Forum to explore college rankings

A forum, The Use and Abuse of College Rankings, on Thursday, Nov. 20, will explore how the importance of college rankings publications can tempt universities to alter admissions systems to yield better rankings.

MaryBeth Walpole, assistant professor of educational leadership at Rowan University in Glasboro, N.J., will outline how students and their families use rankings to choose colleges. Robert J. Morse of U.S. News and World Report, and Robert Seltzer, director of admissions at UW–Madison, will respond to Walpole’s presentation in a panel discussion. The session starts at 10 a.m. in the On Wisconsin Room, Red Gym, 716 Langdon St., at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Ronald Ehrenberg, director of the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute, will discuss rankings and their effects from noon-1:30 p.m. in Tripp Commons in Memorial Union, 800 Langdon St. Morse and former UW–Madison Vice Chancellor for Administration John Torphy will respond.

The forum is organized by the Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education.

For information, contact Thayer Reed, WISCAPE forum coordinator, (608) 265-6342 or visit http://www.wiscape.edu.