University of Oregon law professor and president emeritus Dave Frohnmayer was named recently to the executive committee for The Lincoln Project, an initiative of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

The project, which was announced earlier this year, is a public education advocacy effort. The Lincoln Project examines and assesses the current challenges facing higher education, including cutbacks in government support, competition from for-profit education providers and foreign universities, and emerging technological changes.

"I am honored to be given the chance to engage in this important dialogue and to promote the importance of higher education and its research mission," Frohnmayer said. "The public university system is integral to a democratic society and its advancement."

Frohnmayer's three-year appointment begins with the project's first meeting on Oct. 9 in Cambridge, Mass. The Lincoln Project is chaired by Robert Birgeneau of the University of California, Berkeley, and Mary Sue Coleman of the University of Michigan.

The project also engages state and federal policymakers, elected officials, university and business leaders, philanthropists and, ultimately, the broader public.

The Lincoln Project is named for President Abraham Lincoln, to commemorate his role in adopting the Morrill Act of 1862, which laid the groundwork for the nation's public university system.

- from the UO School of Law