship include Simon Marginson, Neil Smelser, Harold Shapiro, Charles Vest, Donald Kennedy, and Hannah Gray.
For more information about any of CSHE's lectures and events, email cshe@berkeley.edu.
