APLU Honors Brit Kirwan with the Peter McPherson Lifetime Achievement Award

APLU this week honored Dr. Brit Kirwan with the 2025 Peter McPherson Lifetime Achievement Award at the APLU Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. The award recognizes an individual whose career has also been dedicated to the service and leadership of public and land-grant universities.

Through Dr. Kirwan’s leadership as President of the University of Maryland from 1988 to 1998, President of The Ohio State University from 1998 to 2002, and Chancellor of the University System of Maryland, he enhanced the institutions’ academic reputation, expanded research and industry collaborations, and spearheaded new approaches to community engagement. Leveraging data to eliminate barriers to student success was a hallmark of his leadership to ensure students could reach their full potential.

His leadership left an indelible mark not only on the institutions he served, but on the entire landscape of public higher education. He served as chair of the APLU Board of Directors and is a founder of the Transforming Post-Secondary Education in Mathematics Initiative, which is working to strengthen math education through innovation. He was also a key contributor to the Kellogg Commission’s report on the future of land-grant and state colleges and key driver of statewide education reform in Maryland.