"Based on the 2003 Clark Kerr Lectures, A Larger Sense of Purpose draws from Harold T. Shapiro's twenty-five years of experience in leading major research universities, and takes up key topics of debate in higher education. What are the nature and objectives of a liberal education? How should universities address the increasing commercialization not only of intercollegiate sports, but of education and research? What are the university's responsibilities for the moral education of students?" "The book begins with an expanded history of the modern research institution followed by essays on ethics, the academic curriculum, the differences between private and public higher education, the future of intellectual property rights, and the changing relationship between the nation's universities and the for-profit sector." "Shapiro calls for universities to be more accountable morally as well as academically. He urges scientists not only to educate others about the potential and limitations of science but also to acknowledge the public's distress over the challenges presented by the very success of the scientific enterprise. He advocates for a more intimate connection between professional training and the liberal arts - in the hope that future doctors, lawyers, and business executives will be educated in ethics and the social sciences as well as they are in anatomy, torts, and leveraged buyouts."--BOOK JACKET.

"The 2003 Clark Kerr lectures."

The university and society -- The transformation of the Antebellum College From right thinking to liberal learning -- Liberal education, liberal democracy, and the soul of the university -- Some ethical dimensions of scientific progress.