Callan to visit as part of MU Celebrity Series

Marshall University reaches across the nation today to welcome Patrick M. Callan as the third of 12 academic celebrities featured in the Marshall Celebrity Series.

Callan is the president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Edu-cation. He will speak at 2 p.m. today in the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center.

According to news releases from the Marshall Office of Communications, The National Center for Public and Higher Education is an independent, nonprofit organization that works toward improving the quality of higher education and making it more affordable.

Since the center's establishment in March 1998, the center has provided reports and published report cards on higher education institutions from sea to shining sea.

According to the center's Web site, they focus on sharing the financial responsibility of higher education between students, families and governments and how to make it cost-effective for each of the groups.

Another object of Callan's group is to see how state and federal decisions encourage higher education.

Before becoming president of the center, Callan severed as the executive director of the California Higher Education Policy Center from 1992 to 1997.

Callan has most recently assisted in the writing of "Public and Private Financing of Higher Education: Shaping Public Policy for the Future," "Designing State Higher Education Systems For a New Century," and "A Study of State Preparation and Governance of Higher Education."

In 1998, Callan was named as one of the senior leaders of American higher education by "Change" magazine.

Callan is one of two speakers scheduled for the Marshall Celebrity Series this week. Dennis Jones, president of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems will speak at 2 p.m. Thursday in the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center.

Callan, as well as other Marshall sources, were unavailable for comment on today's speaking engagement.