The focus of this panel will be the Enlightenment, a historical period that saw the birth of modern science, the creation of free markets, and the Founding of the United States of America. The panelists will consider what made this flowering of intellectual freedom and progress possible, how it influences today, and whether we are losing the Enlightenment values that gave rise to the modern world.

ACTA will present their 18th annual Philip Merrill Award for Outstanding Contributions to Liberal Arts Education to Professor Alan Charles Kors. A distinguished scholar of European history, an award-winning teacher, and the co-founder of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, Dr. Kors is the embodiment of the qualities that the late Philip Merrill envisioned when he established this award—namely, an indefatigable dedication to teaching the humanities and transmitting the values of Western Civilization to the next generation.