COLUMBUS -- Ohio State University President William E. Kirwan was elected to the board of directors of the American Council on Education (ACE) at the organization's 82nd annual meeting in Chicago. Kirwan will serve until 2002.

ACE, a comprehensive association of about 1,600 of the nation's colleges and universities, is dedicated to analysis of higher education issues and advocacy on behalf of quality higher education and adult education programs. Its membership also includes about 200 national and regional higher education associations and organizations.

ACE coordinates the interests of all sectors of higher education into a single voice on national policy issues. It operates programs designed to increase access to post-secondary education, promote equity, ensure quality education on the nation's campuses and train new generations of higher education leaders.

The board of directors is responsible for overseeing the management of ACE and setting the general policy direction for the organization, which represents higher education before Congress, federal agencies, the Supreme Court and the federal courts.

Elected as new directors to the 38-member board were: George Boggs, president of Palomar College (Calif.); Nancy S. Dye, president of Oberlin College; E. Gordon Gee, chancellor-elect of Vanderbilt University; James A. Hefner, president of Tennessee State University; Gladys Styles Johnston, chancellor of the University of Nebraska at Kearney; Michael S. McPherson, president of Macalester College (Minn.); William E. Troutt, president of Rhodes College (Tenn.); J. William Wenrich, chancellor of Dallas County Community College District; and Peggy R. Williams, president of Ithaca College (N.Y.).

Associations elected to one-year terms are the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the University Continuing Education Association.