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President Ruscio Talks Science with Journalists, Fellow Presidents

Washington and Lee President Ken Ruscio and 10 other college and university presidents from around the country participated in Arizona State University’s 10th annual Science and Science Policy Round Table, in New York last week. This was the second year that President Ruscio joined the select group for a wide-ranging discussion with national journalists.

This time, however, there was a distinct Washington and Lee flavor, since two W&L alumni — Kelly Evans of the Class of 2007 and the Wall Street Journal and Sean McManus of the class of 1999 and The Economist — were among the media who quizzed the presidents. Kelly writes the Ahead of the Tape column in the Journal and also hosts the live video News Hub each morning on wsj.com. Sean is s program director of the Ideas Economy Project at The Economist Group in New York and edits the Ideas Economy Web site.

The reporters’ questions ranged from how organic chemistry is taught, to how stimulus funds are being spent on research, to the obligation that higher education has to K-12 education.

In addition to Kelly and Sean, some of the other journalists on hand were Ira Flatow of NPR’s “Science Friday,” Robert Bazell, science reporter for NBC, and Claudia Dreifus of The New York Times, to name just a few.

Meantime, joining President Ruscio on the panel were, among others, Michael Crow, president of Arizona State host for the event; Duke President Richard H. Brodhead; University of Chicago President Robert J. Zimmer; Lehigh President Alice Gast and State University of New York Chancellor Nancy Zimpher.

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