
Healthy Society Series: Public Higher Education at the Crossroads
In-person TicketsOnline-only Tickets
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After decades of strong governmental and public support, and despite strong evidence supporting the societal and individual benefits of a college degree, American public higher education is confronting a multi-layered crisis of confidence and funding. While the need remains for all that public higher education has to offer, the sector’s very mission and purpose have become the subject of political debate and disagreement, even as state funding levels fail to keep pace with rising costs, and changes in federal policies threaten public universities’ long-standing missions and values
UC Berkeley’s new chancellor, Rich Lyons, is working to launch a new era of excellence for his campus with the knowledge that many are watching how public higher education’s flagship university will take on a wide array of threats and opportunities at a time when the stakes could not be higher. He has a new vision for the Berkeley campus that centers innovation and entrepreneurship; new programs to bridge divides of perspective and belief; and a quest for financial independence through the development of new and novel revenue streams.
About the Speaker
Rich Lyons is the 12th chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, beginning his tenure as the first undergraduate alum to serve as chancellor in July 2024. Previously, he was the associate vice chancellor for innovation and entrepreneurship from 2020–2024, leading the development and expansion of innovation and entrepreneurship campuswide. Lyons also served as the dean of UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business from 2008–2018. Lyons received his B.S. degree from UC Berkeley in 1982 and returned to campus in 1993 as a faculty member at the Haas School of Business after receiving his Ph.D. in economics from MIT and following six years on the faculty at Columbia University. In 1998, he was awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award, Berkeley’s highest teaching award.
This program has 2 types of tickets available: In-person and online-only. Please pre-register to receive a link to the live-stream event.
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A Health & Medicine Member-led Forum program. Forums and Chapters at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.
Commonwealth Club World Affairs is a public forum. Any views expressed in our programs are those of the speakers and not of Commonwealth Club World Affairs.
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Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California
110 The Embarcadero
Taube Family Auditorium
San Francisco, CA 94105
United States

Rich Lyons
Chancellor, University of California, Berkeley

Robert Lee Kilpatrick
Ph.D.; Chair, Health & Medicine Member-led Forum, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderator
5:30 p.m. doors open & check-in
6–7 p.m. program
(all times Pacific Time)
COST
Members receive 30–50 percent discounts (not a member? Join)
In-person:
$22
Free for Leadership Circle members and students
Online:
$5
Free for Leadership Circle members and students